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ABC's of Charter Schools |
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1. How Will Maine Benefit from Public Charter Schools? A. Charter Schools will help the state meet its goal of educating all children. Decades of research and experience show that children vary in how and when they learn. Varied approaches are difficult to develop within typical district public schools, given their heavy overlay of rules, regulations, and traditions. Public charter schools offer teachers and communities the opportunity to try different approaches based on choice by those involved. Making choices is a fundamental step for parents, and increases their involvement in their children's education, one of the most important factors contributing to each child's success in school. B. They will help improve academic achievement. Even Though Maine's students score well on national exams compared to students in other states, the actual performance leaves room for improvement. For math, on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests in 2003, only 34% of fourth graders in Maine scored at the proficient or better level, while 29% of Maine's eighth graders scored at this level. This means that over 2/3 of our students did not score at the proficient or better level. Similar results are shown in the Maine Educational Assessment scores. For school years 1999 through 2004, about 49% of fourth graders, 41% of eighth graders and 50% of 11th graders met or exceeded the reading standards. For math in 2004, the figures were 32%, 22%, and 24%. These scores mean that HALF of Maine students taking the reading tests met the standards only partially or did not meet the standards at all; and that as many as THREE-FOURTHS of those taking the math tests failed to meet the standards. In its 2002 survey of Maine businesses, the Maine Development Foundation found that only 18% of over 660 businesses rated Maine's public high schools very good to excellent, 41% rated them good, and 37% rated them fair to poor. Asked whether the business had to provide basic education to entry level employees, 41% did so sometimes or frequently for math, 42% for spelling, 32% for reading, 68% for computer skills, and 75% for people skills. See www.mdf.org. Public charter schools encourage new approaches to improving academic achievement. Academic goals are included in each charter school's contract to operate, and the school can be closed by its chartering authority if those goals are not met within specified periods of time. Further, allowing parents choice among different kinds of public schools creates incentives for all public schools to improve their academic and other programs to attract students. C. Charter Schools will enhance opportunities for teachers and communities. Public charter schools provide new professional opportunities for teachers and can change teacher attitudes and efforts. Teachers choose to work in charter schools and so invest their efforts in new ways. Community-based organizations can start public charter schools, finding new ways to support public education and families in their areas. Charter schools frequently partner with such groups as well as with businesses and colleges, drawing new resources into public education that otherwise would not have been available. Charter schools often become magnets for social creativity and economic development. D. Charter Schools find new ways to educate at-risk children. Although Maine's high school graduation rates compare favorably with national rates, the actual number of high school students who are dropping out is significant, averaging about 2000 students per year. At over 3% per year, Maine is losing many students who won't be ready for higher education for many years. Even for the students who don't drop out, and in spite of relatively small schools and caring communities, 67% of high schools face problems with student drug and alcohol use according to a recent survey of school principals. In another survey, about one-third of youth 10-24 years old report heavy drinking in the past month and/or using marijuana. Births to teens and attempted suicides are declining but still significant. Special Education numbers have been climbing steadily in Maine, from 29,000 students in 1992-1993 (13% of those in public schools), to 37,139 students in 2002-2003 (17.7%). Distribution by county varies from a low of 9% in 2000-2001, to a high of 24%. Three types of disabilities accounted for 3/4 of these placements - 37% had a Specific Learning Disability, 27% had Speech and Hearing Impairment, and 11% had an Emotional Disability. Because public charter schools can choose a theme, focus, or instructional approach, they are often able to create learning environments that help meet the needs of children with special learning styles and challenges. E. Charter Schools will Expand Free Education Options for Maine Families and Encourage More Families to Benefit from Public Education. Enabling charter schools as a choice among publicly-funded schools available to all families will increase the equity of access for Maine families and communities. Some families already have education choices due to residence. In 2000-2001, 148 Maine communities with no elementary and/or high school paid tuition for 11,000 students to attend the public or private school of the family's choice. Other families exercise choice by paying for or receiving financial aid at private schools. K-12 enrollment in private schools increased from about 14,000 in 1995 to 17,000 in 2000, an