Public schools are failing U.S. children by the millions. A chronic achievement gap puts capable children at risk of failure simply by virtue of race, socioeconomic status or zip code. And across the board, our children are increasingly falling behind international norms for both graduation rates and test performance.

For systemic improvements to be realized, equal access to quality education is critical. Families who cannot afford to live near high-performing neighborhood schools should be able to enroll their children in quality public schools. And those children should be able to attend safe schools where good teachers help them meet their learning goals each day, each semester, and each year.

It’s an achievable goal; innovative, alternative public schools have shown that they can drive improvements for children and the school system overall. To this end, we support a variety of quality school options for public school students. Since 2006, we have invested in quality charter school expansion, alternative school models and innovative learning models that:

• Drive innovation and improved standards among schools competing for enrollment
• Better meet the educational needs of a broad range of children
• Measurably improve performance and graduation rates among children at both elementary and secondary levels