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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Presidential Candidates Draw Attention to Public Charter Schools
In a speech September 9 by Senator Barack Obama and remarks accepting his party’s nomination last week by Senator John McCain, both candidates for the presidency expressed strong support for public charter schools. "When a public school fails to meet its obligations to students and parents -- when it fails to meet its obligations to students, parents deserve a choice in the education of their children. And I intend to give it to them,” said Senator McCain. "Some may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private one. Many will choose a charter school. But they will have the choice, and their children will have that opportunity.” Appearing in Dayton, Ohio, Senator Obama stated: “Giving our parents real choices about where to send their kids to school also means showing the same kind of leadership at the national level that I did in Illinois when I passed a law to double the number of charter schools in Chicago. That is why as President, I'll double the funding for responsible charter schools.” Senator Obama added: “Charter schools that are successful will get the support they need to grow. And charters that aren't will get shut down.”
Source: Associated Press, (09/09/2008)
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Utah District Calls for Statewide Tax to Fund Public Charter Schools
The Ogden School Board has issued a resolution asking legislators to rescind a requirement that school districts dole out funding for public charter schools. The school board wants lawmakers to impose a statewide tax system to fund public charter schools rather than requiring districts to share funding. Brian Allen, State Charter School Board president, said he feels the funding system is fair. Parents of public charter school children pay property taxes to school districts, he said. "I think their children should be able to benefit from that property tax just like other people's kids benefit from it," Allen said. "It's not the school district's money. It belongs to the citizens." Catherine Montgomery, principal of Quest, a technology-based public charter school in the Weber School District, said she can sympathize with the Ogden district "but charter schools are public schools and we need funding also."
Source: Deseret Morning News, (09/08/2008)
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D.C. Catholic Conversions Attract Nationwide Attention
With the alternative of closing schools down, seven former Catholic schools across the District of Columbia were approved in mid-June to become public charters. Analysts say they are aware of no other instance in which Catholic officials have sought to convert a batch of parochial schools into public charters. Thomas Nida, the chairman of the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, said he has been hearing from Catholic officials around the country who are keenly interested in the conversion effort, given that many urban Catholic schools have closed in recent years. "I know they're watching it," he said. It may be the start of something you see popping up in due course elsewhere. Tyrone Calliham, a longtime resident of the city's Trinidad neighborhood who lives blocks from one converted school, is among the parents enrolling children there for the first time. "I knew their expectations for children were much higher than in D.C. public schools, so I always wanted to come here," he said of the school. "But now they've made it so everyone can come."
Source: Education Week (subscription required), (09/08/2008)
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District Students Leaving for Public Charter Schools in St. Paul
The St. Paul, Minnesota school district, which serves about 38,800 students, is facing several challenges this school year, including declining enrollment. The district has made more than $93 million in budget cuts over the last nine years. Only one-half its students are proficient in reading and the achievement gap between white students and students of color is among the widest in the nation. Nearly twice as many students in the district leave for public charter schools as leave public charter schools for the school district. In response, the district is embarking on a project to make large-scale reforms to the school system. Officials do not yet know what those changes are, said Christine Wroblewski, chief community relations officer for the district. "Right now, we're in the 'why' phase," she said. 'We're dealing with, 'Why are we doing this, why are we considering it?'"
Source: Star Tribune, (09/07/2008)
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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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For Fourth Time in Two Years, Public Charter School Leadership in Hawaii Changes Hands
Nine months into the job, Reshela DuPuis, Executive Director of the Charter School Administrative Office in Hawaii, has resigned. DuPuis took the job in December, seeking to move beyond problems experienced by two of her predecessors: Jim Shon, a popular former state legislator, who was fired from the position, and Maunalei Love, who threatened to quit while serving on an interim basis. She said was asked to leave by the Charter School Review Panel. The review panel has appointed Maunalei Love, DuPuis' predecessor, to serve as interim executive director. John Thatcher, director of Connections Public Charter School, said DuPuis may have been targeted after state lawmakers passed a budget that lowered per-student spending by about $1,000 per public charter student from the previous year. The $56.1 million appropriation for public charters in the current academic year is $15.8 million short of what had been sought by the schools. "I know that (DuPuis) was taking the heat for a lot of what happened," said Thatcher, former president of the Hawaii Charter Schools Network. "And there were legislators that were blaming her." State Sen. Rosalyn Baker, chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee, said she had no comment about DuPuis' departure.
