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 Conference (New Orleans, June 22-25)
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools will host the 2008 National Charter Schools Conference from June 22-25 in New Orleans, LA. "Still We Rise: Achieving Academic Excellence at Scale" is the conference theme, reflecting the growth of quality public charter schools across America. The theme has special resonance in New Orleans, which boasts the nation's largest percentage of public charter school enrollment. Register for the conference or apply to sponsor/exhibit at http://www.nationalcharterconference.org. The conference is the largest gathering of charter school operators and proponents in the nation. Geoffrey Canada, President and Chief Executive Officer for the Harlem Children's Zone, will offer the keynote speech. Attendees will learn and share best practices, discuss national and state policy issues, have the opportunity to volunteer at local charter schools, and enjoy special events featuring New Orleans traditions, food and music! Questions? Call 206-463-3344 or e-mail nationalconference@publiccharters.org.
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, (03/01/2008)
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ABC News Profiles Boston Charter School and Offers an Online "Tutorial" on Charter Schools
ABC World News recently highlighted MATCH Charter Public High School, which had the highest math scores in Massachusetts on the 2007 state assessment. School leaders rely heavily on their MATCH Corps -- tutors who work intensively with students in one-on-one and one-on-two groups. MATCH executive director Alan Safran believes it is the personal relationships between students and tutors that push students to work hard. "It takes an extraordinary amount of work, a lot of personal attention, and pushing kids every day who start to have doubts about their ability to climb up the mountain....That's the secret," said Safran. The reporters also offer a basic online tutorial about charter schools.
Source: ABC News, (10/07/2007)
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Charter Schools Making Gains in Missouri
St. Louis and Kansas City charter schools are catching up to traditional public schools and, in many cases, outperforming them, according to 2006-07 test data. Traditional St. Louis public schools and charter schools fared almost equally in 14 grade categories. The St. Louis Public Schools outperformed charters in eight categories and charters outscored the city system in six. Kansas City charter schools outperformed traditional Kansas City public school test averages in 13 of 14 categories. "The scores are definitely better this year," said Jocelyn Strand, who monitors charter schools for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. "I think they are closing the gap in performance."
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (10/07/2007)
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Georgia District Mulls Becoming Charter System
This week, a public hearing is scheduled for a Georgia community to discuss its 2,500 student school system becoming a charter district. In May, Gov. Sonny Perdue signed into law the Charter Systems Act, which allows an entire school system to operate relatively independent of the state. Decatur City Schools Superintendent Phyllis Edwards was attracted to the charter option because of several potential opportunities, including: merit pay for teachers; academic credits for students based on knowledge, not just classroom "seat time;" and a move toward using national and not just state standardized tests to measure achievement. The district must apply for charter district status to the State Department of Education by November 1.
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution, (10/06/2007)
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Ohio Teachers Union Suggested Attorney General Sue Charter Schools
The Ohio Education Association (OEA), Ohio's largest teachers union, suggested the legal strategy that Attorney General Marc Dann is using to sue underperforming charter schools, according to an investigation by the Columbus Dispatch. When Dann filed the first of his lawsuits in September, the OEA dropped its suit against the State alleging it was not monitoring charter schools closely enough. Communications between Dann's office and the union, obtained by the newspaper through a public-records request, detail four months of amicable negotiations to settle the union's lawsuit. E-mails show that the legal strategy of using the schools' status as charitable trusts to show they were failing their promised mission of teaching children was suggested by Sue Salamido, an attorney for the OEA. A spokesman for Dann said the Attorney General was talking about using charitable-trust laws to close failing charter schools before taking office in January.
Source: The Columbus Dispatch, (10/05/2007)
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KIPP Co-Founder Sees Shift in Strategy for Growth
Mike Feinberg, co-founder of the Knowledge is Power Program called Tulsa and Oklahoma City "fertile ground" for expanding its national network of schools. When visiting KIPP Tulsa College Preparatory, Feinberg said KIPP plans to shift its growth from opening schools in new cities to increasing its presences in cities where KIPP schools already exist, including Tulsa. He said that in Tulsa, "one cluster of five or six schools will get you to that tipping point" of affecting the entire school system. KIPP operates 57 schools in 17 states and the District of Columbia, with a total enrollment of more than 14,000 students.
Source: Tulsa World, (10/04/2007)
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New US Department of Education Publication Highlights Seven K-8 Charter Schools
Last week, U.S. Department of Education Assistant Deputy Secretary Morgan Brown visited Cesar Chavez Academy in Pueblo, Colo., to celebrate the release of the Department's new Innovation in Education guide, K-8 Charter Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap. It features seven charter schools in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Texas that are making significant inroads toward closing the achievement gap in their school communities. As a group, they have created learning environments where historically underserved children are thriving. The guide highlights practices designed to inform educators on ways to help students meet high academic standards.
Source: U.S. Department of Education Press Release, (10/03/2007)
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Charter Schools Appear to Improve Students' Behavior
New data released by Scott Imberman, an economist at the University of Houston, show that children behave better in charter schools. He found that almost all of the discipline improvements can be explained by the smaller school size and higher teacher-student ratios found in charters. He also found that students whose behavior improves when they enroll in charter schools tend to lose those good habits if they return to non-charters.
Source: Washington Post (free registration required), (10/02/2007)
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Teachers Elect to Join Union at Buffalo Charter School
Teachers at South Buffalo Charter School have decided to join the New York State United Teachers, allowing the union to negotiate pay, benefits and working conditions. "If the charter school system remains basically what it is today, I think it's almost inevitable that you'll see more of them being organized," said Michael Preskop, the union's regional director. "You have administrators feeling they're in a private setting and that they can do whatever they want to do." Peter Murphy, policy director for the New York Charter Schools Association, said: "The unions are very crafty and, I think, manipulative in their message to teachers. The fact that the unions spent the last eight years trying to cripple the charter schools should not be lost on teachers." Murphy said the union recently filed Freedom of Information requests with several Buffalo area charter schools and is taking a more aggressive role trying to unionize charter school teachers. "They're testing the waters and seeing where they can organize," he said.
Source: Buffalo News, (10/02/2007)
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