(The Center Square) – In the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order aiming to expand educational opportunity for students and families, the U.S. Department of Education has taken steps to support charter school growth.
The Biden administration had required federal review of “how states approve select entities’ (e.g., private colleges and universities) authorization of charter schools in states where they are already lawful authorizers.” The department announced that it had removed that requirement Thursday in an effort to promote state autonomy in educational decisions and make more schools readily accessible to students and families.
“This decision will allow states like South Carolina to innovate and expand on high-quality charter schools in our state,” said the state’s Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver, in response to the department’s action.
States like South Carolina and Utah “also faced new requests for information that exceeded the standards typically outlined” in the Charter School Program grant application process, according to a press release from the department.
The department called the former requirement “overly bureaucratic” and “burdensome.”
The new application process is supposed to “[reduce] federal micromanagement” and “[eliminate] ideological overreach,” according to the department.
The department also announced the release of $33 million in grant funding to charter management organizations in January.
In his executive order promoting school choice, Trump directed the departments of education, health and human services, defense and the interior to uncover ways federal funding can be used to support educational alternatives to public schools.
