Dive Brief:
- An amendment to the Senate's bipartisan ESEA reauthorization, the Every Child Achieves Act, from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) would significantly increase the financial and academic monitoring of for-profit charter school managers.
- Brown introduced the 72-page amendment late last week, saying, “There's no sector that misspends tax dollars more than these for-profit charter schools.”
- A similar but less stringent bill was up for consideration in the Ohio legislature but is currently stalled after failing to pass the state's House this spring.
Dive Insight:
Brown’s bill drew mixed responses, including criticism for making his state’s issues into a national policy agenda. He defended himself against accusations that the legislation was intended to curtail the growth of the charter sector, but critics pointed to language in the amendment that required multi-year plans for charter authorizations at the district level and detailed statements of impact from the schools.
"I'm not interested in eliminating them if they're performing," Brown said. He did receive support from the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s two largest teacher unions.
Debate on ESEA reauthorization in the Senate could end as soon as Wednesday night.