WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report by the Center for Education Reform says state charter school laws should be relaxed to allow the innovative schools to expand and accommodate growing waiting lists across the country.

CER analyzed charter school laws in every state based on their construction, implementation and how well they stack up with ideal charter school policy. Forty-three states have charter school laws, according to the report, but less than half are as good as they could be.

Ideally, state laws would allow for more than one charter school authorizer, place few limits on expansion, fund charters equally with public schools, and preserve charter school autonomy. The report issues each state a grade based on how they measure up to the standards, according to USnews.com.

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Washington, D.C., Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan, and Arizona earned A’s on the CER report card, nine states earned B’s, 18 had C’s, and eight received D’s.

Virginia, Iowa and Kansas received failing grades, according to the news site.

The report also measured the rate of charter growth in each state between the 2003-04 and 2013-2014 school years, with D.C. at the top of the list with 62 percent growth, followed by Minnesota with 47.5 percent. In Kansas, the number of charter schools actually decreased from 14 to 11 during that time frame, according to USnews.com.

The CER report notes that while the growth of charters in most areas is encouraging, it’s failing to keep up with student demand.

“With the length of the average charter school waiting list increasing to nearly 300 students, there absolutely needs to be a sense of urgency around creating strong charter school laws that will accelerate the pace of growth to meet demand,” CER President Kara Kerwin said in a statement, according to USnews.com.

If the waiting list isn’t a clear enough sign of the demand for charters, a 2013 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallop Poll cited by the news site shows nearly 70 percent of Americans support public charter schools, and about 66 percent want new charters in their communities.

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Charter schools are public schools, and the public wants more of them.

The only question that remains is who will win the battle – the people or the education establishment, which continues to push for state laws limiting charter growth, because it doesn’t want to compete for students and the state money attached to them.