Minnesota Report Finds Mixed Results on Public Charter Schools

http://www.startribune.com/local/22716469.html?location_refer=Lynx

A report released last week by the Minnesota legislative auditor's office finds that while public charter schools in the state need more oversight and generally post poorer test scores than regular district schools, they have made big strides toward financial health. "It's very good news on the financial performance," said Minnesota Department of Education Assistant Commissioner Morgan Brown. "On oversight, it recommends a clear path to improvement. On academic performance, it didn't tell us anything at this point that we didn't know." Eugene Piccolo of the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools said the report echoes many recommendations that his association has made, including tightening conflict-of-interest laws to prevent hiring of family members of public charter school board members and disclosing financial links between public charter schools and the sponsor agencies charged with oversight. "The bottom line is that performance is mixed, and there's room for improvement," said Judy Randall, one of the report's authors. The report also looked at the demographics of public charter school students. Fifty-two percent of public charter school students were members of minority groups and 53 percent were from low-income families. Those figures compare, respectively, with 22 percent and 30 percent in regular district schools.

Source: Star Tribune
Date: 06/30/2008