Dive Brief:

• New Mexico Rep. Christine Trujillo (D-Albuquerque) has introduced a bill into the state's legislature that would prohibit any new charter schools from being approved between June 1, 2017 and Jan. 1, 2020, a moratorium that she hopes will give the state time to improve its oversight systems.
• The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the legislature’s Charter School Subcommittee is already examining how the state’s 97 charter schools are performing, and charter advocates oppose any moratorium, saying it could limit the state’s access to outside funding for charter schools.
• Greta Roskom, co-executive director of the New Mexico Coalition for Charter Schools, said she instead supports higher standards for charter school applications and renewals, and State Public Education Secretary Hanna Skandera has advocated for the closure of poor performing charters instead of a ban on new ones.

Dive Insight:

Charter schools have becoming increasingly polarizing as they claim a growing share of the public school population in the United States. While the very first charter schools were meant to be laboratories of innovation that would contribute to improvements districtwide, they are more often run as completely independent entities with little information sharing about best practices. Charter school opponents point to evidence that they perform no better, on average, than traditional public schools and take money away from neighborhood schools, hurting the public school system overall.

President-elect Donald Trump has been a supporter of school choice efforts throughout his campaign, meaning charter school expansion will likely continue with his support in the coming years. He has also pledged $20 billion in funding for voucher programs that could help families send their children to private schools and leave the public school system entirely.