increase of 21% during a period when statewide district public school enrollment as a percentage of total school age population declined by 2%. More and more Maine families exercise choice by educating their children at home: K-12 home school enrollment increased 22%, from 3,400 to 4,375, between 1995 and 2000. Traditionally, district public schools have exclusive neighborhood boundaries. If residential areas are segregated by income and/or ethnicity, these patterns are reflected in school enrollments. Choice among different kinds of public schools can help reduce segregation in schools. Further, when families move to a different neighborhood or town in search of a public education program they like, they often face added costs for commuting, moving, and/or finding a new job. Some families would be able to avoid these costs if free public charter schools were available in their area. Sources: For education statistics: The Condition of K-12 Public Education in Maine, 2002, Maine Education Policy Research Institute, University of Southern Maine, January 2002. For more detail, see www.cepare.usm.maine.edu. For information on Maine communities which tuition out, see "The Effects of Town Tuitioning in Vermont and Maine," Christopher W. Hammons, Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, School Choice Issues in Depth, Volume 1, # 1, 2002. 2. How many Public Charter Schools will there be? The Maine enabling legislation for Public Charter Schools will set limits on the number of public charter schools which may be approved each year. While there are many educators and parents who would like to see new options within the public school sector, it is a major task to start a new public school, and the numbers can be expected to grow slowly. Public Charter Schools could be formed in three ways. First, existing public schools, including alternative education programs, would be able to convert to Public Charter Schools. Second, communities could form new Public Charter Schools "from scratch," and third, existing private schools could convert to Public Charter Schools by agreeing to be non-sectarian, tuition-free, and open to all without admissions tests. 3. How do children get placed in a Public Charter School? No one, whether child or teacher, is ever "placed" in a Public Charter School. Participation in a public charter school is completely voluntary. No child is assigned to attend a public charter school, nor would any teacher be assigned to teach in one. Public Charter Schools are schools of choice, which enhances the professional status of teachers and the involvement of parents. Each public charter school will have its own enrollment application process. If there are more applicants than slots available, students have be admitted using a random selection process such as a lottery. 4. Will charter schools skim off the "best" kids? Since Public Charter Schools are part of the public education system, they have an obligation to accept all who apply up to the capacity of the school. In the event that more students wish to attend than a school can accommodate, a lottery must be used to determine who attends. Some Public Charter Schools may choose to serve a particular age group such as high school age students, or have an academic theme, but they cannot have entrance tests to determine who is admitted. Experience in other states suggests that it is often those children who are not thriving in the existing district public schools who choose a public charter school option. 5. Don't we already have a Charter School, the Maine School for Math and Science? Not really. Although the Maine School for Math and Science is funded directly by the state legislature and has a good deal of flexibility in its program, it is a "magnet" school with admission requirements, which Public Charter Schools cannot have. FMI: www.mssm.org
6. How are Public Charter Schools Different from "Vouchers"? Public Charter Schools are public schools, free to all children without tuition or admissions tests. "Vouchers" are a way of enabling parents to pay for private schools with public funds. Such schools charge tuition, may have admissions criteria, and might have a religious affiliation, depending on state law. 7. How do we pay for Public Charter Schools? Public Charter Schools will be funded by having annual operating funds follow each child to the Public Charter School chosen for him or her. As are existing public district schools, Public Charter Schools will be allowed to raise private funds from grantors, foundations, and businesses. In addition, each year the federal government makes grants available to help Public Charter Schools with start-up costs. To qualify for these federal funds, a state must have enabling legislation which meets certain criteria. 