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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We Need Your Feedback: Please Take Our Satisfaction Survey This Week
In order to continue producing the News Connection and the Monthly Resource Update we need your help determining just how valuable they are. Since 2004, UScharterschools.org has been hosting a weekly summary of charter school news and monthly resource updates for the national charter school community. For the past two years, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has lent its generous financial support and the number of our subscribers has now grown to more than 12,000! We need your feedback to continue this service and to make it better. Please enter your email address upon completion of the survey (voluntary!) to enter a drawing to win a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com!
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, (03/18/2007)
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California Association to Increase Pressure on LAUSD to Provide Facilities to Charters
The California Charter Schools Association plans to step up pressure on the Los Angeles Unified School District to comply with Proposition 39 which requires districts to provide sufficient facilities to accommodate every public charter school's students. Voters approved the law in 2000, but the district has fulfilled only two requests for facilities since 2005. Association officials charge the district with trying to halt the growth of charters by restricting access to funding and space. "They just don't take seriously their legal requirements to provide facilities to charter school students," said Caprice Young, a former LAUSD board member who now leads the association. "We've been more than patient. Over the last several years we have provided proposals over and over again on how to provide seats in overcrowded neighborhoods, and we've been consistently ignored." The district denies the allegations and says it can't keep up with charter growth.
Source: Los Angeles Daily News, (03/18/2007)
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Colorado Charters Concerned about Proposed Changes to At-risk Funding
Some Colorado charter supporters are concerned that proposed changes to how schools receive funding for at-risk students unfairly places charter schools in a different category from other schools. The proposed changes to the School Finance Act require at-risk funding to follow where at-risk students are enrolled. Currently at-risk funding goes to school districts based on the number of at-risk students in each district and the district allocates it to schools as they deem appropriate. Charter schools receive the per-school district average of at-risk funding, regardless of how many at-risk students are enrolled. "This is saying that we have two different kinds of kids in Colorado,” said Jim Griffin, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools. Sen. Sue Windels, author of the bill, argued the proposal would make the method of funding charter schools fairer. "We're going to send the at-risk dollars exactly where the students are," she said.
Source: Colorado Springs Gazette, (03/17/2007)
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New Hampshire Charter Leaders Concerned Charters May Have to Close Due to Lack of State Support
At a news conference last week, leaders at three of New Hampshire's charter schools said they may have to close if the state legislature cannot provide an equitable solution to state funding. Supporters of Franklin Career Charter Academy, Seacoast Charter School and Cocheco Art and Technology Academy are encouraging legislators to pass a bill that would increase state aid to their schools to $4,000 per pupil annually. Even if the bill passes, some of the older charter schools, whose federal start-up grants have concluded, would struggle, said Franklin Career Charter Academy board chair William Grimm. Charter schools need at least $6,000 per pupil and should get $7,000 to $8,000, he said. "Everybody acknowledges (they've) been a resounding success," said Charlie Arlinghaus, of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy. "The only question is whether it will continue." A final vote on the funding bill is scheduled for this week.
Source: Boston Globe, (03/16/2007)
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DC Charter Students Excluded from University Scholarship Program
George Washington University's Trachtenberg Scholarship, which provides four-year full scholarships to graduates of D.C. public high schools, excludes charter school students. The scholarship, worth $200,000 each, is open to students from the 16 high schools in the D.C. school system who apply. Students from the district's charter schools are not eligible, said Thaddisa Fulwood, who led the university selection committee. This year, the students who were awarded Trachtenberg scholarships come from four DC public schools, three of which are competitive admissions schools that accept students based on past academic performance, test scores, and interviews. Charter supporters noted that, in contrast, charter schools in the district must take all students, regardless of prior performance, and must select students with a lottery when oversubscribed.
Source: Washington Post (free registration required), (03/15/2007)
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New York Assembly Approves Budget Eliminating Governor's Provision to Expand Chartering
Last week, Speaker Sheldon Silver led the New York Assembly to approve a one-house budget bill that would eliminate a provision in Governor Eliot Spitzer's budget that seeks to expand charter schooling. The bill would tie per-pupil funding increases at charter schools to the CPI (inflation index) rather than the Approved Operating Expense that is used as a baseline in public schools. By 2009-10, charter funding would fall to $7,081 compared to $10,270 under the current formula. "It's punitive and it goes against everything that they purport to stand for, which is more funding for education not less,'" said Peter Murphy of the New York Charter Schools Association. The Assembly is also seeking to make mandatory the unionization of any new charter over 250 children and to strip the State University of New York of its chartering authority. Currently, both SUNY and the Board of Regents can authorize charters.
Source: New York Sun, (03/14/2007)
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Connecticut Charter Advocates Call for Fair Funding
Last week, charter school advocates warned Connecticut legislators that inadequate state funding is preventing the creation of high-quality charter schools in the state. Dacia Toll, president of Achievement First which operates the highly successful Amistad Academy and Elm City charter schools, said her organization recently opened four schools in New York City because they get financial support equal to that given public schools. Her schools spend about $11,000 per student, but only get $8,000 per student from the state of Connecticut. Toll told members of the legislature's Education Committee that New York's policy is "to have the money follow the child," whether to a district school or a charter school, and that Connecticut should follow suit. "We are from Connecticut and want to open more schools here," said Toll. "We can make Connecticut an attractive place … for entrepreneurs to come and open high-quality schools."
Source: New Haven Register, (03/13/2007)
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Established DC Charter School Considering Giving Up Charter Status to Gain Space
Hospitality High, a charter school in DC that prepares students for hotel and restaurant careers with hands-on training, does not have room for a teaching kitchen. The school pays $24,000 a month to rent very limited space in a downtown building and is considering giving up charter status to gain space. Hospitality's foundation is negotiating with Superintendent Clifford Janey to move into underused space in a district high school and give up its charter status. Voluntarily giving up a charter and joining the district system is rare, but it has happened in Colorado, Georgia and Ohio, generally because a charter school faced financial difficulties and wanted to avoid being shut down, said John Ayers of the National Association for Charter School Authorizers. Hospitality High is a special case and highlights the challenges charter schools face, said Robert Cane of the Friends of Choice in Urban Schools.
Source: Washington Post (free registration required), (03/13/2007)
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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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