Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement on her opposition to H.R. 10, Success and Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Act, which fails to require sufficient disclosure about student achievement and financial information. The bill passed on Friday by a vote of 360 to 45. There were 27 members of Congress who did not vote.

“There were some parts of this bill I supported, particular on the requirement that charter schools disclose attrition rates for students,” said Congresswoman Clarke. “But this bill perpetuates many of the disparities between public charter schools and other public non-charter schools, such as the often substantial differences in salaries for teachers and administrators. For example, there are charter school administrators in New York City who are paid more than twice as much as the New York State Commissioner of Education or the New York City Schools Chancellor. In addition, the disclosure requirements for charter schools will remain much less comprehensive than for other public schools. We cannot allow this situation, in which we have inequities established in law between charter schools and other schools, to continue.”

Congresswoman Clarke co-sponsored an amendment to require charter schools to disclose student retention rates, a different version of which was included in the final bill.

Congresswoman Clarke continued: “I am particularly disappointed that even as this bill has been passed in the House of Representatives, the Elementary and Secondary School Act – which governs non-charter public schools – has not been voted on in the Senate. There are fewer than two million students enrolled in charter schools. There are more than forty-seven million students enrolled in non-charter public schools. We need to reexamine our priorities.”

U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the House Committee on Small Business, Ethics, and Homeland Security, where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.