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.
California Governor Signs New Public Charter School Facilities Funding Bills
Last week Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he had signed two bills to expand opportunities for charter schools to open in California. SB 658 sunsets the Year-Round School Grant Program and requires the funds, totaling over $90 million, to be reallocated to the Charter School Facility Grant Program. AB 2033 will lower the interest rate for lease payments on approved charter school facility projects. "Funding and having access to affordable and adequate school facilities are some of the greatest challenges facing charter schools and their operators," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "The measures I signed ... will help reduce these burdens and expand opportunities for charter schools to open in California."
Source: Imperial Valley News, (09/28/2008)
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Massachusetts Rejects One-half of New Public Charter School Proposals
The Massachusetts Department of Education announced last week that it has invited two proposed public charter schools in central and eastern Massachusetts and one statewide public charter school to submit final applications. It, however, rejected three proposals for new public charter schools in Western Massachusetts. Heidi Guarino of the state education department said there is a "very specific process" in evaluating proposals. The public charter school founders are welcome to try again next year, she said. Specific reasons were not disclosed for the declined applicants.
Source: The Republican, (09/28/2008)
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Enrollment in Detroit Plummets, Opening Door for More Public Charter Schools
Detroit Public Schools officials acknowledged last week that enrollment has dropped below the 100,000 mark needed to maintain its "first-class district status," which helped to restrict public charter school expansion in the city. As a result, two community colleges and suburban districts will be able to open public charter schools within the city. Additionally, the number of DPS board members could change and their powers diminish. Gary Naeyaert, spokesman for Michigan's Charter Schools, said there are about 200 applicants awaiting approval to open new public charter schools, but none would likely be ready to open in Detroit until fall 2009.
Source: Detroit Free Press, (09/27/2008)
Also See
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New Initiative Seeks to Bring Rigor of Research and Development to Public K-12 Education
The Educational Innovation Laboratory, a new $44 million plan to apply rigorous research and development principles to the field of education, will team economists, marketers and others interested in turning around struggling schools with educators in New York, Washington and Chicago. Led by Harvard economist Roland Fryer, and supported by the Broad Foundation, a long-time public charter supporter, the initiative initially plans to focus on incentive programs, including ideas like giving students cash for good test scores, an approach that Fryer has tested in New York since June 2007. Each of the three school districts working with the Institute will use a different plan to encourage high achievement, with researchers tracking the effect of each on student performance.
Source: New York Times (free registration required), (09/25/2008)
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State's Error Slashes Title I Funding for Cleveland Public Charter Schools
In June, state officials in Ohio told public charter school operators in Cleveland that they would be receiving significant increases in Title 1 money, federal funding designed to help boost the reading and math skills of children from poor families. Some public charters schools put those allocation figures into their budgets and hired new teachers at a rate normally beyond their budgets. In all, public charter schools in Cleveland saw their Title 1 allocations slashed more than $5 million from the June projections the state gave them. In several cases, the drop was more than $250,000. "It's caused chaos for some, if not all, of Cleveland's charter schools," said William Simms of the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools. "Somebody should be accountable for what happened. The charter schools are, at least, owed an explanation."
Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer, (09/25/2008)
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Algiers Charter School Association Awarded $17.6 Million Grant for Teacher Advancement Program
The Algiers Charter School Association in Louisiana has been awarded $17.6 million as part of a teacher-incentive grant to be used to expand the organization's Teacher Advancement Program (TAP). The grant will be used to support the Teacher Advancement Program, a national initiative that emphasizes continued professional development and awards monetary bonuses based on student performance. While several factors have contributed to the association's success, officials continually point to TAP as a factor that has made a difference. Students with the public charter school association have consistently outperformed students from neighboring regular-admission public schools on state standardized tests. In the association's first year, ACSA students scored 22 percent higher on state tests than their counterparts in Orleans Parish, officials said.
Source: The Times-Picayune, (09/24/2008)
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Some Oregon Districts Refusing Students Permission to Attend Online Public Charter School
At least six Oregon school districts, including Eugene, are refusing to grant permission for students to attend one of the state's newest online public charter schools. The Oregon Virtual Academy, which opened this month in North Bend, enrolls students in grades kindergarten through eighth from throughout the state, offering an online, at-home program operated by Virginia-based company K12. While more than 250 students have enrolled, more than 60 have been denied permission from their local districts. Under the terms of a waiver granted by the State Board of Education last spring, local districts must sign off on releasing students from within their boundaries to the Oregon Virtual Academy. "Sadly, what this often comes down to is money," said OVA spokesman Randall Greenway, noting that the release requirement, especially, came as "a bit of a surprise." "(Districts) don't want to see the money (flow) out of the district budget. They are not making a decision that's based on what's best for the child."
Source: The Register-Guard, (09/23/2008)
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Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of Education Appointed Executive Director of New Texas Charter Schools Association
David Dunn will be leaving his post as chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to lead the new Texas Charter Schools Association (TCSA) early next month. More than 100 public charter school leaders across Texas have been involved in the creation of the Austin-based TCSA. The association has received support from the Charter School Policy Institute, the Walton Family Foundation and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. "Parents and kids deserve quality education options," says Dunn. "TCSA is committed to giving them those options." In the 2007-08 school year, more than 113,000 students were enrolled in public charter schools in the state.
Source: Austin Business Journal, (09/22/2008)
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