Rep. Ted Budd: Biden Administration Making ‘Backdoor Attempt’ to Limit School Choice

The Biden administration is making a “backdoor attempt” to limit school choice by proposing a policy that would significantly change how charter schools are approved for federal funding, according to Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC).

In a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on Monday, Budd brought up a proposed rule that would require new charter schools to demonstrate “sufficient demand” in a community to be eligible for federal grant money.

Budd told Cardona that, for many families, charter schools are “an escape from mismanaged school systems” and can “cater to students left behind by public school systems,” adding that the creation of such institutions should not be discouraged by policy.

The congressman and U.S. Senate candidate continued:

DOE’s false assumption that prospective charter schools must demonstrate a need within a given
community represents a backdoor attempt to limit choice for parents and students,” “These sorts of burdensome requirements would never be applied to school systems beholden to powerful teachers unions that organize against the interests of families and students.

Under the policy, which was published on March 14, new charter schools would also be required to detail “targeted student and staff demographics” and how the applicant “plans to establish and maintain racially and socioeconomically diverse student and staff populations…, ” the policy language states.

“…Including proposed strategies (that are consistent with applicable legal requirements) to recruit, enroll, and retain a diverse student body and to recruit, hire, develop, and retain a diverse staff and talent pipeline at all levels (including leadership positions),” the policy continues.

The proposed policy adds that if promoting “diverse” student and staff populations is not possible because of community demographics, the federal government could still fund those applications. However, the policy does state that those schools would have to submit a plan detailing how they “would not increase racial or socio-economic segregation or isolation in those schools.”

“It’s unclear why the department and the administration are trying to limit charter school opportunities,” spokeswoman Jennifer Diaz said.

According to the Post, the biggest proposed change is charter schools would be ineligible for federal funding if they are operated by for-profit management companies. The report states:

Nonprofits could outsource particular tasks — such as payroll, for instance — to for-profit companies. But arrangements in which for-profit companies run the entire operation under contracts known as “sweeps” would be ineligible for the start-up grants. The proposal specifically bars arrangements under which a for-profit management company “exercises full or substantial administrative control over the charter school … or over programmatic decisions.”

President of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute told the publication that while some for-profit limits are not a bad idea, the rules could end up being too far-reaching.

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