Though the Charter School Friends National Network (“CSFNN”) was an active network of state-level charter support organizations and the charter movement’s leaders, it was not an advocacy organization. This left the charter schools movement without a national voice to advance and defend the charter schools idea.
What type of organization would serve as this national voice was a matter of debate.
In 2002, a planning grant from the Walton Family Foundation to CSFNN led to the creation of a new national membership organization, the National Charter School Alliance. This organization was short-lived. State charter support organizations and philanthropic supporters were divided over key operational issues. The result was that this first Alliance both began and ended in 2003.
A second 2003 attempt at launching a national organization also failed.
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools’ founding president, Nelson Smith, credits former Milwaukee Superintendent and Black Alliance for Educational Options founder Howard Fuller with driving a “grand bargain.” Smith said that Fuller’s “passionate but fair leadership style had earned trust on all sides,” which allowed him to broker the deal between national leaders, state leaders, and funders that led to the Alliance’s public launch in January 2005.
The Alliance became a hub for research, communications, and legislative strategy. It produced key reports on school performance, tracked policy trends, and helped craft model legislation. It also continued CSFNN’s work of nurturing a network of advocates who could learn from one another and respond to shared challenges.
In 2007, the Alliance first hosted the National Charter Schools Conference—a conference that was previously hosted by the U.S. Department of Education. Through this conference, facilitating research collaborations and offering policy support to state leaders, the Alliance helped elevate the movement’s sophistication and brought some unity to the charter schools movement.
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National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Calls on State Legislators
To Lift the Cap on Charter School Growth Now
Courtesy of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Stunting Growth: The Impact of State-Imposed Caps on Charter Schools
Courtesy of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools: Chartering 2.0 Leadership Summit
Courtesy of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
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