8. How would chartered public schools help rural and small schools? Public charter schools are independently managed public schools which operate as small non-profit businesses under a contract with a "chartering authority." In the draft enabling legislation for Maine, local school boards may act as chartering authorities, as may Maine public colleges and universities. Public charter schools are a form of "public school choice," since parents choose to send their children to these schools and teachers choose to work there. The size of public charter schools depends on the design of the school as reflected in its charter contract, and whether the school can attract students. The income of a charter school is based on a per pupil allocation received for each of its students from the district of residence, plus grants and other fundraising. A charter school has flexibility in how it spends its funds and has to plan its budget to enable it to meet the goals of its contract and to avoid bankruptcy. Thus, the economic viability of a public charter school depends on the quality of its program and the number of students it can attract, not on a state-imposed minimum number of students. There are many successful small and rural charter schools among the 3,300 public charter schools around the country. These schools provide a variety of models of how small and/or isolated charter schools can successfully educate children. What aspects of the charter school model can help small and rural schools to thrive? The two main features are, first, the governance model of a charter school itself, which is based on increased flexibility in the use of resources in exchange for increased accountability for student achievement. Secondly, the role of the chartering authorizer enables local school boards to manage public schools in a different way than by directly employing the staff of a district public school. For example, if a local school board decides to act as a chartering authority for its district, it sets up an application process for groups to apply for a charter school contract, specifying what kind of school is preferred, location, and other important criteria. Potential charter school organizers then design their proposal and apply to create a public charter school. The chartering authorizer reviews the proposals, holds a public hearing on the proposals, and awards one or more contracts for public charter schools in the district. A charter contract issued by a local school board may specify that students in the local board's district be given first preference for admission, followed by students from other districts if space is available. Local school districts could work together to contract for regional specialized charter schools, such as for high school dropouts, or theme-based charter schools, such as for arts or environmental science. Once a contract is received, a charter school is eligible for the federal Charter School Grant Program, which awards about $100,000 per year for 3 years to new charter schools. These funds can be used by the school for planning, teacher training, equipment, supplies, and consultants. For more information, see www.uscharterschools.org. Maine will be eligible to participate in this federal program once it passes enabling legislation. This legislation will follow the federal guidelines for chartering authorities, including required annual reports and fiscal audits, a major review before contract renewal or at least once every 5 years, and acceptance of students without admissions tests, and by lottery if more students apply than can be accommodated (after district residents are admitted if that is part of the contract). For local school boards, managing the education programs available to their town's residents on a contract basis, rather than the traditional direct employment basis, has several advantages. The contractual arrangements provide a neutral basis for reviewing performance and making changes. The school board can contract with multiple charter schools to provide education programs to meet the diverse and changing needs of its residents. For example: - The charter school's board of directors and staff are responsible for the program of the school, its budget, its staff, etc,; the local school board is not the employer of the staff. - The local school board (or town officials) sets the annual average per pupil allocation for operating costs that will follow each resident child to a public charter school. - The contract spells out the academic and other goals of the school and how they will be measured. - The contract spells out required annual financial and academic reporting and review mechanisms, so the local school board will have new ways to hold the school accountable for academic achievement. - The required 5 year review forces the authorizer and school to assess overall performance, make improvements, and change the terms of the contract subject to negotiation and mutual agreement. From the charter school's point of view, there are several advantages to operating as a non-profit organization. - The per pupil allocation for operating costs is automatic, so the school can plan its budget without worrying about unexpected budget cuts in the middle of the school year. - The school can propose and implement innovative ways of delivering education programs to meet the needs of its students. - The school has flexibility in designing its budget, and is freed from most local and state education regulations (but not health, safety, and civil rights regulations). From the perspective of a town and the taxpayers, the charter school model offers different and often more effective ways of managing school expenses and holding schools accountable for student achievement. And parents and teachers like having choices about where they learn and teach. These choices are themselves strong mechanisms of accountability - parents can move their children to other public schools if dissatisfied, and teachers can choose to teach in other schools. Since Maine colleges and universities would be able to issue charter contracts, in addition to local school boards, potential charter school organizers would have a choice as to where to apply for a charter contract. Among the most interesting examples of small charter high schools is the Minnesota New Country School (MNCS), a grade 7-12 public charter school in rural Minnesota. It was created and continues to be managed by a teachers cooperative known as EdVisions. EdVisions has received 2 grants from the Gates Foundation to replicate its unusual project-based learning model and its teachers cooperative governance model in other states. For more information, contact Doug Thomas, doug@edvisions.coop, 507-248-3738, or visit www.edvisions.com, and www.educationevolving.org. For more information about the proposed enabling legislation for public charter schools in Maine, visit www.mainecharterschools.org or call 763-3576. 