How Policymakers Started the Federal Charter School Movement: A Case Study in Policy Entrepreneurship

Abstract

The objective of this study is to show how policy entrepreneurship can serve as a theory of policy change. The federal charter school movement served as a prime example of policy entrepreneurship in action. Four policymakers (U.S. Senator David Durenberger, U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, President Bill Clinton and Secretary of Education Richard Riley) were instrumental in the establishment of the federal charter schools program. To identify and distinguish these individuals, this investigation adopts a theoretical framework of policy entrepreneurship coined by scholars, Michael Mintrom and Phillipa Norman, which requires that policy entrepreneurs have the following abilities; social acuity, team building, problem definition, and leading by example. This investigation will analyze how these policymakers influenced the policy process, by conducting a historical examination of their legislative and political activities that led to passage of the first federal charter school law in 1994.

While the charter school movement has garnered significant academic attention, there is a scarcity of information to explain how federal charter policy came to fruition. Michael Mintrom conducted a similar study, where he used historical accounts to show correlational examples of policy entrepreneurship as explanations of policy change. This study proceeds along similar lines by using some of his methodology to show the significant impact of four separate policymakers who played a leading role in the movement to redefine public education.