AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation today joined the state's leading conservative organizations in releasing a coalition letter to the 83rd Texas Legislature, urging legislators to pass Senate Bill 2 and raise the cap on Texas' open-enrollment charter schools.

The letter is signed by the Foundation and several other entities, including: Americans for Prosperity; Concerned Women for America of Texas; Conservative Republicans of Texas; Grassroots America We The People; Republican Party of Texas; Texas Legislature's TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee; Texas Federation of College Republicans; Texas Conservative Coalition; Texans for Fiscal Responsibility; Texas Home School Coalition; Texas Public Policy Foundation; Texas Values; The Heartland Institute; The San Antonio Tea Party; and Young Conservatives of Texas.

"Today there are more than 101,000 students waiting to attend open-enrollment charter schools in Texas – up from 56,000 students in 2011," said James Golsan, TPPF's Center for Education Policy Analyst.  "That Texas limits the number of charter schools to only 215 is not meeting parental demand, and is forcing a large number of students across the Lone Star State to stay in schools that are not meeting their educational needs. Lifting the cap on public open-enrollment charter schools in Texas will address the needs of those students currently waiting to attend charter schools, and increase options for parents seeking alternatives to their local public school. 

Golsan continued, "The demand for more charter schools in Texas is not limited to parents whose children are on the waitlists. According to a recent survey of Texas voters by the Friedman Foundation and the Texas Public Policy Foundation, more than half of Texas voters are much more likely to favor charter schools (63 percent), rather than oppose them (22 percent)."

James Golsan is a policy analyst with Texas Public Policy Foundation's Center for Education Policy, a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin.

 

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