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.
Public Charter Schools Job Board Connects Schools and Professionals
Looking for a few good teachers? Want to teach at a public charter school in your state? The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools recently launched a new Public Charter Schools Job Board. Currently available jobs range from special education teachers in D.C. to an Executive Director of a new public charter school support organization in North Carolina. The job board is intended to be an easy-to-use tool matching highly-skilled professionals and highly-rewarding jobs in public charter schools, support organizations, authorizers and other employers throughout the charter school community. ““Whether you're a professional looking for the right charter school position or a charter school looking for the right professional, the Public Charter Schools Job Board is the first place to look,” said National Alliance for Public Charter Schools president and CEO Nelson Smith in announcing the new service. The site is free to both employers and potential employees, and it is exceptionally easy to post a job or a resume.
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, (09/07/2008)
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Obama and McCain Speak of Their Support for Public Chartering
Last week at the 2008 National Urban League Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain both spoke of their support for public charter schools. McCain said that the culture of public education is broken in urban areas and must be fixed. He praised several education reformers who support public chartering, including NYC School Chancellor Joel Klein and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, and Chancellor Michelle Rhee of Washington. In a question and answer forum, McCain parried with a questioner who questioned the value of public charter schools. He responded that public chartering in New Orleans has been a success. "Those charter schools are succeeding. That's just a fact." Obama spoke of his long-time support of public charter schools. He said he wants to give families more public education options, including more public charters, but he said he will not support vouchers for children to attend private and parochial schools.
Source: News Journal, (08/04/2008)
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Controversy Created by Proposed $7 Billion Bond Measure in Los Angeles
After two hours of debate last week, much of which focused on funding for public charter schools, the Los Angeles Unified School District Board voted unanimously to place a $7 billion bond measure on the November ballot. The measure includes at least $450 million to find space for and build public charter schools. Some public charter school supporters, however, are unhappy with the bond measure, which allows the district to retain control over charter sites built with the bond money. Caprice Young of the California Charter Schools Association said she plans to raise money to fight the measure. She said she would rather see a bond issue that funds public charter schools, but still provides them the flexibility to spend the money, build the schools and then own the property once they are built. "Unless we own our own schools, we're at the whim of the school district," she said.
Source: Los Angeles Daily News, (08/03/2008)
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Arizona Public Charter Schools Feel Impact of Slowing Economy
Many of Arizona's 455 public charter schools are feeling the effects of a slowing economy, with costs of supplies and services increasing, borrowing costs rising, and contractors unable to complete school building projects. Great Hearts Academies in Chandler is planning two new buildings. While construction costs went down because contractors are no longer as busy building homes, financing costs are rising. Legacy Traditional School in Maricopa will be forced to house its students in temporary buildings all year because a construction firm failed to get funding to finish a school building it had planned to lease. Costs are also increasing in many areas. Schools are trying to preserve as much as possible. For the most part, they have avoided increasing class size and cutting teacher pay, though school leaders recognize those measures are more likely next year if the economy does not improve.
Source: The Arizona Republic, (08/03/2008)
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Public Charter School in Florida Loses University Sponsor and Returns to District
Just two weeks before the start of school, University of South Florida leaders are preparing to turn control of the struggling USF/Patel Charter School over to the Hillsborough County school district. School board members say they do not have the financial means to turn around the "failing" designation it recently received from the state, and that the school's children (mostly poor, nearly all at-risk) will be better served by the public school system. Lynn Lavely, who founded the school at the urging of then-USF President Betty Castor, said that administrators did little to encourage the faculty to contribute. "It's all about the children," she said. "But somewhere along the line, somebody forgot about that."
Source: Herald Tribune, (08/03/2008)
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Bi-Partisan Public Charter School Advocates Prevail in Michigan
Despite complaints by some Detroit lawmakers and protestors from Detroit Public Schools, the Michigan State House of Representatives has voted 68-39 for the final version of Senate Bill 1107, an education appropriations measure which considers public charters like traditional geographic districts. "This will open the doors for Wayne County Community College, the Bay Mills district and others to open charter schools in Detroit, claimed district teacher Steve Conn, who helped organize protestors. Detroit Public Schools has announced it expects a significant decline in enrollment this fall, largely due to school closures and public charter school openings.
Source: The Michigan Citizen, (08/02/2008)
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Proposed Louisiana Public Charter School Seeks to Blend American and Arabic Cultures
This week the Caddo School Board in Louisiana will consider a proposal to start The Children's Future Charter School, a public charter K-12 school that plans to teach Arabic and French languages and provide a blending of Arabic and American cultures. Wanda Gunn, Caddo's interim schools superintendent, wrote to the School Board suggesting the proposal may not be approved because "more intensive work needs to be done." While there is no public charter school in Caddo yet, public chartering is flourishing in nearby New Orleans.
Source: Shreveport Times, (08/02/2008)
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