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.
Denver Public Charter School Tops All City's Middle Schools on Same Budget
West Denver Preparatory Charter School ranks number one among the city's 44 middle schools in student academic growth. The school operates on roughly the same budget as any other Denver Public School. Chris Gibbons, head of school for West Denver Prep, said he now can run his program solely on what he receives from the district. That was not possible in the first year since his school began with only one grade of 100 students and the low student-adult ratio required extra dollars. He took advantage of two grants available to some public charter schools, including $230,000 from the Walton Foundation. For 2008-09, Gibbons has set a private fundraising goal of $180,000, including $80,000 for his school's bonus plan for teachers based entirely on increasing student achievement. Another $60,000 will fund a trip to Washington, D.C., for his 57 eighth-graders. The remaining $40,000 will go to pay off debt for additions to his school building, a cost that Gibbons said would not have incurred if public charters were able to make use of DPS buildings.
Source: Rocky Mountain News, (08/18/2008)
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New Orleans Public Schools Compete for Students
New Orleans public schools are no longer competing as fiercely for teachers, but they are increasingly competing for students. Traditional public schools now realize their survival depends on student enrollment. Most public charters have achieved a head start in attracting students, beginning their marketing efforts last school year. Many district schools only began marketing last week. The overall number of public school students in the city will increase from the spring, Recovery District Superintendent Paul Vallas said, but the new and expanding charter schools will absorb most of that growth. District schools that have particularly low enrollments will face closure or consolidation, Vallas said. "I've told all of our schools . . . that they need their own promotional campaign," he said. "They need to be out there selling themselves."
Source: The Times-Picayune, (08/18/2008)
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National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Cosponsors Outburst!
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has signed on as a partner in Outburst! - a series of six high-tech interactive civic forums for young people focusing on national public policy issues. The sessions are being held at the locations of the national political conventions and presidential debates. The first forum was held August 24 at the University of Denver. Additional forums are to be held in St. Paul, St. Louis, and New York City in September and October. “Outburst is a dynamic, interactive event demonstrating to young students just how important it is to learn about issues, participate in the political process and make your voice heard,” said National Alliance for Public Charter Schools President and CEO Nelson Smith. “The Alliance is delighted to team up with Outburst to get students involved in our nation’s civic dialogue.” For more details and how to attend, visit the Outburst! website.
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, (08/18/2008)
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NYT Magazine Profiles Radical Transformation of New Orleans Public School System
Earlier this month, Louisiana released test results for every public school in New Orleans. There were signs of improvement: 43 percent of fourth-grade students in Recovery School District public charters and district-run schools scored at or above grade level on the state English test, compared with 34 percent in the previous year. This week's New York Times Magazine examines the transformation of the city's public education system, focusing on individual students' achievements and the education reformists leading the changes in the system and the classroom. "What is being built...is an educational landscape unlike any other, a radical experiment in reform," writes Times editor Paul Tough. Recovery District Superintendent Paul Vallas says what made New Orleans such a promising place for educational reform was that it had no institutional obstacles no school board, no collective bargaining agreement, a teachers union with very little power. No one tells me how long my school day should be or my school year should be, he said. Nobody tells me who to hire or who not to hire. I can hire the most talented people. I can promote people based on merit and based on performance. I can dismiss people if theyre chronically nonattending or if theyre simply not performing.
Source: New York Times (free registration required), (08/18/2008)
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Georgia Budget Proposal Slashes Funding for Public Charter Schools
Following Governor Sonny Perdue's request for cutting the state education budget, the state board of education has created a plan that significantly reduces funding for public charter schools, a teacher mentoring program, and graduation coaches aimed at reducing dropout rates. State school superintendent Kathy Cox says cutting the state education budget is painful but necessary. "This is not necessarily what we want in education but that's what we have to do," she said. The cuts are a reflection of Georgia's mounting $1.6 billion budget deficit, which forced the Governor to order most state agencies to cut their budgets by six percent. Perdue has warned the agencies to prepare for broader cuts if tax collections continue to plummet.
Source: Forbes, (08/15/2008)
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Five Districts to be Given Exclusive Authority Over New Public Charter Schools in Florida
With final approval expected this week from the Florida Board of Education, five districts will have the right to claim exclusive authority over new public charter schools. In other districts, public charter school developers who hope to open public charters can bypass the local school board and apply to a state charter schools commission instead. Formed in 2006 by the Legislature, the Florida Schools of Excellence Commission was designed to provide an alternative to applicants that had been denied or troubled by local school boards. Many school districts appealed that decision, and several have joined in a lawsuit challenging the commission's legality. Under the state Constitution, they insist, local school boards retain exclusive authority to "operate, control and supervise all free public schools within the school district." Oral arguments in the suit are expected to begin in September.
Source: Miami Herald (free registration required), (08/15/2008)
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Education Company Using NBA Star Name to Draw Dropouts Back into the Classroom
Mavericks in Education, a private education company, is trying to win approval to open 16 public charter schools in Florida named for Dwyane Wade the NBA All-Star guard. Company officials think a combination of Wade's name recognition, technology, and a 10-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio will draw high school dropouts back to the classroom. Wade is named as a partner, though he is not contributing financially to the schools, collecting a salary or taking part in day-to-day operations, said Mark Thimmig, former head of White Hat and current Mavericks in Education CEO. A member of Mavericks in Education approached Wade, who grew up on Chicago's South Side, about their ideas for reaching students who had failed to thrive in traditional public schools. If the schools are approved, Wade would join a number of athletes who have lent support to schools or academic programs.
Source: Palm Beach Post, (08/14/2008)
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Professional Athletes Focus Their Winning Moves on Public Charter Schools
A handful of remarkable athletes is making a positive impact in the public charter school movement. Several years ago, former NBA star Kevin Johnson founded St. Hope Academy, a public charter school now known as one of the best public high schools in Sacramento, California. In 2001, tennis star Andre Agassi founded the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas, a model charter school whose goal is to offer academic programs designed to enhance a child's character. Like the school founded by Johnson, Agassi's school has done very well with a challenged student population in an impoverished neighborhood. In East Los Angeles, boxer Oscar de la Hoya has partnered with Green Dot to produce one of the best-performing high schools in the city. "Because of their steadfast commitment to the schools they founded, Messrs. Johnson, Agassi and de la Hoya are becoming legends - even in staid, traditional philanthropic circles," writes Kevin Chavous, a former member of the D.C. Council. "Each has done more than lend his name and money. Each has poured his heart and soul into the schools and the kids they serve. That is what makes them superstars."
Source: Washington Times, (08/13/2008)
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Draft Democratic Party Platform Says Democrats Should Promote Public Charter Schools
The 2008 draft Democratic Party platform, which was released August 9, says that Democrats should "promote public charter schools which are accountable." This language is slightly more pro-charter from the 2004 platform which suggested Democrats "support public school choice, including charter schools and magnet schools that meet the same high standards as other schools."
Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, (08/11/2008)
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