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St. Paul, Minnesota
City Academy: Charter Schools Making a Difference in
Children's Lives. President Clinton will celebrate National Charter Schools
Week by visiting City Academy, the nation's first charter school. Established
in 1992, the school was created for at-risk high school age students who can
thrive in a small learning community and need extra support. City Academy
serves approximately 100 demographically diverse students. While at City
Academy the President will discuss the future of the charter movement and
participate in an online webside chat with high school students from around the
country. When the President was first elected, City Academy was the nation's
only charter school. Today there are more than 1,700 charter schools
nationwide. In addition thirty-six states and the District of Columbia have
passed charter school laws. Since 1994, the federal government has invested
almost $400 million in charter schools and the President's budget this year
provides an additional $175 million to help reach the President's goal of 3,000
charter schools by 2002. Charter schools are public schools that are granted
some freedom from regulations governing other public schools in exchange for a
commitment to meet or exceed a state's academic standards. |
