Former President Bill Clinton urged educators from charter schools today to continue to lead the nation in taking risks to improve public institutions. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to keep this country in the change business,鈥� he said.
In a 45-minute speech accepting a lifetime achievement award from the Washington-based National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Clinton made several specific requests of the 4,000 charter school supporters gathered here for the alliance鈥檚 annual meeting.
Clinton urged charter schools to get involved in an initiative he鈥檚 planning to launch with a meeting this month in Chicago for public buildings, such as hospitals and schools, to become more energy-efficient. He said charter schools that participate could save on their utility bills in the long run and also create much-needed jobs for some of the Americans who are unemployed.
Clinton also asked the leaders of charter schools to sign up their schools to be part of the , an effort he鈥檚 leading to combat obesity in children. Clinton said 239 charter schools are among the 12,000 schools that are members of the alliance. He鈥檇 like to see at least 2,000 charter schools take part.
Clinton said he鈥檚 happy that he 鈥渄isregarded鈥� his political advisers and advocated for the concept of charter schools while running for president in 1992. He said charter schools were born out of a sense from some educators that 鈥渢oo many schools had a monopoly on customers鈥� and some weren鈥檛 responsive to students.
Peter C. Groff, the president and chief executive officer of the alliance, called Clinton an 鈥渆arly champion of charter schools鈥� and 鈥渋nstrumental鈥� to their growth. He observed that Clinton had created in 1994 the federal Charter Schools Program, which is now a $256 million program, to help finance such schools. Over Clinton鈥檚 presidency, the number of charter schools grew from one in 1992 to 2,000, he said.
Now the United States has 5,277 charter schools, which make up 5.4 percent of all public schools, according to the alliance.
Photo: Former President Bill Clinton addresses the National Charter Schools Conference on June 21 in Atlanta. (John Bazemore/AP)