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 Week to Be Celebrated This Week
Beginning today, charter advocates, parents, teachers and students from across the country will celebrate the role high-performing charter schools play in opening doors to opportunities for families. With the theme of "Closing the Gap," the 8th annual National Charter Schools Week will highlight how charter schools are making meaningful gains for disadvantaged children. In honor of the celebration, President George W. Bush made a proclamation, saying "Charter schools are getting results and helping guide children across the country on the path to a better life…we thank educational entrepreneurs for supporting charter schools, and we honor all those involved in charter schools for helping their students reach high expectations." To help make the week a success, the Alliance is offering a toolkit, which includes suggested engagement activities, templates, and talking points.
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, (04/30/2007)
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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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Successful Ohio Charter Schools Profiled
The Columbus Dispatch recently profiled highly successful charter schools in central Ohio. All of the schools share small classes, individual attention, and a sense of freedom. School leaders at Arts and College Preparatory Academy and the Graham School let students decide how to dress and, to some degree, how school should work. Students at the schools get to have an input in the rules at their regularly held town-hall-style meetings. They are responsible for their behavior and their commitment to schoolwork. Principals say policing students' fashion choices is a distraction; they would rather focus on learning. "At other schools, the decision is made for the student," said Greg Brown of the Graham School. "Here, students own their decisions and own their education. We give students an opportunity to succeed or fail, learning from it either way." About 95 percent of students at both schools passed the reading portion of the Ohio Graduation Test last year.
Source: The Columbus Dispatch, (02/19/2007)
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Florida District Seeks to Take Control of Local Chartering
At least 10 charter schools in Palm Beach County are struggling financially. Of the district's 36 charter schools, 16 are running on negative balances. In response, the county school board has adopted a resolution to retain exclusive authority over charter schools within the geographic boundaries of the district. "We're submitting to be a charter district and waiving the status requirement to Tallahassee," said Superintendent Dr. Art Johnson. For fiscal year 2007-08 and each fiscal year thereafter, a district school board may seek exclusive authority to authorize charter schools within the geographic boundaries of the school district. Charter applicants may not submit applications to the Florida Schools of Excellence (FSE) Commission while the district has a request to retain exclusive authority pending before the SBE.
Source: Boca Raton News, (02/18/2007)
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Indiana House Democrats to Vote on Provisions Banning Virtual Charters
With pressure from the state's largest teachers' union, Democrats in the Indiana House of Representatives have proposed provisions that could ban virtual charter schools. "There will be a vote on it [this] week," said Dan Clark of the Indiana State Teachers Association. "They're pretty serious." Clark said the union has two concerns: funding levels and whether the law allows virtual charter schools. According to Larry Gabbert, director of Ball State University's Office of Charter Schools, a sponsor which will open two virtual schools this year, "there's quite a demand for students who want to get into charter schools. It's a choice thing. This country is a democracy, and people want to have choices." Gabbert said he was not aware of any research to support the ISTA's claims. "What it really comes down to is what happens at the end of the day. Just because somebody is talking about change at this point, that doesn't mean it'll happen."
Source: Ball State Daily News, (02/18/2007)
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Pittsburgh District Shortchanges Payments to Over 20 Charter Schools
Some charter school leaders have discovered that Pittsburgh Public Schools has been under-funding charter schools since 1998. In response, the district has begun sending $2.9 million in makeup payments to 12 charter schools and nine cyber-charter schools. But leaders are frustrated that the checks do not include interest. State Department of Education spokesman Mike Storm said he was not aware of another case in which a school district routinely had shorted charter schools on monthly payments. Linda Clautti, chief executive officer of Northside Urban Pathways Charter School, said the issue reinforced charter schools' belief that school districts can mistreat them with impunity. "If the situation were reversed, we would be looked upon as doing something grossly illegal and probably taken to court and shut down and everything else," she said.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, (02/16/2007)
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Parents Push for More Charter Schools in North Carolina
The charter cap has been reached in North Carolina, at the same time interest in charter schools is surging. In Wake County, one of the nation's most rapidly growing districts, some parents have turned to charter schools as an option to avoid student reassignment which currently threatens to affect more than 10,000 students. At Franklin Academy in Wake Forest, applications nearly doubled this year. More than 1,500 students applied for just 101 seats at the school. "With the number of applications we had, we could essentially open another school our size," said Denise Kent, an administrator at the school. Parents are "looking for a place they can put their child in a school and stay in one place instead of being switched around year after year," she said. Some lawmakers have suggested they will push for a lifting of the cap this legislative session.
Source: News 14 Carolina, (02/16/2007)
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San Diego District Offers Space to Seventeen Charters
Under California's Proposition 39, charter schools that serve at least 80 in-district students are entitled to request district facilities. Seventeen charter schools have been offered building space for the next school year at 10 San Diego public school campuses. Under the plan, some charter schools will have to share space and others split their operations in two locations. Four requests were rejected because of missed deadlines or inadequate information. The district proposes annually charging charter schools $1 per square foot for the space allocated to them. If a school wants more than their allocation, it must pay $4 per square foot for the additional space. Some charter leaders complimented the way the district handled their requests. A final decision on what facilities charter schools will get will be made in March.
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune, (02/14/2007)
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Louisiana Board of Education Approves Nine New Charter Schools for New Orleans
The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has approved nine groups to open nine charter schools in New Orleans next year. Eight applicants were rejected. For the second year in a row, the state contracted with the National Association of Charter School Authorizers to review the applications. Greg Richmond, NACSA's president, said applications were reviewed with help from Louisiana Department of Education staff and officials from charter schools across the nation. "We looked at this and tried to apply consistently high standards to every application," he said. "Proposals are only as strong as their weakest link."
Source: The Times-Picayune, (02/14/2007)
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Charter Schools Publicize Programs on YouTube
Part of the California Charter Schools Association's information campaign to celebrate charter schools across the state includes a contest of videos promoting charter schools on YouTube. The winner of the video campaign "My School!" will receive a $500 gift certificate and will be announced at the association conference on March 27-30 in San Diego. The public was able to vote by going to the videos on YouTube. "The bottom line is charter school communities just love their schools," said Caprice Young, of the California Charter School Association. "Any time you talk to people in charter schools, they say, 'My school is this and my school is that.' We wanted to give them a way to brag about their schools." A charter director, Diane Tavenner of the Summit Preparatory Charter High School in Redwood City, said, "What's great about this campaign is it really captures the essence of charter schools and their sense of community."
Source: Inside Bay Area, (02/13/2007)
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