Christina Martin: Expand Charter School Rights in Oregon

The Oregonian painted the picture of what happened in Salem on March 8: "As virtual charter school families rallied on the state capitol steps, the Oregon House was due to vote on House Bill 2287, which would expand charter school rights.
"But just before the bill was debated on the floor," the Oregonian report continued, "Republicans and Democrats requested a caucus meeting."
The upshot: Debate, and any vote, on the bill was delayed. The Oregon House is scheduled to take up the issue again on March 14.
HB 2287, which has bipartisan support, would create consistent guidelines for school districts to follow when they decided whether to accept or deny a proposed charter school. The measure also prohibits districts from imposing bureaucratic obstacles that are intended to delay a proposed charter school from moving forward.
These changes would benefit virtual charter schools. In 2009, the state legislature narrowly passed and created restrictions on virtual charters. The bill placed a two-year moratorium on the growth of existing schools by restricting them to the student counts enrolled on May 1, 2009. HB 2287 would help in the expansion of existing virtual charters and ease creation of new virtual charters.
In February, I testified before the House Education Committee about the need for passage of HB 2287. Click here to read my testimony.