Advocacy

Bold By Choice Summit 2026 | Bold Talk by Gary Larson (Larson Communications) | April 28, 2026

By Jim Goenner, Ph.D.In partnership with Bluum | January 2026 Public education is not a program. It’s a civic infrastructure. When it works, it transforms lives, supports families, encourages educators, strengthens communities, and makes Idaho a great place to live, work, and play. Since its founding in 1890, Idaho has long valued freedom and limited…

Movements change what’s possible. Sectors protect what is. By Jim Goenner, Ph.D.Published in CharterFolk | November 2025 I’m grateful to be part of the charter schools movement. We are a group of spirited, strong-willed, opinionated mavericks. We don’t think alike, act alike, or look alike. But we are united by something deeper: a conviction that every child deserves a great education, and the “one best system” is standing in the way…

About Season 2 Episode 5: Chartering the Frontier Every region has its trailblazers. In the early 1990s, California and Colorado became unlikely frontiers for the charter school movement. Their laws didn’t pass by chance. They were the product of bold leadership, creative coalition-building, and relentless persistence. California’s story is one of speed, innovation, and unlikely…

About Season 2 Episode 4: Charters Go National Great ideas rarely succeed on vision alone. They need champions. They need strategy. They need leaders willing to ask bold questions and act when the window opens. That’s exactly what happened when the chartering idea began to move from a spark in Minnesota to a national movement….

About Season 2 Episode 3: The First Law Behind every bold law is a bolder story. In this episode of Bold by Choice, we step into the moment that changed everything—the birth of the first charter school law. It wasn’t a straight path. It wasn’t inevitable. And it certainly wasn’t easy. But it’s in the…

About Season 2, Episode 2: Ideas to Action “You can’t expect new results from old designs.” Those words capture the essence of Ted Kolderie’s legacy—and the heart of this episode of Bold by Choice Podcast. Kolderie isn’t just another policy thinker. He is a systems designer, a civic leader who challenged us to stop patching…

About Season 2, Episode 1: The Idea Every movement has a beginning. For chartering, it did not start with national policy, but with a bold idea scribbled on paper, shared in speeches, debated in think tanks, and carried into law by people who believed public education could be more than what it was.  In this first episode of…

How Chartering Can Build a Better Future for Students, Educators, and Communities A Tribute to Ted Kolderie at 95 By Jim Goenner, Ph.D. Everything Becomes Obsolete Everything that stops growing and adapting eventually becomes obsolete. Not because it fails, but because the world keeps changing.  The horse did not fail; the car made it unnecessary. Candles did…

More from Dr. Howard Fuller: https://charterlibrary.org/search/?_author=howard-fuller&_author_list=howard-fuller

More from Ember Reichgott Junge: https://charterlibrary.org/library/ember-reichgott-junge-bio/

More from Ember Reichgott Junge: https://charterlibrary.org/library/ember-reichgott-junge-bio/

More from Ember Reichgott Junge: https://charterlibrary.org/library/ember-reichgott-junge-bio/

View this clip on the National Charter Schools Founders Library: https://charterlibrary.org/library/former-governor-of-ny-george-e-pataki-excerpt-this-is-the-civil-rights-issue-of-the-21st-century/ Watch the full interview of Governor Pataki: https://charterlibrary.org/library/interview-of-former-governor-of-ny-george-e-pataki/

Effective charter school board members know they represent both the public and the school they serve. This involves strong communication skills and the ability to tell their school’s special story. Hear about best practices and learn how you might best promote your school as an advocate and ambassador by joining Institute Director of Policy & Partnerships Wendy Larvick and strategic communications and advocacy expert Peri Lynn Turnbull of PLT Strategies for this informative session.

Fight for the things that you care about. Whether it is federal, state, or local policy, charter authorizers are impacted by the decisions of others. The good news is that authorizers can influence this policy. Join the Institute to better understand who makes these policies, how they are crafted, and how your authorizing organization can use its voice and the voices of those they serve to ensure only the best policies get enacted.

Engage our experienced team of former CSO founders and executive leadership to guide change initiatives, increase impact, or re-introduce services.