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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Email Spammer Strikes Charter Network
Last week, a spammer accessed 300,000-plus emails, including many of those in the charter school community. Under the guise of a subject line "charterschoolnews," the email was made to look like it came from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and/or the USCS News Connection. This was not the case. The mail administrator serving the spammer was contacted and the outgoing service was halted. If you were the unhappy recipient of such a message, do not click on the "unsubscribe" link. Just simply ignore it and mark it as spam!
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, (03/05/2007)
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New Hampshire Charter Funding Bill to be Voted on this Week
An amended bill to give charter schools $4,000 per student in state aid, a $400 boost, goes to the New Hampshire House floor this week. The bill, however, fails to address the inherent inequity in funding levels between traditional and charter schools. "In my mind that is not a number that would allow them to continue," said Bill Grimm, referring not only to his school, the Franklin Career Academy, but to other charter schools that are in the last year of their federal startup grant and which will be become completely dependent on state funding. The bill, HB752-FN, originally proposed to give charter schools the same per-pupil allocation as traditional schools. An amendment to only raise the allocation to $4,000 and eliminate the rest of the bill passed by a 12-to-1 margin in the education committee and now goes to the entire state Legislature.
Source: Portsmouth Herald, (03/04/2007)
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Spending by Hawaii Charter School Administrative Office Under Scrutiny
The Hawaii Board of Education Committee of Audit is concerned about possibly "inappropriate" past spending and hiring practices of the state's Charter School Administrative Office. The committee has called for opinions from the state Ethics Commission and the Department of Labor following recommendations that the office needs a strategic plan and formal policies and procedures for cash disbursements. Jim Shon, the former leader of the office, said, "I don't think we misspent any money; I think we were pretty frugal. We used charter school money to feed charter school people. It's one of the things you do when you have conferences. We reported on this in the past. Our budget and expenditures would circulate to the BOE and the schools. No one showed any interest." The Charter School Administrative Office will have drafts of a strategic plan and policies ready at the next committee meeting, said Maunalei Love, interim director.
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, (03/03/2007)
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New Arkansas Bill Seeks to Double Number of Charters
Last week, the Arkansas House Education Committee endorsed House Bill 1504 which seeks to double the number of open-enrollment charter schools. The legislation would boost the maximum number of charters the state Education Board could issue from 24 to 48. It also intends to streamline the application process. Currently, eight open-enrollment charter schools are in operation in the state. The bill now advances to the House.
Source: The Morning News, (03/02/2007)
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Utah Law Allowing for Charter Expansion Passes
Utah's legislature has passed a new charter funding law that supports 5,000 additional students in charter schools for the 2008-2009 school year, allowing the charter system to expand by approximately 20 percent. "It brings funding closer to being equitable," said Marlies Burns, the state's new director of charter schools. The new law also calls for more transparency in charter school governance. Charter school board members must disclose their relationship if a relative is being considered for a job. The additional funding will also support up to three more full-time staff in the state charter office allowing for more training, assistance and oversight.
Source: Salt Lake Tribune, (03/02/2007)
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Philadelphia Considers Charter School Closures in Effort to Reduce Budget Deficit
Philadelphia School District officials have announced they are considering closing underperforming charter schools to help reduce an increasing budget deficit. Paul Vallas, the district's chief executive officer, said "If a charter is consistently failing... we have to do something about it. We have to put it on probation, not renew it, or put it under new charter leadership." State Rep. Dwight Evans, a supporter of charter schools, said "I don't have a problem with that standard if that standard is applied across the board. But it has not been applied across the board because if it had been, a lot of regular schools would have been shut down." "We're not going to go out and approve another dozen or so charters with the present budget uncertainties," Vallas said." "It would be a mistake to ax parental choice," Evans countered. "I think we're trying to get more people to move into Philadelphia and stay."
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, (03/02/2007)
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Senate Public Charter Schools Caucus Created
Last week, United States Senators Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., announced the creation of the Senate Public Charter Schools Caucus. The caucus is designed to inform Congress and the public about the role, benefits, and potential of charter schools. It will work with the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools to serve as a resource on the impact of federal and state charter policies and act as conduit for research, statistics and trends in the charter movement. "One of the great developments in education over the past few decades has been the advent of widespread choice within the public school system," said Alexander. "It's hard to argue against providing families with options to choose from in meeting the particular educational needs of their children. Our challenge going forward is to not only expand those options but improve their quality and consistency."
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, (03/02/2007)
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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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Louisiana Gives Approval to Nine More Charters for New Orleans
The Louisiana state board of elementary and secondary education has granted conditional approval to nine charters out of 17 applications. Education experts praise the selectiveness in the application and approval processes, but recognize there are trade-offs. "It was clear even last year that they had this rigorous process and were only opening the charters that had pretty strong applications," said Paul Hill of the Center on Reinventing Public Education. "Failing to get enough of those, then they open those [state-run schools] where there's no application at all." "[It's] kind of an inevitable glitch" in the state's approach, he said. Leslie Jacobs, a member of the education board, said “For the long-term viability of what we're doing, it's critically important that we have high-quality charter operators."
Source: Education Week (subscription required), (02/27/2007)
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