WASHINGTON – Denver’s charter school program won encouraging comments Wednesday during a congressional hearing.

The U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce is trying to decide whether to support an expansion of charter schools. The committee also wants to determine whether the programs should be modified to make them more effective.

Charter schools are primary and secondary education institutions that do not charge students fees and operate under fewer restrictions than traditional district public schools.

Most charter schools are run as nonprofit organizations, while others are for-profit. The education they offer often is sometimes themed around specific career fields like science and technology.

Their reputation for innovation in education and graduating students with above-average skills has led to popularity and steady growth in their numbers, including in Colorado. About 10 percent of the nation’s primary and secondary school students attend charter schools.

The Trump administration’s 2019 budget proposes increasing federal funding for charter schools by 25 percent.

Colorado U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, who is a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, has been a major supporter of public schools, including nonprofit charter schools with success records. He opposes the for-profit schools.

During the hearing Wednesday, he asked educators whether innovations developed at charter schools could be transferred to other schools.

“There’s no real mechanism to transfer that innovation,” said Nina Rees, president of the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools. “Denver is an exception.”

In Denver, charter schools are authorized by the public school district. Administrators from the charter schools and traditional public schools often share best practices.

The National Alliance of Public Charter Schools ranks Colorado second in the nation for laws favorable toward charter schools. Indiana ranks first.

“Colorado jumped from number five to number two, in part because of legislation that the state enacted in 2017 that will provide charter schools with equitable access to a local funding stream that most districts had refused to share with charter schools,” says the Alliance’s 2018 report, which ranked charter schools nationwide.

Polis, D-Boulder, asked whether Trump administration immigration policies might result in good charter school teachers or their students being deported.

Rees acknowledged the risk of deportation.

“We stand firmly with them,” Rees said as she agreed with Polis that Congress should try to prevent mass deportations.

About 7,000 charter schools serving nearly 3.2 million students operate nationwide. Surveys show another five million students would enroll in them if they had an opportunity.

Witnesses at the hearing said enrollment in charter schools sometimes is greater for urban, low-income and minority students.

“Students who have traditionally been underserved are benefiting,” said Greg Richmond, president of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers. “Studies show black, Hispanic, low-income and special education students at charter schools all show positive gains in math and reading compared to their peers at traditional schools.”