There were no hearings on the amendment, as it was inserted into the bill just two days before the House voted to pass. That time frame denied the Board of Education, the body that governs the School District of Philadelphia, the opportunity to discuss the language. There had been no public push for legislation to create a new category of schools. In fact, charter schools have long sold themselves as innovative alternatives to public schools even as many followed a strict “no-excuses," test-prep curriculum. Was this about the need for a special innovative designation — or a way for one charter operator to escape accountability for its academic standards through a custom-made loophole?