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 Report Finds Public Charter Schools Advance Black Student Achievement
A new policy brief released by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools finds that strong public charter schools with their flexibility in hiring teachers, data-driven decisions, and high-quality curriculum are making a positive impact on Black students. A growing number of public charter school studies are analyzing student performance by race and ethnicity and, in terms of Black student achievement in public charter schools, the evidence has been encouraging. For example, a report by the Florida Department of Education, shows that public charter schools in Florida are closing the achievement gap between Black and White students at a faster rate than traditional public schools in key subjects and grade levels. A four-year study done by the Massachusetts Department of Education finds that Black students at almost half of the state's charter schools performed significantly better in English than their district peers. In addition to discussing recent data about Black achievement in public charter schools, the document profiles seven public charter schools in six cities (Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, New York City, Memphis and Milwaukee) where Black students have achieved success.
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, (07/07/2008)
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Wisconsin Places New Restrictions on Public Charter School Teachers
A licensing change made by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction requires that all public charter school teachers have a major or minor in their assigned academic subject or pass a content exam in that subject by this fall. Tony Evers, deputy state superintendent for the state DPI, says the change was necessary under federal guidelines. "We have a procedure to identify highly qualified teachers and it's necessary to be consistent," he said. Previously, teachers received a special charter school license based on their qualifications by DPI standards and approved by the department and the state Legislature. Teachers who received such charter licenses were considered "highly qualified" by DPI and the state Legislature, according to John Gee, executive director of the Wisconsin Charter Schools Association. Gee and other public charter school leaders expressed grave concern about the new change. "Whenever DPI changed the license requirements for traditional teachers, they would always give them a grandfather clause, a one-year grace period to be prepared for it, and solicit concerns," Gee said. "This is complete disrespect to these teachers." Gee said it is unfair to expect public charter school teachers to fulfill the new requirements within the next two months. "We have teachers who have gone home for the summer and don't know if they will have a job when they return," he said. He predicts some public charter schools will have to close because of a lack of certified staff. "If these charter schools are so bad then why are (families) waiting in line to attend them? Do you think the families who chose to have their kids go to them think these teachers are no good? That's a slap in the face to the parents," he said.
Source: Portage Daily News, (07/06/2008)
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Florida Authorizer Seeks to Deputize Cities, Universities, and Advocacy Groups to Co-sponsor Public Charter Schools
The Florida Schools of Excellence Commission, the statewide public charter school authorizing agency, is seeking to deputize cities, universities and advocacy groups to help oversee public charter schools. Public charter school co-sponsors must have staff available to provide administrative and financial support to public charter schools. The commission was created by the Legislature two years ago and has approved 17 public charter schools. Applications to co-sponsor are due by August 1.
Source: Sun Sentinel, (07/06/2008)
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Buffalo Public Charter Schools Receive Top Scores
Once considered an experiment, Buffalo public charter schools recently posted some of the highest state test scores in the city. "We're really happy we've gone beyond the point of having to prove ourselves and we are just happy we can move along with educating kids," said Corrinne Cristofaro of the Western New York Charter Schools Coalition. Two public charter schools recorded results in math and English among the best of all schools in Eire and Niagara counties. "I think, overall, they’ve done extremely well," said Robert Bennett, chancellor of the state Board of Regents. "They're no longer an experiment. They've proven themselves."
Source: Buffalo News, (07/06/2008)
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SC Attorney General and Local School Board at Odds Over Scholarships for Public Charter School Students
The South Carolina state Attorney General has taken over as the plaintiff in a case testing whether public charter school students are eligible to receive special merit-based scholarship of up to $2,000 for public school students, a position opposed by the local county school board. The decision will affect more than the 100 or so graduates Greenville Tech Charter High produces each year. "Our position is that because these are students attending a public high school in Greenville County, they should be eligible," said David Gantt, an attorney for Greenville Tech Charter High who first filed the lawsuit that set the case in motion.