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, (09/06/2008)
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Public Charter Schools Oppose Proposed Legislation in California
A proposed bill (AB 2115) in California would subject public charter school boards to many of the same restrictions as school districts' boards. These include prohibiting a public charter school's employees from serving on its board and requiring the boards to meet in public. Supporters say the bill would prevent financial abuses, but public charter school advocates say it would damage the public charter school movement. Branche Jones, the director of governmental affairs of the California Charter Schools Association, said the legislation goes too far. He said the law establishing public charter schools allowed teachers and other employees to serve on their boards because they often have a hand in creating the schools. "It would definitely be detrimental," said Gary Powers, Vice President of Achieve Charter School's governing board. "It is detrimental in the sense that it is an effort to eliminate a major stakeholder in the school from having any say in management." Public charter boards currently are governed by the California Corporations code, which regulates issues of conflicts of interest. When an item comes up for a vote that concerns teacher salaries or benefits, the teacher sitting on the board does not vote on that issue. Powers said the new bill's intent is to remove teachers from the governing board to make it easier to unionize public charter schools. The Legislature has not sent the bill to the governor because he has said he would veto any bills that reach his desk before lawmakers approve a state budget.
Source: Paradise Post, (09/06/2008)
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Another District School in Charleston Considers Public Charter Conversion
In order to receive more funding, have greater flexibility, as well as provide consistency of quality education, officials at a district school in Charleston are considering converting to a public charter school. Drayton Hall Elementary is in the process of determining whether the community would support the change. Faculty members voted unanimously last week in support of a public charter school, and parents will cast their votes in the next few weeks. The state requires at least two-thirds of faculty and parents of enrolled students to agree to the filing of a public charter school application. If parents approve the change, the school would submit an application to the state Charter School Advisory Committee, which would have to sign off. Principal John Cobb said a primary reason for converting would be to provide consistency of quality education, The school's absolute rating on the state report card has been good for two years, but its improvement rating has swung from below average to excellent and back to below average. His goal is for the improvement rating to consistently improve, and that could be accomplished by adding programs, such as foreign language and band, he said.
Source: Charleston Post and Courier (registration required), (09/05/2008)
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Public Charter School Waiting List Grows in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
Camden's Pride, the newest public charter school in Camden, New Jersey, opened its doors last week to very excited families. Public charter schools are gaining popularity in Camden, one of the country's poorest cities that also has low-performing schools. According to a National Alliance for Public Charter Schools study of districts with over 10,000 students, in the 2006-2007 school year, Camden with 13 percent of its students in public charter schools joined Philadelphia as one of the top 10 districts nationally with the highest public charter participation. National Alliance president Nelson Smith said many of the highest public charter participation districts are in urban communities with underperforming schools. "When the charter option is made available, the parents flock to it," he said. An estimated 11,000 students are on waiting lists for public charter schools in New Jersey and another 26,000 wait for openings at public charters in neighboring Pennsylvania. Nationally, about 350,000 families are on waiting lists for public charter enrollment -- enough to fill about 1,100 new schools.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, (09/04/2008)
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District in Florida Considers Opening Own Public Charter School
Pasco County Board Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey wants the board to take a more direct role in public chartering. Last week, she said that the board should consider starting its own public charter school, possibly one that focuses on students who are dropout risks. Starkey said a public charter school would give the district flexibility it does not have with traditional public schools. She explained that public charter schools are supposed to provide innovative programs that other schools do not offer, and in exchange they are not tied down to all the rules and regulations traditional public schools face. Chartering "has some advantages," over traditional district schools, she said.
Source: Tampa Bay Online, (09/03/2008)
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