Washington — U.S. Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education Morgan Brown today visited Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science to celebrate National Charter Schools Week. President Bush proclaimed the week of April 30-May 5, 2007, National Charter Schools Week to highlight the role of charter schools as innovators and educational entrepreneurs and to recognize the dedicated efforts of our nation's charter schools to improve student achievement.

"Schools like Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science demonstrate every day that No Child Left Behind is empowering parents and providing more choices and opportunities for all students to have a quality education," Brown said. "I'm proud to be visiting a school that is leading the way for our children and I applaud the students and educators here for their commitment to excellence in education."

Cities like Washington, D.C. and New Orleans—where more than 60 percent of public school students attend charters—are proving that charter schools can be very effective at scale. They're not just solutions for small portions of a community's students anymore.

President Bush's proposals for strengthening the No Child Left Behind Act, during reauthorization this year, include provisions that would enhance the availability and performance of charter schools. To give more students the chance to attend a successful charter school, the provisions recommend that the federal charter school program support all viable charter applications that could improve outcomes for students, provide greater flexibility in charter schools' use of grant funds, and support local decisions to reopen schools identified for restructuring as charter schools—even if the law limits the number of possible charter schools within that state.

Through the groundbreaking No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings have supported a robust expansion of school choice options for students and parents, helping to pave the way for greater access to charter schools. Since 2001, the president has invested $1.4 billion in the Charter Schools Program to facilitate start-ups and spread clear information about successful schools and has also provided over $262 million for charter school facilities.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the opening of the first charter school, the City Academy High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. Today, there are over 4,000 charter schools in 40 states, plus Washington, D.C., serving more than a million students. For more information on the Charter Schools Program please visit http://www.ed.gov/programs/charter/index.html For Building on Results: A Blueprint for Strengthening the No Child Left Behind Act please visit: http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/nclb/buildingonresults.html

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