Charter schools on the chopping block in Texas?

The Houston Chronicle reports:

On the day the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) is set to announce its ambitious plan to open dozens of Houston-area charter schools in the next decade, state lawmakers will be considering a bill that would make it easier to shut down nearly 90 under-performing charter campuses. Seventeen of those struggling charter schools are in Houston.

According to an analysis of Senate Bill 4 by the Austin-based Charter School Policy Institute, 57 campuses would have been closed for low math scores on the 2005 and 2006 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Thirty-two more would have been closed for carrying too much debt in 2005.

The proposed legislation also would reward consistently high-performing charter schools, such as KIPP, with extra money for facilities.