Source: The Greenville News, (07/05/2008)
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Los Angeles Plans to Offer Zoning Exemptions for Some Public Charter Schools
In response to charges that the Los Angeles Unified School District is failing to offer public charter schools a fair share of space on traditional campuses, district officials say they are prepared to offer regulatory help to up to ten public charter schools by exempting them from city and county zoning ordinances. Senior Deputy Superintendent Ray Cortines said the pilot program is part of a district effort to show a "new face" in dealing with public charter schools. "We are exploring new territory of the school district in this activity ... my effort is to support charters and help them find adequate space," he said. Public charter school advocates say that while the effort is welcome, more is needed to meet the guarantees under Proposition 39 and the program should be extended to all public charters. "Ten is a completely arbitrary number. They should waive (the zoning ordinances) for every school that needs it," said Caprice Young of the California Charter Schools Association. "The problem with being arbitrary is it's leaving kids on the street again." She said it also is unclear whether the proposal will provide the intended zoning relief or simply add more bureaucratic roadblocks. District officials said details of the policy still need to be worked out.
Source: Los Angeles Daily News, (07/04/2008)
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Closing of a Michigan Public Charter School Reveals a Complicated Story
Kalamazoo Advantage Academy will not reopen this fall. Its authorizer, Grand Valley State University, has declined to renew the school's charter and no other sponsor has been found. The university says that Advantage has long been a failing school, with declining enrollment and low test scores. Now that its 10-year contract has expired, the university says it is doing the responsible thing by pulling the plug. However, a more complicated story has emerged, and it brings questions about GVSU's practices and procedures. While GVSU cited low test scores as a key reason for not renewing the contract, it's unclear that Advantage was truly an academic underperformer. Unlike the Kalamazoo Public Schools system, Advantage has made Adequate Yearly Progress for the past two years under No Child Left Behind. In addition, Advantage officials point out that 93 percent of their students qualify for the subsidized lunch program, compared to 62 percent in KPS. Test scores are highly correlated to family income. An analysis done by Sharif Shakrani, co-director of MSU's Center for Education Policy, finds that while Advantage students performed "significantly lower" than similar schools in 2005-06, Advantage students have shown much stronger results in the past two years. His report highlights the strong academic growth among students who have been at Advantage for more than a year, and concludes the school is doing an "admirable job" with a very high-risk population.
Source: Kalamazoo Gazette, (07/04/2008)
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Minnesota Report Finds Mixed Results on Public Charter Schools
A report released last week by the Minnesota legislative auditor's office finds that while public charter schools in the state need more oversight and generally post poorer test scores than regular district schools, they have made big strides toward financial health. "It's very good news on the financial performance," said Minnesota Department of Education Assistant Commissioner Morgan Brown. "On oversight, it recommends a clear path to improvement. On academic performance, it didn't tell us anything at this point that we didn't know." Eugene Piccolo of the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools said the report echoes many recommendations that his association has made, including tightening conflict-of-interest laws to prevent hiring of family members of public charter school board members and disclosing financial links between public charter schools and the sponsor agencies charged with oversight. "The bottom line is that performance is mixed, and there's room for improvement," said Judy Randall, one of the report's authors. The report also looked at the demographics of public charter school students. Fifty-two percent of public charter school students were members of minority groups and 53 percent were from low-income families. Those figures compare, respectively, with 22 percent and 30 percent in regular district schools.
Source: Star Tribune, (06/30/2008)
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National Charter School Conference Wraps Up
A record 3,200 public charter school teachers, administrators, policymakers and other supporters of the movement gathered in New Orleans, LA from June 22-25 under the conference theme “Still We Rise: Achieving Academic Excellence at Scale.” Along with addresses from Nelson Smith, Geoffrey Canada, Governor Bobby Jindal, Senator Mary Landrieu, Paul Pastorek and many others, the conference featured over 100 breakout sessions, and 50 peer-to-peer roundtable discussions. The Ninth Annual National Charter Schools Conference will be held in Washington DC June 20-23, 2009. Information on next year's conference plus deals on hotels and transportation will be available in the winter.
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, (06/29/2008)
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