Many donors want to create genuine educational opportunity for young people who have too few good K–12 public school options. They see strong schools as an integral part of a healthy civil society where families exercise agency, communities build trust, and young people gain the knowledge, habits, and relationships they need to participate in American life.
This year’s National Charter Schools Week invites donors to look beyond the ubiquitous political debate on charter schools and focus on how they can create more charter schools that are flexible, accountable, and built around student and family needs.
That combination of freedom plus accountability in the service of families and kids was the original charter idea and remains the reason charter schools continue to matter.