House Bill 17-1375 Moves Colorado Up in Charter Law Rankings

Just today, I was awarded “most creative in the household” for my crayon depiction of my mom on the living room wall. Though it seems like she had some mixed feelings about my work, it’s still nice to be acknowledged. Being distinguished for your hard work and triumph is rewarding–which is why charter school advocates in Colorado should feel good that the Centennial State was ranked as having the second-best charter school laws in the nation by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) in its recent report titled Measuring Up to the Model: A Ranking of State Charter School Laws, 2018.

The NAPCS’ ranking system utilizes 21 criteria that define their ideal charter school laws. The better a state’s laws clearly align with the NACPS’ model standards, the higher the state is rated. The criteria stress autonomy, clarity, responsibility, and several other facets commonly emphasized in charter school laws. The only state ranked higher than Colorado was Indiana, which retained its number-one spot from 2017.

House Bill 17-1375–which created the potential of $ 34 million in additional funding from mill levy overrides for charter schools–served as the predominant factor that lifted Colorado up from the NAPCS’ rankings number five position in 2017 to number two in the 2018 report. Other factors that influenced Colorado’s rating is our charter school exemption from collective bargaining and our additional authorizer, the Colorado Charter School Institute.

This report upholds both Colorado’s reputation as a leader in education choice, and the standard that we can always improve upon what we have. Hopefully this upward trend continues and Colorado’s charter school laws progress positively to allow for the creation of more choice in the future of education. Let’s go for number one!