On average, the funding gap between charter schools and traditional schools is 22 percent, or $1,800 per pupil. The average charter school ends up with a total funding shortfall of nearly half a million dollars.
Source: Charter School Funding: Inequity’s Next Frontier
|
|
 |
|
|
Note: Please be aware that online publishers often change URLs or no longer provide access to articles after 7 days. If any of the below links no longer work, access the publishing newspaper and search the archives for the keywords in the subject matter. Good luck.
Dayton Superintendent Vows to Compete with Charters
Twenty-three charter schools want to open in Dayton. Already, 36 charter schools operate in the Dayton area, compared with 34 Dayton Public Schools. Dayton Public officials are painting a grim picture of charter schools financially draining the district, and are vowing a fight. "We are not going to fold. We are going to be the system of choice in this community," Dayton Public Schools Superintendent Percy Mack said May 20. Mack said school officials plan to compete against the charter movement by improving academic achievement and marketing that information to the public. The district has 17,677 students, down from about 28,000 in 1990. About 6,200 students attend charter schools in the district, about 4,800 more than five years ago, district officials said.
Source: Dayton Daily News, (05/22/2005)
-----------------------------------------------
"Third Wave" of Texas Charters Most Troubled
In 1998, the Texas Board of Education approved the creation of new 89 charter schools, more than doubling the number of existing schools in the state. This "third wave" of charter schools has been at the center of several high-profile financial scandals and has often yielded poor academic results. Many blame Generation Three schools for limiting the success and growth of charter schools. "They've just been a big black eye for everybody," said Deborah Havens, who was the state's assistant director of charter schools when the Generation Three schools were approved. "There are stellar charter schools all over the state, and yet their names are constantly smeared and attacked because of all ... [the mistakes] of the Generation Three schools." State education officials have recently enacted new state charter rules that should give the state more power to close poor-performing charter schools.
Source: Dallas Morning News, (05/21/2005)
-----------------------------------------------
Some Charter Teachers Forming Unions in Pennsylvania
Some charter school teachers in Pennsylvania are opting to form unions. Union officials say contracts can be tailored to individual charters' needs and mission statements. And administrators at unionized charters say it's possible to negotiate contracts that do not erode flexibility or jeopardize those missions. Some charter advocates say union contracts could undermine charter schools' missions and teaching flexibility. "It will make them more rigid and more bureaucratic," said Terry Moe, a Stanford University professor. Some educational experts do not believe there is a unionization trend occurring in the over 3,000 charter schools in the nation. "It's still comparatively rare for charter schools to be unionized," said Nelson Smith, president of the Charter School Leadership Council. "Teachers in charter schools tend to want to have freedom and flexibility, and the freedom to innovate is one of the reasons they're in a charter school," he said.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, (05/20/2005)
-----------------------------------------------
Charter Schools Take No Local Dollars in Ohio
Contrary to common arguments, community schools do not take local tax dollars from Ohio's school districts, according to state officials addressing the Ohio House Alternative Education Subcommittee on May 12. They do, however, reduce the total budget available to districts because the state subsidy is reduced, not because of any diversion of local tax revenue. Under the current funding formula for public school districts and charter schools, the district receives its state share based on the number of students living in the district who attend state-funded public schools. If a student does not attend a district school, but attends a charter school, the full amount of that student's base cost is deducted from the public school district budget and paid to the charter school. Sherry Panizo, senior program evaluator, Legislative Office of Education Oversight, said a change to sending state funding directly to charter schools would likely reduce public school districts' animosity, because they would not see a line item that represented a loss.
Source: This Week Community Newspaper, (05/19/2005)
-----------------------------------------------
Massachusetts Governor Applauds State's Charter Schools
At a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of charter schools in the state, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney hailed charter schools as a valuable component of the state's public education system. He said charter schools particularly benefit students in poorer districts, where the alternatives to traditional public schools are limited. "There are people in both parties who see the value of charter schools, for urban kids and as a greenhouse of new ideas for all our public schools," he said. "There are some who feel that charter schools are just for the privileged few, and that's really not the case," Romney told approximately 200 people in the auditorium of the Neighborhood House Charter School. "It's just the other way around."
