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 Association Launches New Website for Schools Interested in Chartering to Improve Student Achievement
The California Charter Schools Association, a membership and professional organization which serves more than 700 public charter schools that serve over a quarter million students just launched a website for schools considering public chartering as an option for addressing school improvement under NCLB. With funding from the U.S. Department of Education (U282N060006), the site provides multimedia stories and resources from the recent transformation of three public charter schools in the San Diego Unified School District: Keiller Leadership Academy, Gompers Charter Middle School, and King-Chavez Academies.
Source: California Charter Schools Association, (11/15/2008)
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Public Charter High School Rugby Team Breaks Down Barriers
What was once seen as a sport of exclusive prep schools, the game of rugby has entered onto the fields of Hyde Leadership Public Charter School in Washington, DC. Hyde has become the home of what is believed to be the nation’s first all-African-American high school rugby team. It is also where a growing number of students have been exposed to a sport they once knew nothing about and to parts of society that once seemed closed to them. A rugby-playing teacher, Tal Bayer, invited students to a pick-up game after school. Those informal games led to the birth of a team in 2000. After several years, Hyde has become one of the city’s top programs, finishing second out of seven teams in the Metro Area Varsity Rugby Conference last year. Even more important, Bayer and his players said, is how rugby has exposed them to experiences and opportunities. "Rugby has taken me places I've never imagined going, and I’m thankful when I can go to places where I don’t always have to duck and dive," said P. J. Komongnan, a player on that squad who has returned to Hyde to serve as an assistant coach.
Source: New York Times (free registration required), (11/15/2008)
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In D.C., Fenty and Rhee Look to Use Public Charters in Rebuilding System
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee are considering a number of measures to remove poor-performing teachers, including declaring an education state of emergency and restoring the school district's authority to create public charter schools on its own. Presently, only the D.C. Public Charter School Board may authorize a public charter school in the city. Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Washington Post obtained a draft statement outlining the plan, originally intended to be announced earlier this fall. In part, the statement reads: "Since charters and autonomous schools are not subject to the collective bargaining agreement, these schools would be better positioned to ensure quality teachers in the classroom." Union leaders are expressing more concern about the expansion of public charters in the district than the imposition of a state of emergency. Public Charter School Board Chair Tom Nida called Rhee's effort to expand charter schools "a logical one to take," but one that requires careful study.
Source: Washington Post (free registration required), (11/15/2008)
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Exodus to Public Charter Schools Continues in Columbus, Ohio
Officials reported last week that the number of children leaving the Columbus school district for public charter schools is projected to surpass the 10,000 mark this school year. The Ohio Department of Education projects that 10,273 students in the district's enrollment area will go to public charter schools, and an additional 1,840 will attend private schools with vouchers, Columbus schools interim Treasurer Michael McCammon told the district's Audit and Accountability Committee. Those numbers total about 20 percent of the total student population.
Source: The Columbus Dispatch, (11/14/2008)
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Boston Public Charter School Wins Education Trust's "Dispelling the Myth" Award
On November 13, the Education Trust presented the sixth annual "Dispelling the Myth" awards to four schools from across the country that have been extraordinarily successful in educating low-income students and students of color to high academic levels. Roxbury Preparatory Charter School in Boston was among the schools recognized for making significant strides in narrowing gaps in academic achievement among student groups, showing achievement levels that significantly exceed the averages in their states, or improving student performance at a rapid pace. Serving grades 6-8, staff at Roxbury Prep Charter believe that all students can go on to successfully graduate from college when they have attended a college prep program with a rigorous, engaging and well-planned curriculum. “When educators and policymakers work together to ensure that all students are well prepared for the future, change is absolutely possible,” said Kati Haycock, President of The Education Trust. “Dispelling the Myth schools prove that this kind of change can happen now, and offer inspiration for other schools ready take on the challenge and follow their lead.”
Source: Education Trust Press Room, (11/14/2008)
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Report Finds Public Charter Schools in Ohio's Largest Urban Districts Provide Positive Financial Impact
A new study from the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions finds that Ohio's largest urban schools districts are not as negatively affected financially by public charter schools as some charter opponents claim. Two researchers examined the financial impact of public charter schools on the finances of nearby public schools and found that the state's largest urban school systems received a net gain in revenue, on average, for each student choosing to attend a public charter school. While pupils do take a portion of state funding with them to public charters charter, they leave behind all property tax revenue, resulting in per pupil revenues increasing at the public school, said Matthew Carr, the institute's education policy director and co-author of the report.
Source: Lima News, (11/13/2008)
Also See
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California Public Charter Schools Lead in Achievement for Impoverished Students
Using California's Academic Performance Index as a measuring tool, the California Charter Schools Association has found that 12 of the top 15 public schools in the state that cater primarily to poor children are public charters. "These results show that charter schools are opening doors of opportunity for California's most underserved students, and effectively advancing them on the path to academic success," said Peter Thorp of the association. The study focused on schools where at least 70 percent of the children qualify for free or reduced price lunches. Of more than 3,000 public schools statewide that fit that description, the highest API score -- 967 -- was earned by American Indian Public Charter, a middle school in Oakland whose students are primarily Asian, black and Latino, and have a poverty rate of 98 percent. Ben Chavis, who took over American Indian Public Charter in 2001, when it was struggling academically and in danger of losing its charter, said there was no mystery to his schools' success. It begins, he said, with at least 90 minutes a day of math and English, and a no-nonsense approach. "These poor kids are doing well because we practice math and language arts," he said. "That's it. It's simple."
Source: LA Times (free registration required), (11/12/2008)
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Tennessee Attorney General Says District Administrative Fees Charged to Public Charters are Illegal
The Tennessee Attorney General recently ruled that administrative fees charged by Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools to public charter schools are illegal. State law requires 100 percent of per-pupil state and local funds to be turned over to charters, but district officials collect a five percent administrative fee that does not reach the public charter schools. Jeremy Kane, a charter school founder in Nashville, said he has no idea how the fee has benefitted his school. LEAD Academy handed over about $33,000 to the district last year, about three percent of the school's $1.1 million budget. "The ruling has said that it's illegal, and going forward I'd like to be sure that the fee is stopped," Kane said. "We're concerned because we still haven't heard from the district." Memphis schools, with 13 public charter schools, wanted to follow Metro's example and add the fee. Before that happened, the Tennessee Charter Schools Association requested the opinion. A bill that would have authorized districts to collect a five percent administrative fee did not gain traction in the legislature last session — further proof lawmakers want public charter schools to receive 100 percent of the funds, the opinion said.
Source: Tennessean, (11/12/2008)
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