Charter School Expansion Act of 1998

President Clinton and Richard Riley led this part of the charter saga, with the ultimate victory of passing the Charter School Expansion Act of 1998.128 With the popularity of charter schools sweeping the nation, the strategy of federal political activism would eventually contribute to the success of Clinton’s long-term fulfillment of passing charter legislation to help create 3,000 charters by the end of 2000. Congressional and Presidential support for charters transcends rhetoric, and is best understood while reviewing annual appropriations for the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP). Figure 1.2 includes data collected from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Table 3: Charter School Program Funding (FY95-FY15)129 Fiscal Years CSP Appropriations   FY15 $253,100,000 FY14 $248,100,000 FY13 $241,500,000 FY12 $254,836,000 FY11 $255,519,000 FY10 $256,031,000 FY09 $216,031,000 FY08 $211,031,000 FY07 $214,783,000 FY06 $214,783,000 FY05 $216,000,000 128 Charter School Expansion Act of 1998, Pub. L. No. 105-278, 112 Stat. 2682 (1998). 129 National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, “Charter School Program Funding: Fiscal Year 1995-2015.” Accessed on December 12, 2015. 62 FY04 $218,000,000 FY03 $198,000,000 FY02 $200,000,000 FY01 $190,000,000 FY00 $145,000,000 FY99 $100,000,000 FY98 $80,000,000 FY97 $50,000,000 FY96 $18,000,000 FY95 $6,000,000 Passage of IASA marks the completion of a shared vision by two U.S. Senators who personify the concept of policy entrepreneurship. It is my belief that the story of Durenberger and Lieberman represents the type of unique strategy and leadership that took place at all levels of civic society to bring charter schools into the mainstream.