Source: Burlington Union, (05/19/2005)
-----------------------------------------------
Another Massachusetts District Joins Fight Against Charter School
Another Massachusetts district has joined a legal battled against a charter school, the Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School, which is slated to open this fall. The Needham School Committee voted on May 17 to join the suit. The school was intended to enroll students in a four-district region only, including the towns of Hudson, Marlborough, Maynard and Clinton, but is instead drawing students from 49 different districts, including at least a half-dozen from Needham. Opponents of the school say that instead of drawing students from all performance levels from the districts specified in the charter, the charter school is drawing only high-performing students from many districts. "Obviously, there's another side to this, and the DOE has signed on to the other side," said committee member Gary Crossen, referring to the fact that the state Department of Education has not taken any action against the charter school.
Source: Needham Times, (05/19/2005)
-----------------------------------------------
Illinois Court Considers Effect of Charters on Districts
On May 18, the Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments over whether education officials have the power to reject charter proposals that might harm the financial health of a school district. Assistant Atty. Gen. Mary Patricia Kerns, representing the Illinois State Board of Education, told the justices that local and state education officials have a right to consider whether opening a charter school would drain the district's resources, which could harm other public school students. But David Chizewer, an attorney for a Rockford charter school group, said "It is illegal under the charter school law to consider the independent finances of a school district that have absolutely nothing to do with the terms of a charter school itself." The legal battle is the first time the state's highest court has taken up the charter school law, passed by the General Assembly in 1996.
Source: Chicago Tribune (free registration required), (05/19/2005)
-----------------------------------------------
Florida Board of Education Threatens Districts That Treat Charters Unfairly
On May 17, the Florida Board of Education raised the possibility of withholding funding from school districts it believes are treating charter schools unfairly. The discussion followed a series of cases in which the board sided with charters against school districts that either wanted to shut them down or keep them from opening. In a handful of decisions, the state determined the districts had violated the charters' right to due process and skirted state law. The board "needs to send a message," said vice chairman T. Willard Fair. Education Commissioner John Winn said he would contact a handful of districts in coming weeks to ask how they will better comply with charter school laws. If the response is not satisfactory, the board would begin the steps to "the ultimate sanction," withholding education dollars. An official for one of the districts singled out said "We don't know what we're doing wrong. But we'll certainly do whatever they want."
Source: St. Petersburg Times, (05/18/2005)
-----------------------------------------------
District Slashes Funding for New Hampshire’s First Charter School from $82,000 to $1
Franklin Career Academy, New Hampshire’s first charter school, may have only $1 to work with next year. On May 16, the school board voted to reduce the money set aside in the district's budget to pay the charter school -- from $82,000 to $1. According to state law, school districts that anticipate some of their students will attend a charter school must include a line item in their budget for that expense. The districts are supposed to pay the charter schools their share of state education aid, a figure that could fluctuate next year. Career Academy founder Bill Grimm said that he and his colleagues have tried for months to convince the state to change the laws related to the transfer of education aid. But right now, "that is the law," he said.
Source: Concord Monitor, (05/17/2005)
-----------------------------------------------
Thank you for your interest:
Please be aware that publishers sometimes change URLs or no longer provide access to articles. If this occurs, access the publishing newspaper and search for the subject matter.
Submit news items on the Web:
You can view archives or submit news items at: http://www.uscharterschools.org/pub/uscs_docs/n/index.htm.
To unsubscribe or subscribe:
If you would like to be removed from this list, send an email to: cs.unsubscribe.a.16@email.edgateway.net or manage your subscription via your user profile at USCharterSchools.org. We respect your right to privacy. Please read our privacy policy. To subscribe or contribute news items you will need to register with USCharterSchools.org.
Did you receive this issue as a forward from a friend? Get your own subscription to the Charter Schools News Connection here.
Charter Schools News Connection is sponsored by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and distributed by WestEd.
|
|
