In 1997, the Pennsylvania General Assembly voted to give families school choice by passing the Charter School Act, allowing communities to establish public charter schools. Its foresight could not have been clearer. In just 10 years, 123 public charter schools have been established across the commonwealth.

But as with any successful venture, Pennsylvania's charter school movement has experienced significant challenges from those who resist change. The most significant challenges to public charter schools and family school choice have come from special-interest groups that include the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Fortunately, some of our elected officials have resisted the efforts of special interest groups to restrict or eliminate parental choice.

Under the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware), the Pennsylvania Senate recently sent the educational establishment a message and paved the way for more Pennsylvanians to exercise school choice. By an overwhelmingly bipartisan majority of 43-2, the Senate voted to put in statute what is already in practice: the banning of enrollment caps unless agreed to by both the charter school and the governing authority.

This is important, for example, because the Rendell administration, which controls the Education Empowerment Board of the Chester Upland School District, believes it can create a new policy - capping charter school attendance - not found anywhere in the charter school law.

More than 64,000 students attend Pennsylvania's 123 charter public schools. However, 28,000 students across Pennsylvania remain on charter school waiting lists. There are simply not enough public charter schools to meet families' demands for school choice. And enrollment caps on many of the commonwealth's charter schools further restricts family access to public school choice.

Thanks to the leadership of Majority Leader Pileggi and the full Senate, many students on public charter school waiting lists might have the chance to attend the school of their choice.

Last year, Susquehanna Research & Polling reported 65 percent of Pennsylvania's taxpayers support the continued creation of new public charter schools. Furthermore, more than half of the commonwealth's residents support having the choice of cyber public charter schools.

Although Senate Bill 805 on charter school caps is strongly opposed by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and the Pennsylvania State Education Association, it is our hope the Pennsylvania House of Representatives will also respect the will of Pennsylvania's families, students, and taxpayers by voting to remove charter school caps throughout the commonwealth.

Tim Daniels is executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools.