Many of us complained that the final RTT application was not as strong as the draft version. One area of concern was charter caps. Originally, caps were a nonstarter but in the final regulations, this was eased and only certain types of caps became verboten. So did this small change have any real impact?
Yes, absolutely.
From Idaho (emphasis mine):
Tom Luna, the state superintendent of public instruction, will not ask the Legislature to lift the current cap that limits the number of new charter schools that can open in the state each year to six, after all. While discussing Idaho's application for federal Race to the Top grant funds...Luna revealed that he had been pushing for removal of the cap because he thought it would increase Idaho's chances of receiving federal stimulus money.While meeting with President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Luna explained, they made it clear that any state with a charter cap would be at a competitive disadvantage to receive the grant. Last month, however, Luna received the grant-application guidelines and noticed the federal definition of ???cap??? is a state that requires its charter schools to comprise less than 5 percent of its total schools.?????Idaho doesn't do that,??? Luna said. ???In fact, we have more than 5 percent of our schools as charters.???
...State Rep. Wendy Jaquet said she supports Luna's decision, as well as the idea of reexamining the charter law.?????He read the fine print and realized it wasn't necessary,??? she said.
-Andy Smarick