Because the “charter school marketplace” is created, maintained, and modified by state legislatures, it is important to understand what influences them. It is also important to recognize the actual and potential role of courts in interpreting charter school statutes. In light of the broad discretion states have in creating and governing the charter school marketplace, this project has two primary research objectives: (1) assess the internal consistency of state charter school laws, and (2) specify the connection between charter legal provisions and the state’s political economy.
The project focuses on such key measures as student achievement rates (such as National Assessment of Educational Progress scores where available), state house indicators on partisan variation, teacher union strength, private school market share, state fiscal health, state innovation climate, leadership style, urbanicity, income and fiscal capacity, and racial and ethnic characteristics of the school age population. Regression analyses will be performed on the dependent variable, namely, the individual provisions regarding supply, range of services, and resources in the charter school law.
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