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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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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Moratorium on New Public Charter Schools Lifted in Nevada
This past weekend, the Nevada Board of Education lifted the moratorium on new public charter schools. Last year, officials said lack of adequate staffing led the board to impose a moratorium on applications for new charter schools. The state was inundated after Nevada's two largest school districts, Clark and Washoe, decided they would no longer sponsor public charters. State officials also wanted time to devise more regulations, such as a process for revoking a public charter school. On August 9, the Board approved new guidelines for public charter schools and decided in a 6-2 vote to lift the moratorium after Keith Rheault, state superintendent of public instruction, said the state's Interim Finance Committee had approved the hire of a new staff person. The state Department of Education plans to use money from applicant fees to hire additional staff. The board also allowed Nevada Connections Academy and another online public charter school, Nevada Virtual Academy, to expand to early grades of kindergarten through third grade.
Source: Las Vegas Review Journal, (08/11/2008)
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California Bill Includes $115 Million in State Funding for Public Charter School Facilities
State funding to build new public charter schools could increase six-fold in four years to $115 million under a clause tucked into a larger bill (Senate Bill 658) which provides more funding for multi-track year-round schools. That means traditional public charter school opponents find themselves supporters of giving public charters more funding because they favor the bill's other goals. "Am I happy the money is going to charters? No, not at all, but sometimes if you're going to help your kids, you have to make a compromise here and there," said United Teachers Los Angeles president A.J. Duffy. The funding for public charters would come from annual cuts of 20 percent, beginning in 2008-09 and running for the next four years, from the state's Year-Round School Grant. The money cut from the grant would be funneled into the Charter School Facilities Grant, currently an $18 million construction fund for public charter schools with at least 70 percent of their students receiving free or reduced-cost meals. "It's a win-win all around," said Caprice Young, president of the California Charter Schools Association. "It's a good example of how we can do the right things for kids if we all work together." The bill has until August 31 to pass or it will expire.
Source: Los Angeles Daily News, (08/10/2008)
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Public Charter Schools Expand in New Orleans
Seven new public charter schools start classes this month in New Orleans, bringing the number of public charters in the city to 47. More than one-half of the city's public schools are run largely independently, as public charters, and the others have been split into state- and city-run districts. Lusher Charter School's senior class, most of whom started together in the new school's first freshman class, will embark on its final year this week. Lusher CEO Kathy Riedlinger said the enthusiasm of the senior class is "contagious." "We can't be around that and not be excited about being back in school," said Riedlinger, president of the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools, a nonprofit group that seeks to sustain its members by advocating on their behalf and providing shared services and resources.
Source: The Times-Picayune, (08/09/2008)
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More Funding for Public Charters in New Jersey
Last month, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine authorized $50 million in the new state budget for 56 public charter schools. Projected payments for public charters this fiscal year total $196 million. On average, the state's public charter schools spend $11,558 per student.
Source: Jersey Journal, (08/09/2008)
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Georgia Public School Students Leaving Poor Performing District Schools for Public Charters
This school year, more than 2,000 students, who were at under-performing schools in 2007, have said they want to transfer to DeKalb public charter schools. Families, however, are troubled by the lack of transportation available. The district, which is required by the No Child Left Behind Act to allow students at chronically low performing schools to transfer to other public schools, says it would cost millions of dollars and 45 buses to transport children to the community's public charter schools. Families are eager to have their children in public charters and are seeking creative ways to get their children to and from school.
Source: Fox News Atlanta, (08/08/2008)
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Schools Battle for Students in Arizona
The Tucson Unified School District in Arizona, which has lost more than 4,000 students over the past 10 years to public charter and private schools and nearby districts, began a campaign last school year to keep students and entice hundreds of public charter students back to the district. But students continue to leave for charters. In June, the district ramped up the fight to keep students and attract others back, hoisting up 10 billboards around town touting that any student can go to any school in the district "near work, near day care, near home," as long as there is space. The campaign specifically targeted parents who had sent their children to charter schools, and marketing specialist Joe Bidwell said it is projected that 360 to 550 charter students will return to TUSD this year as a result. Most public charters, however, continue to be at maximum enrollment with long waiting lists.
Source: Tucson Citizen, (08/06/2008)
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Eleven Public Charters Vie for Seven Approval Slots in Arkansas
A total of 11 open-enrollment public charter schools are applying to open in Arkansas in 2009, but only seven can be approved by the Arkansas Board of Education because of a 24-school cap set in state law. Seventeen public charters already are in operation in the state. "It's evidence, I believe, that there is a real thirst in this city and in this county for public education choice," said Roy Brooks, former Little Rock School District superintendent and now CEO of eStem Public Charter Schools, Inc. "People are no longer going to put up with the politics and with these districts focusing on the desires and wants of adults to the [detriment ] of the kids." The state education board is expected to begin acting on the proposals in November.
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, (08/06/2008)
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