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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Last Chance! Share Your Feedback on the News Connection and Enter to Win Amazon.com Gift Certificate! Survey Concludes July 31
We would like your help to improve the Charter School News Connection and Monthly Resource Update. We are asking our readers to give us their feedback through a short online survey to better understand how you use these resources and gather your comments on their format and content. The five-minute survey has been developed by UScharterschools.org and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, sponsor of the News Connection. Your contact information and the opinions you provide will not be used for commercial purposes, nor sold or released to third parties. Readers who complete the survey will be entered into a drawing to win a $100 gift certificate from Amazon.com! To complete the survey, clickhere. We value our readers' opinions and are asking that they complete the survey today!
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, (07/28/2008)
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Georgia District Seeks to Duplicate Public Charter School Success
Houston County Superintendent David Carpenter liked what he saw when he visited Central Educational Center, a public charter school in Coweta County. "We were extremely impressed with the number of students taking courses there and how they coordinated with the technical college and the business community," Carpenter said. "We feel the setup helps a student jump start a career." And now Carpenter is part of a team developing Houston County Career Academy, a public charter school career academy that will seek to lower dropout rates, increase graduation rates and create a more skilled local labor pool. The charter petition was approved last week and soon developers will distribute a needs-assessment survey of area businesses. "It's going to ask them questions like the number of employees they have, what specialized training do they require of them and the employee turnover rate. It's pretty extensive," Carpenter said. "It can help us determine the types of classes and courses at the career academy."
Source: Macon Telegraph, (07/14/2008)
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Public Charter Schools and Community Organizations Vie for Closed District School Sites in Los Angeles
With adequate space for public charter schools difficult to find, Los Angeles Unified officials are considering opening as many as five long-closed school sites to house hundreds of public charter school students. Caprice Young of the California Charter Schools Association said public charter schools always have been interested in available school facilities, but until a recent lawsuit forced the district to find space for public charter use, school leaders did not think they would get district support. Some community members, however, want the space for other purposes. Members of the West Hills Neighborhood Council said they want an activity center for senior citizens at Highlander Road Elementary. "It's not that we'd be upset about a school, but a lot of people have worked for a senior center," said Dan Brin of the West Hills Neighborhood Council. And the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization is opposed to public charter schools as neighbors, citing parking, student drivers, pickup and drop-off as "immediate concerns." Young of the California Charter Schools Association argues that the schools were created for a specific purpose. "These are schools. Taxpayers built them as schools," she said. "That said, there could be creative opportunities for schools and a senior center."
Source: Los Angeles Daily News, (07/13/2008)
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Public Cyber Charter Schools Growing in Pennsylvania
Some districts in Pennsylvania are seeing an increasing number of local students choosing to attend public cyber charter schools. Districts pay public charter schools the same amount it costs to educate a student in the district, but are reimbursed by the state for about 30 percent of the tuition costs. District officials say the increasing popularity of the schools means they lose thousands of dollars per student, but still have to pay the same amount of teachers and maintain the same amount of buildings and programs for other students. Wilkes-Barre Area Superintendent Jeff Namey wants to know why a public cyber charter school needs that level of funding when students do not leave their homes, an issue state representatives are considering in HB 2479. The bill would set a state standard for public cyber charter school tuition every year and limits on fund balances. The bill was sent back to the Rules Committee on July 11. Tim Daniels of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools said all schools, regardless of their setup, should be focusing on providing the best education at the best price. Districts should look at why students are leaving for the cyber schools if the numbers are concerning. "We're not going to get anything by sending more money to the same systems with an 80-percent graduation rate," he said.
Source: The Citizen's Voice, (07/13/2008)
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Newsweek Says Obama Deserves Kudos for Raising Public Charter Schools with Teachers Union
Jonathan Alter, Senior Editor of Newsweek magazine, says Presidential Candidate Barack Obama "deserves kudos for drawing scattered boos earlier this month for mentioning charter schools when appearing via satellite before the National Education Association." Alter writes: "we know what works to close the achievement gap. At the 60 KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) schools, more than 80 percent of 16,000 randomly selected low-income students go to college, four times the national average for poor kids. While KIPP isn't fully replicable (not enough effective teachers to go around), every low-income school should be measured by how close it gets to that model, where kids go to school from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and part of the summer, and teachers are held strictly accountable for showing student improvement."
Source: Newsweek, (07/13/2008)
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New York Governor Reported to Favor Lifting Public Charter School Caps
At a retreat for members of The Alliance for School Choice, a national group that advocates for vouchers and public charter schools, New York Governor David Paterson reportedly told an audience that he would like to lift New York's cap on public charter schools. The governor was said to say he also believes New York public charter schools should be allowed to offer pre-kindergarten programs. Paterson has attended Alliance meetings several times over the past few years and school choice supporters held a fundraiser for him last spring.
