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Wyoming gets a D on charter school laws

Wyoming received a “D” letter-grade for its laws pertaining to charter schools. That’s according to a new report by the Center for Educational Reform.

Charter schools are publicly funded but privately-run and often have a specific focus, like science or the arts.

The study ranked states based on how they regulate and fund charter schools, and Wyoming came out as number 35.

Kari Cline, Executive Director of the Wyoming Association of Public Charter Schools, says one of the biggest problems is that local school boards are in charge of considering charter school applications.

“There is a degree of fear, because in some sense they see this as competition,” Cline said. “They’re allowing another public school to come into the district, and that will take some of their students.”

Cline says it would be better to have an outside entity evaluate charter school applications.

She says charter schools are important because they give parents more options about their children’s education and often cater to specific interests and needs of certain students.

 

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