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.
New Orleans' Charter Schools Perform Better Than Traditional Public Schools
According to test results released last week, fourth and eighth grade charter school students in New Orleans scored higher in English and math than their peers in traditional public schools. In a ranking of the city's schools by the percentage of students scoring at basic or above in English and math, 17 of the top 20 New Orleans schools were charter schools. Matt Candler, chief executive of the nonprofit group New Schools for New Orleans, said the results demonstrate that charter schools are not experimental but effective.
Source: The Times-Picayune, (08/05/2007)
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Wall Street Journal Profiles Charter Advocate and Mayor of Newark Corey Booker
Corey Booker, the Mayor of Newark, is seeking control of the city's schools and wants to center his education reforms on school choice. Despite spending approximately $20,000 per pupil, only 37 percent of the city's high-school seniors passed the state's proficiency exam in 2005. Until Booker gains control, which he thinks could be within "16 to 18 months," he is cultivating donors to support the growth of charter schools in Newark. Last month, he met with representatives of the Gates Foundation. "We had very strong conversations," he said. "I told them, 'If we can grow KIPP schools and overachieving charter schools [in Newark], it will be much easier to show that [school choice] can work, because you'll see results a lot quicker than in a place like New York, which has around a million school-aged children.'"
Source: Wall Street Journal, (08/04/2007)
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Charter Career Academies in Georgia Seek to Reduce Drop-Outs
Georgia has established six charter "career academies" as a strategy to increase its high school completion rate. And this year's legislative session authorized $1.5 million in operational grants and $15 million in construction funds to launch up to five more, beginning with the 2008-09 school year. "The No. 1 reason kids drop out of school is that they believe the things they’re learning aren’t relevant," said Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who led the push for the initiative in the Legislature. "These career academies connect the dots to how their education leads to a real job."
Source: The Albany Herald, (08/03/2007)
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District School Closures May Make More Facilities Available for Charters in NYC
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's new school accountability plan will likely place about 70 schools under consideration for closure in 2008, potentially creating dozens of vacant school buildings for charter schools to use. "It could open up lots of space, and the hope is that it would," said David Umansky of Civic Builders, a nonprofit charter school facilities developer. Charters' need for space will only intensify as 50 additional city charter schools will soon be allowed.
Source: New York Sun, (08/03/2007)
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Recovery School District in New Orleans Set to Open Nine More Charters
The state expects up to 6,000 new public school students in New Orleans this year. The Recovery School District may open 26 more public schools to serve these students, nine of them charters managed by outside organizations.
Source: The Times-Picayune, (08/02/2007)
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Proposed Legislation in California Could Hinder Charter School Growth
Charter advocates are concerned that a bill, attached to the California state budget, could hurt charter schools. Senate Bill 92 would require Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to choose between curtailing the state Board of Education's ability to approve charters and losing $18 million in state grants for charter schools. Gary Larson of the California Charter Schools Association said the bill would limit the expansion of successful charter schools. In California, charters typically get approval from local school boards, but schools that meet certain standards can bypass local boards and petition the state Board of Education directly for approval. The school boards association says state-approved charters undermine local accountability and has lobbied for the passage of Senate Bill 92.
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune, (08/02/2007)
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Survey Finds Three-Quarters of Americans Believe Charter Schools Should Receive Equitable Funding
A new survey from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University found that three-quarters of Americans believe that public charter schools should be given at least the same amount of funding per child as district-operated public schools. Forty-four percent of respondents support their formation, and another 42 percent neither support nor oppose them. Only 14 percent of respondents said they oppose charter schools. Support for charter schools was highest among those who know more and opposition was highest among those who know less about them. The findings are based on a nationally representative, stratified sample of 2,000 adults, age 18 years and older.
Source: Business Wire, (08/02/2007)
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Chicago Charter Teachers to Open New Orleans Charter School
Three United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) Charter School employees from Chicago have relocated to New Orleans to launch the Esperanza Charter School, which will have the largest concentration of Latino students in the city when it opens on August 20. The school will offer the same curriculum UNO offers charter school students in Chicago. "It's an English immersion model -- kids will start learning English from day one and within a few short months, kids who did not speak a word of English will be speaking, reading and writing it," said UNO President Juan Rangel. New Orleans has seen its Latino population grow rapidly since Katrina devastated the city in 2005. As much as half of the work force is Hispanic and many workers have brought their young families with them as they work to rebuild the city.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times, (08/01/2007)
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Maryland's Highest Court Rules Charters Must Get Equal Funding
In a 7-2 decision, the Maryland Court of Appeals has affirmed the right of public charter schools to receive as much money per pupil as traditional public schools. The case arose, in part, from a battle over how much and what kind of funding the Baltimore district must provide its charter schools. "This is a victory for the public school children of Maryland," said attorney Richard Daniels, who represented two of the charter schools. "This decision assures that charter schools will receive the full funding that was intended by legislature." The decision is being applauded by local and national charter school advocates, while charter opponents already are calling for legislative action to undo it.
Source: Baltimore Sun, (07/31/2007)
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