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.
Enrollment Surges at Cyber Charter Schools in Pennsylvania
Enrollment at Pennsylvania’s 11 cyber schools has grown rapidly since their inception eight years ago. The schools now serve nearly 17,000 students statewide. While some district officials claim there is less accountability with cyber charters, Tim Daniels of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools, dismisses such charges, explaining that cyber schools are subject to local and state audits and submit annual financial reports. Their students take the same state assessments as students in the traditional public school system. But unlike other public schools, cyber charters are reviewed and renewed by the state every three to five years. "That’s real accountability,” says Daniels, a former teacher, principal, business manager, and deputy superintendent in various school districts.
Source: The Citizen's Voice, (07/15/2007)
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Charters Pitch in to Help District Students in Pennsylvania
A coalition of charter schools has offered to enroll 200 students whose school was recently closed. Tim Daniels, executive director of the Pennsylvania Charter Schools Coalition, said a group of charter schools, led by Northside Urban Pathways, Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, and Propel Schools, is ready to educate students in various settings. Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak, however, is pushing the state legislature to empower him to assign students to multiple school districts. Several state representatives are urging him to reconsider his proposal because it would split up the students. The state Board of Control closed Duquesne High School because of serious financial and academic problems.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, (07/14/2007)
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North Carolina Charter Developers Battle for Remaining Charters
In North Carolina, a state with a restrictive charter cap, prospective school founders are battling each other for the state's last two charters. For several years, charter advocates have lobbied state legislators to raise the cap to avoid these types of showdown and, more importantly, to increase the options available to families. But bills in the state House and Senate aimed at raising or eliminating the cap have made no progress.
Source: News and Observer, (07/14/2007)
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Some Charter Schools in Florida Seek Access to Capital Funding
A group of charter school representatives in Indian River County have requested that the local school board include charters when considering the district's capital outlay budget. Charter schools in Florida cannot get capital support from the state unless the local school board agrees to share part of their capital tax money. The charter representatives argue that charters are public schools and deserve their fair share of support for facilities. Some school board members say they need to reserve capital money to build more district schools to meet the growing student population, as well as to maintain existing facilities. "Why is the board not choosing to be inclusionary with the (capital budget) money?" Sean Raymond, assistant director of Indian River Charter High School, asked at a recent board meeting. "Right now, it seems the board is being exclusive."
Source: TC Palm, (07/13/2007)
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Detroit's New Superintendent Declares Opposition to Charter Schools
It appears that Detroit's new superintendent of schools Connie Calloway will join district board members and teachers union officials in fighting Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's plan to expand charter schools in the city. In remarks during her first school board meeting on July 12, she announced: "I want to be extremely clear. Connie Calloway does not support charter schools." She added, "charter schools mean suicide for public schools."
Source: Detroit Free Press, (07/13/2007)
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Gates Foundation Awards Millions to Green Dot Public Schools
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have announced a $7.8 million grant to Green Dot Public Schools that will support the founding of 10 new small charter high schools in the impoverished Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles. The investment builds upon the foundation’s September 2006 grant of $1.8 million for five charter high schools in south Los Angeles. The 10 new schools will double the number of Green Dot schools in the Los Angeles district. "Green Dot and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation share the belief that the children of Watts and Los Angeles deserve the best public schools," said Steve Barr, CEO and founder of Green Dot Public Schools. "This grant not only supports our proven education model, but serves as a clarion call to accelerate bold reform of public schools across the city. When teachers, parents, students and community leaders work together, bold reform can happen."
Source: Gates Foundation, (07/12/2007)
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Chicago Alderman and Charter Advocates Rally for More Charter School Funding
Chicago Aldermen and charter supporters are calling on the state of Illinois to address a funding crisis in Chicago's public charter schools. They say Governor Blagojevich and state lawmakers failed to fund a $3.4 million grant program that keeps charter schools running. Alderman Walter Burnett said, "These charter schools are doing better than magnet schools and private schools. Why should we not have these choices for the people in the City of Chicago?" Charter supporters also called for the state's charter cap to be removed.
Source: ABC 7 News, (07/12/2007)
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U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Applauds Charter Schools in New York
With a successful charter school's fourth grade graduation ceremony as a backdrop, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon said the Bush administration is pushing to expand the number of charters though the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind later this year. "Charter schools continue to be a very important component of our reauthorization process. We want to make charter schools available to more and more kids," he said after addressing 38 graduating fourth graders and their families at Brighter Choice Charter School in Albany. Brighter Choice, which educates boys and girls in single-sex programs, has higher test scores than other public schools in the city. The school, which is expanding to a second site, admits only students from families that meet the income eligibility standards of the federal free- and reduced-meal programs. In addition to innovations like single-sex classes, Simon said the path to academic success is "pretty simple: Stay on task, and have a belief in children."
Source: Albany Times Union, (07/12/2007)
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Closing of Charter Schools Overturned by Appeals Court in Florida
An appeals court has found that the Palm Beach County School Board did not follow due process when it terminated the contracts of Survivors charter schools in West Palm Beach and Boynton Beach in 2006. The board must now give the charter operators 14 days notice and hold a formal hearing, where the charter schools can present testimony and cross examine district witnesses testifying about why the school should be closed. The district must also pay the charter schools' legal fees. The schools’ administrators were accused of misusing taxpayer money and were given just one day's notice before the board closed the schools during a regular board meeting. The schools now have an opportunity to defend themselves, said Terry Watterson, whose firm represents the schools. "In government, way too many important decisions are made quickly and apparently on information that is distributed before meetings or on telephones and not in the sunshine," he said.
Source: Palm Beach Post, (07/11/2007)
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L.A. High School Teachers to Decide Whether to Become a Charter School
Teachers at Locke High School in Los Angeles must decide whether the district or Green Dot Public Schools is better able to deliver a high quality education. Green Dot shocked district officials in May when it announced that a majority of Locke's tenured teachers had signed a petition in support of a Green Dot takeover, clearing the major legal barrier to converting the campus into several charter schools. District officials countered with promises of increased authority and reforms if Locke stayed tied to the district. After several teachers rescinded their signatures, saying they were confused about the proposal, district officials threw out Green Dot's formal takeover plan. Last week, however, board member Richard Vladovic presented a motion to require an up-or-down vote in August on the Green Dot petition. Teachers are choosing sides. Some angrily oppose a takeover, while others are eagerly supportive. Many remain undecided.
Source: LA Times (free registration required), (07/11/2007)
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