Source: Albany Times Union, (07/13/2008)
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Provision to Bar Public Charter School Administrators from Receiving Multiple Salaries Passes in Pennsylvania
An ongoing federal investigation at Philadelphia Academy Charter School has prompted Governor Edward Rendell's administration to draft a school-code provision prohibiting public charter school administrators from collecting multiple salaries from schools or from companies that provide services to charters. During the investigation, it was discovered that Brien Gardiner, the school's founder and former top administrator, collected a total of $224,500 in salaries in 2005-06 from Philadelphia Academy and Northwood Academy, another public charter school he opened. He also received $70,000 from a nonprofit he founded to provide special-education services. The Governor's provision was included in the omnibus education bill that accompanied the state's $28.3 billion budget and passed last week. The salary provision was among several public charter-related changes the legislature made to the school code, including prohibiting school districts from imposing caps on charter enrollment. State education officials and public charter school representatives said they were unsure how many administrators could be affected by the change. The language of the provision specifies that public charter school administrators are considered public officials who are subject to the state ethics law and are required to file financial disclosure statements. Lawrence Jones Jr., president of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools, said Rendell's budget and accompanying legislation was "pretty good for charter schools and for education in general." He said understands the intent of barring public charter school administrators from holding multiple jobs. But he said public charter officials should have been consulted.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, (07/12/2008)
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Utah Districts and Public Charters to Share $20 Million in Merit Pay
The Utah State Board of Education has determined that at least 31 school districts and public charter schools will get a share of $20 million to pay teachers for performance next school year. Districts and public charter schools submitted widely varying plans to the board on how to pay employees for performance beyond their normal salaries. The state legislature earmarked $20 million in one-time funding for the compensation plans. The money is to be doled out to districts and public charter schools based on enrollment. In addition to the 31 whose plans the board approved last week, another 46 districts and public charter schools received the go-ahead on the condition their local school boards approve their plans by September 1. Of the state's 68 public charter schools, all but 18 submitted performance pay plans to the board.
Source: Salt Lake Tribune, (07/11/2008)
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New Hampshire Public Charter School Funding Bill Signed Into Law
On July 11, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch signed a bill that gives additional state aid to six public charter schools. The schools will receive an extra $1,168 per pupil next year to six state-approved schools that operate without local financial support. The aid is on top of the $3,832 in adequacy aid the schools will get per pupil, bringing their total state aid to just $5,000 per pupil. The new law did not come in time to help a seventh school, the Franklin Career Academy, which closed at the end of the school year due to inadequate funding.
Source: Boston Globe, (07/11/2008)
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D.C. Council Member Introduces Pro-Charter School Facilities Bill
Marion Barry, a supporter of the District's public charter schools, has introduced a bill designed to force the Fenty administration to lease or sell 21 recently-closed school buildings to public charter schools in Washington, DC. The "District of Columbia Public School Building Space Amendment Act of 2008" seeks to clarify that the 21 buildings are subject to the "right of first offer” on local school buildings no longer needed by the school system that is given to public charter schools by the School Reform Act, D.C.'s public charter school law. The bill also would require the mayor and the district system chancellor to develop a plan to market each building to interested public charter schools.
Source: FOCUS DC, (07/11/2008)
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New Public Charter School Legislation Signed Into Law in Louisiana
In a ceremonial signing on July 9, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal put his signature on 11 education bills, including several boosts for public charter schools. "For charter schools, we increased the cap on charter schools from 42 to 70, provided for for-profit charter school operators to operate public schools, extended leaves of absence for teachers who are temporarily employed in charter schools from three to five years, and BESE has been given greater flexibility to renew charter schools for shorter periods of time," Jindal announced. Representative Don Trahan said, “As we work to improve low-performing schools with the public domain, we must open the door to innovative practices that will help our students succeed. Charter schools offer many proven educational models that can help turn around failing schools and teach us how to improve other traditional public schools around the state. While I have always said that the state taking over public schools should be a last resort, we cannot stand by and watch our children fall further and further behind. We owe it to our students to commit to pursuing every opportunity that might bring them success. These bills will enable Louisiana to deliver on that promise.”
Source: Bayou Buzz, (07/09/2008)
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Growth of Public Charter Schools in New Orleans May Impact Interest in Orleans Parish School Board Race
Few people have announced runs for the Orleans Parish School Board, which some observers says is a sign of the board's diminished control over New Orleans public schools. Last week only two challengers had announced campaigns publicly and three of the seven incumbents had said they will not campaign for re-election. School board races in the city once drew many candidates, with the positions seen as a steppingstone to higher office. Before Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, the board held control over about 125 schools serving 65,000 students and employing more than 7,500 employees. Now the board directly controls just five schools and more loosely oversees a dozen public charter schools, which largely control their own budgets, hiring and curricula. Lawyer Nick Varrecchio said people might be uninterested partly because the board has had little impact on the wholesale public education changes in the city -- most notably the growth of public charter schools. "Out of sight, out of mind, " he said. Few if any school officials have addressed whether the nearly 50 public charter schools will be returned to centralized local administration. If state officials decide to return more or all schools to the New Orleans board, the board could take on increased importance, Varrecchio said. "At some point, the stakes are going to be higher," he said. "We need as many good people as we can get on the board now."
Source: The Times-Picayune, (07/09/2008)
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Business Week and NPR Profile Founder of Village Academies
Deborah Kenny, the founding principal and CEO of Harlem Village Academies, a network of college preparatory public charter schools based in Harlem, has received a good deal of media attention this month. Business leaders, as well as education leaders, are taking note of the gains her students are making. In the schools where nearly all of the students come from disadvantaged backgrounds, test scores continue to rise and this year one hundred percent of the eighth grade at Harlem Village Academy passed the state's math test. Kenny says that the key to her school's success is attracting, developing and retaining great teachers. Many of her teachers are Teach For America program graduates or have been recruited from district schools. Teachers are paid $4,000 more a year than the district schools and are offered performance bonuses of up to $3,000. Kenny requires her staff to follow the "Ritz-Carlton" model. "We think of the parents as customers, and we pay as much attention to them and pay them as much respect as Ritz-Carlton workers are trained to treat their guests," she says. She believes her approach can succeed elsewhere. "It is absolutely scalable. It is absolutely possible," she says. "All teachers want a school environment like this. … All children really, really can transform themselves into children who behave well and learn at a high level."
Source: Business Week, (07/07/2008)
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