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
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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.
National Charter Schools Conference Program Now Online During National Charter Schools Conference
The 124 sessions to be presented at the 2007 National Charter Schools Conference are available for viewing online at the conference website. Conference strands include: Charter School Design; Instruction and Leadership; Charter School Funding, Facilities and Finance; Performance and Accountability; Advocacy and Messaging; Policy Environment; Governance and Operations; and State of the Movement. Keynote speakers include US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, Newsweek Magazine Editor Jon Meacham, and Kevin Johnson Founder of St. HOPE Public Schools. Register today to join 3,000 colleagues in Albuquerque, New Mexico April 24th–27th to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the charter school movement. For questions, call 206-463-3344 or e-mail nationalconference@publiccharters.org.
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, (03/01/2007)
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Green Dot Public Schools Seeks Expansion in Los Angeles
Charter operator Steve Barr has submitted a proposal to new LAUSD Superintendent David Brewer III, seeking to transform three poor-performing high schools, as well as their feeder middle schools. Barr, who has 12 charters pending within LAUSD, is focusing on predominantly African-American neighborhoods, since eight of Green Dot's 10 schools are almost entirely Latino. Brewer said Barr is one of several people who have approached him with reform plans and he will decide whether any are to be implemented. Barr said he hopes to partner with the district, but if he encounters resistance, he will mobilize the community to ensure their demands for change are heard. He said a majority of blacks in the community are dropping out or sending their children elsewhere. "Our theory of change is the district will never get better until we get African-American and white families to move back in the district," he said.
Source: Los Angeles Daily News, (01/28/2007)
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Bush Administration Calls for Allowing Local Officials to Override State Charter Caps
On January 24, the Bush administration called for changes to the No Child Left Behind Act, which Congress is scheduled to renew this year. The proposal includes giving local school officials the power to override teachers' contracts and state limits on charter schools in the case of persistently poor-performing schools. Margaret Spellings, the U.S. Secretary of Education, said the goal was to provide students in failing schools with other options and "to make sure we have our best personnel in the neediest places." She said that allowing local officials to close failing schools and replace them with charter schools would give children new options. Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association is angry about the proposal. "It appears that, instead of putting forth areas that we have commonality on, they put forth the stuff where they knew there would be no agreement. If we have to go to war, we are certainly prepared to do so."
Source: New York Times (free registration required), (01/26/2007)
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Hawaii Board of Education Calls for Audit of Charter Schools' Office
The Hawaii Board of Education has called for an audit of the Charter School Administrative Office to find out whether it has effective financial and operational controls, and to identify any troubled areas and make recommendations for improvement. The office distributes more than $47 million annually to the state's 27 charter schools. Since it was established three years ago, the office has been headed by four different people, with Vanelle Maunalei Love, a former charter school administrator, serving now as its interim executive director. Love replaced Jim Shon, whose firing at a BOE meeting last year angered many in the charter school community. Love originally proposed the audit after she took office. Board member Karen Knudsen said the audit is being done only now because the board just hired its own auditor, who will likely perform similar reviews of schools and other offices.
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, (01/26/2007)
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Charter Advocates Applaud Proposed Charter Cap Override
Illinois law caps the number of charter schools at 60, one of the lowest caps nationally. Last week, at a Chicago charter school, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings pushed the idea of overriding state caps on charters, along with other proposed changes to the No Child Left Behind law. "When schools are chronically failing for five or six years, more serious interventions have to occur," Spellings said while visiting Noble Street Charter High School, one of Chicago's top-performing high schools. "Schools like Noble have wait lists of over 1,000," schools CEO Arne Duncan said. "They are doing something parents and students are looking for." Union officials and some state legislators oppose the proposal. "That's a lot of nerve," said state Rep. Monique Davis. If Congress pursues the Bush administration's idea, the charter override will likely pass constitutional muster, said Northwestern University law professor Martin Redish.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times, (01/26/2007)
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Denver District Pays Schools to Lure Back Students from Charters
In an effort to draw back students from charter schools and schools outside the Denver school district, district schools will receive cash if they successfully attract new students. The schools will receive $1,395 for each new student, but to receive the money, the school must have a net gain of students. Superintendent Michael Bennet said the bonuses are designed to motivate principals to recruit students into DPS traditional schools. The district has lost more than 8,000 students in the past six years.
Source: Denver Post, (01/26/2007)
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First Year Study of Baltimore's Public Charters Released
Last year, Baltimore opened 12 public charter schools, enrolling approximately 3,000 children. The first report on the schools' performance shows mixed results. Six of 10 charters that were assessed on standardized tests met state benchmarks. The highest performance was at KIPP Ujima Village Academy, which posted the state's highest math scores in seventh and eighth grades. The charter schools' racial and economic compositions appear similar to other schools in their communities, though the percentage of students with disabilities is lower. The charter schools are attracting more students from outside the system than are other public schools, indicating that some parents are choosing charters over private schools. Nevertheless, Benjamin Feldman, who directs the district's research office said, it does not appear that the charters have created "enclaves of entitlement and privilege," as some critics have charged.
Source: Baltimore Sun, (01/25/2007)
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Teachers Join Union in Several Charter Schools in Florida
Teachers in seven charter schools in Florida have voted to join the American Federation of Teachers, becoming the first charter schools in the state to be unionized. Pay was not the motivating factor behind the Pembroke Pines drive, union officials said. Mid-career teachers in the Pines charter system earn more than their counterparts in traditional Broward schools. Teachers voiced the desire for the right to negotiate policies, due process, the same rules at all seven schools and the assurance that policies won't change if their principal or City Manager Charlie Dodge leaves. Union officials said teachers at other charter schools in Broward have expressed interest in unionizing.
Source: Miami Herald (free registration required), (01/25/2007)
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Charter School Leaders in California Frustrated by Inadequate District Facilities
Under California law, school districts are required to provide adequate facilities for charter schools they oversee. At Richmond Leadership Charter High School, students have to eat lunch in an outside courtyard and attend class in a building that has an asbestos problem and has been deemed seismically unsafe. The school has submitted multiple requests in the past few years with minimal results. But some district officials say that finding facility solutions for charter schools is not an easy task. "It's kind of a daunting issue," said Bill Savidge, a West Contra Costa Unified School District official. "There are no easy solutions here, and we're working on it." Another spokesman, Paul Ehara, said "Leadership High School has reminded us that bringing litigation against the district is one option at their disposal." The district has until April to offer a viable site alternative for Leadership and other charters in the district.
Source: Contra Costa Times, (01/24/2007)
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Schools in New Orleans Forced to Wait-List Students
Hundreds of students have had to be wait-listed for schools in New Orleans' state-run Recovery School District, as well as for some of the city’s 31 independent charter schools and the five schools run by the Orleans Parish School Board. Officials say construction delays are largely to blame. "It is not an ideal situation in anyone's opinion, but it is also not ideal to not be able to find enough teachers or not have buildings available on time, but those are the circumstances," said Recovery District Superintendent Robin Jarvis. Several charter leaders are trying to assist with placing students. "We've had calls from the Department of Education multiple times in the last couple weeks seeking spots for kids, and we've been able to place them," said David Grubb, spokesman for the Algiers Charter Schools Association, a system of eight charters.
Source: The Times-Picayune, (01/24/2007)
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