Education Secretary McMahon announces $500 million for charter schools 

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has announced the distribution of $500 million for the federal charter school program during the Ohio portion of her Returning Education to the States Tour.

The release, announced Sept. 24 at the Center for Christian Virtue, marks the largest charter school investment in history, according to NBC4.

“A one-size-fits-all education system is not working for our students,” McMahon said. “Charter schools allow for innovative educational models that expand learning opportunities for students.”

Ohio has allowed charter schools since 1997 and will receive $105 million in grants for charter-related expenses.

Charter schools are public schools that operate independently, are typically nonreligious and have more flexibility than traditional public schools.

The secretary’s Ohio tour began in Cleveland for the opening of the Experiential Robotics Platform. The program intends to prepare students in Cleveland Metro Schools for work heavily influenced by artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. Over 1,000 robotics kits will be given to students “at less than the cost of a textbook” this fall.

McMahon also traveled to Columbus with U.S. Sen. Jon Husted for a Science of Reading Training, which demonstrated how it has worked to increase national literacy growth.

“I was honored to have met with Secretary McMahon yesterday to discuss our shared belief that Ohioans know what is best for Ohio’s children,” Ohio State Sen. Andrew Brenner said. “Education decisions should be made here at home – not in Washington – so parents, teachers, and local communities can prepare our students for their best possible future.”

McMahon’s tour is the secretary’s “most important mandate” of empowering the states to lead in education governance by reducing federal oversight.

“The federal government is not giving up on education,” she wrote in a blog post. “We are recognizing the power of delegating educational authority to the states, as the founders intended.”

McMahon also praised the nation’s first digitally controlled nuclear reactor at Purdue University in Indiana as one of the impressive state-level accomplishments she’s witnessed so far on the tour. The reinstitution of the Science of Reading in Mississippi serves as another.

“States are the laboratories of educational democracy,” she wrote. “Visiting with state education officials on this tour is a powerful demonstration of how local leadership can spur nationwide change. …

“I look forward to ushering in the golden age of American learning with you all, on behalf of America’s future generations.”