| Legal Parameters for Charters |
6/8/04 11:32 AM |
| Author:
Janet Wadley
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You raise interesting points about elements perceived necessary to be a "real" or successful charter school. Technical strategy for implementation often involves many parameters and factors unconsidered on the theoretical drawing board. In California, state law requres that conversion charters acquire the signatures of at least "...50 percent of the permanent status teachers currently employed at the public school to be converted." (California Education Code Section 47605(a)(2)) Consequently, any NCLB conversion strategy in California must meet with the approval of the majority of teachers currently employed at the failing NCLB school. It is unlikely that teachers will sign a petition, expressing that they are meaningfully interested in teaching at the proposed conversion charter school, if it threatens their employment. It is also unlikely that district-employed teachers will sign such a petition if they perceive the district is not in favor of the conversion strategy. A slash and burn strategy will most likely not fly, unless that is the strategy the district wants to employ and the district guarantees placement for teachers currently employed at the school elsewhere in the district. In California, proponents of a more aggressive "top down" response to failing NCLB schools will most likely be looking at one of the four other NCLB reconstruction options.
Posted as a reply to:
Conversion schools must be "real" charters by Jim Peyser 
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