9. Are Charter Schools public schools or may they be church-affiliated? These are public schools: tuition-free, non-sectarian, with no admission tests. Church-affiliated schools do not qualify to be Public Charter Schools. 10. Are any Unions involved with Public Charter Schools? Yes. First, all charter school employees have the same rights and powers to unionize as traditional public school teachers. Each charter school is usually its own unit for bargaining purposes, although charter schools that have converted from district schools may continue with the district's union contract. Next, several trade unions collaborate with public charter schools to provide internships and apprenticeships to secondary students. Examples include the Tomorrow's Builders Charter School in Illinois, (618-874-1671) with 60 students in grades 9-12. The school provides HS dropouts with academic and vocational education that prepares them for work in the construction trades. Another example is the YouthBuild St. Louis Charter School in Missouri (314-621-1411), which has about 60 students in grades 9-12, and collaborates with the Construction Careers Academy of St. Louis to provide apprenticeships. In Rhode Island, the New England Laborers Union collaborates with the Cranston Public School system and the local Teachers Union to operate the Construction Career Academy, (401-270-8692, http://cpsed.net/charter/). The collaborative charter school serves about 60 high school students interested in construction trades and environmental sciences. While the nation's two largest teachers unions, the NEA and AFT, have been opposed to public chartered schools, their web sites have some limited information on the model. (www.nea.org; www.aft.org) At the local level, some teachers unions have been working with charter schools, or even starting their own. Examples exist in Dade County Florida, Ohio, and NYC (the new Amber Charter School). Ted Kolderie, one of the founders of the charter school movement, is now with of Education Evolving in Minnesota. They are working with teachers who are trying new forms of organizing public schools using the charter school mechanisms as a framework. The teachers' cooperative that runs several schools in MN is one example (www.edvisions.org). Another model is being developed in Wisconsin by teacher union member and charter school organizer Chris Parr and her father, a retired union official. They are working out ways to reconcile unions interests in job and economic issues with teachers' interests in professional work and instruction, by splitting these functions. The new idea seems to be to have a charter school "lease" its teachers from the school system, leaving the union arrangements in place, but giving the teachers control over the education program, instruction, assessment, and other activities of the school. See www.educationevolving.org, Teacher Ownership and Teachers Unions. A recent book debates the opposition of the traditional "left" and teachers unions to public chartered schools: The Emancipatory Promise of Charter Schools - toward a progressive politics of school choice, edited by Eric Rofes and Lisa M. Stulberg with a forward by Herbert Gintis. (State University of New York Press, Albany, 2004, info@sunypress.edu) Focusing on issues of equity and access to well-funded public schools by minorities, the authors see community-based, independently-managed charter schools as a new tool for improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged youth and reducing the achievement gap among different ethnic groups. Maine's own Professor Stacy Smith of Bates College has a chapter discussing school choice. She suggests that there are broad distinctions between vouchers versus charter schools - including democratic participation inclusive of teachers, parents, and students; equalized opportunities for middle-and low-income families; and accountability mechanisms - that lead me to reject the former and support the latter. School Choice through a Foucauldian Lens, Stacy Smith, page 239) 11. Do charter schools have bipartisan support?
YES, both Democratic and Republican leaders support chartered public schools.
The Federal Charter School Grant Program started under President Bill Clinton in
1996 with strong bi-partisan support that has expanded over the years. ************************
Joe Nathan, Director Center for School Change in Minnesota notes some
prominent Democrats that have supported charter schools. “There is an
article from the NY Times explaining that Rosa Parks spent part of the last
decade of her life trying to help start a charter public school in Detroit.
Two weeks ago I was in Kansas and talked with a member of the Brown family -
as in Brown Versus Board
For more information, see the US Department of Education's
website on charter schools: http://www.uscharterschools.org/ |
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To contact MACS: macs@mainecharterschools.org |
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