Charter coverage in the Deseret News

There are three charter-related articles in Sunday's Deseret News. They've been doing a great job of covering charters and giving them fair treatment.

The first is about the new timelines and standards that new applicants must meet. Parts of this are worrisome if Amy Stewart, the author, is correct about the legislature's intent. She makes it sound as if the legislature is bound to limit or cap charter growth. I know there are some lawmakers who feel that way, but I still believe the majority are on the sdie of increasing choice for parents and innovation in schools. (That's borne out by the way the bill was amended.) I particularly like the notes in the latter half of the article about the necessity of fixing the funding forumula so that all public school students are funded equally and fairly. Way to go UAPCS Director Steve Winitzki.

The second and related article is about the seven applicants vying for approval to open in 2011. (Full disclosure--I am a principal author of one of the applicant's charter, Aspire Online Charter School.) It's a diverse group of schools, including one that is "affiliated with" a Christian church in Davis County.

The final article today is about Ogden Preparatory Academy's recognition as Charter School of the Year. I've written about that previously.

News from school districts

Nebo and Jordan districts have been in the news a lot over the last week as the former prepares for a large bond election (tax increase) and the latter gets ready to lose its smaller but richer east-side component. Charters play a role in both districts by helping them cope with shrinking revenues and enrollment growth.

Nebo is asking residents to approve a $160 million bond to build and maintain schools. The Nebo district has one of the highest percentages in the state of district students who attend charter schools. The state's largest charter, American Leadership Academy, alone removes about 1500 students from Nebo schools. C.S. Lewis, Reagan, and other charters remove thousands more. What if those schools didn't exist, and those students were attending district schools? How much bigger would that new bond request be? How big would class sizes be?

In the new and smaller Jordan district, thousands of kids attend charters. Two new charters, Hawthorne and Early Light, will begin operating this fall as the new district opens its doors. New Jordan has lower tax revenues than old Jordan. The new and existing charter schools ease the burden on an already financially strapped district.

For as much as districts complain about the idea of revenue sharing with charters, everyone needs to understand who benefits when a new charter school opens. Obviously, the charter students do as they attend a school of their choice that meets their educational needs and their families preferences. But students in the local district benefit also. Class sizes are reduced. Taxpayers benefit as districts hold fewer or smaller elections for bond reqeests.

The move to limit charters because they are more expensive is totally misguided--or would be misguided if it weren't so dishonest. Charters benefit the entire educational landscape, and do so at a lower overall cost than district schools.

Charter School of the Year

At the conference last week, the annual awards were given for Charter Schools and charter employees and advocates. The top award, for school of the year, went to Ogden Preparatory Academy, the second year in a row that the award has gone to an Ogden school. (DaVinci Academy won last year.) Also honored as Charter of the year was UCAS (Utah County Academy of Science).

Unfortunately, this article from the Associated Press (thanks for picking it up!) incorrectly omits UCAS as an award winner and mistakenly states that the award is given by the State Office of Education. (Unless USOE gives its own award that I'm not aware of. If so, please comment below and let me know!)

Other awards are below:
2009 Innovation Excellence: Guadalupe Schools

2009 Charter School Administrator: Jan Shelton Hunsaker, Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts & Rob Muhlestein, American Leadership Academy

2009 Charter School Educator 2009: Jacquie Chappell, American Preparatory Academy

2009 Charter School Trailblazer: Roberta Hardy, Pinnacle Canyon Academy

2009 Charter School Key Staff Person: Ram Prasad Boppana, City Academy & Jana Houston, Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts

Catching up on the news--Charter high schools among top performers

This Spring KSL launched a new feature called KSL schools. Inexplicably (or perhaps explicably but wrongly) they left charters out of the rankings. Now they've added charters, and we are showing the kind of contribution we make to Utah's education landscape.

Charters educate only about five percent of Utah's public education population, but we make up 20 percent of the top performing high schools, and several other schools that excel in improving student performance:

• AMES, as the top performing charter and number four high school in the state
• Success Academy, the top performing school for language
• East Hollywood got top marks for student improvement

Congratulations to these schools, and thanks to KSL for publishing the data. We know that when our success gets out there, it will only help demonstrate that charters are providing excellent alternatives for Utah's students.

Catching up on the news--New deputy super

Martell Menlove, formerly of the Box Elder School District--and husband of Republican legislator Rhonda Rudd Menlove--has been named the state's new deputy superintendent--Larry Shumway's handpicked successor as he claims the state's top education job.

I have limited direct experience with Menlove. His reputation among charter folks is as a strong supporter of district schools (that is, not friendly to charters) but we'll see how that manifests itself when he no longer works for a district. As the state's number two educator, he'll have to support and strengthen all public schools, including charters.

Best charter conference yet

I haven't posted yet this week because there was just so much going on, most notable the annual Utah Charter Schools Conference. As an exhibitor, presenter, planner, and attendee, the conference took most of my time early this week, and then left a lot to catch up on later in the week.

Today as I have a chance to reflect, it was easily the best conference we've had in Utah. This year the keynote speaker was relevant and wonderful, the attendance was up, the energy was high, and the quality of sessions also great. Everyone who attended learned a lot.

Thanks to the staff and volunteers who made it happen.

Rockwell takes its turn

Most charters, especially as they get established in their first few years, go through upheaval as they try to match reality to their hopes and dreams as stated in their charter. There is often disagreement between parents, principals, teachers, and board members about how best to accomplish that. And when some people get upset enough, it ends up in the news.

I have no insight about Rockwell's specific example, which is detailed in the DNews today. BUt having had and seen similar experiences at several schools, I take media reports with grains of salt.

Will Utah's growth restriction on charters mean less funding?

Kristin Stewart writes in the Tribune today what has been reported in other states: caps or arbitrary restrictions on charter schools will hurt state's chances to receive additional federal funding to encourage innovation. This has been reported many times in Tennessee, which has a severe cap on charter schools.

In Utah, charters don't face a cap on enrollment, but rather a cap on the rate of growth. The Trib article incorrectly states (at least it did this morning--it has been pretty good at correcting errors when pointed out) that “only 1.4 percent of the total student population can attend public charter schools.” Actually, charter school population is about 6 percent of total public school enrollment. The 1.4 percent is the allowable growth rate of charters. That means that the charter school population (currently about 30,000) can grow by 1.4 percent of the total public education population (currently about 550,000) each year. 1.4 percent of 550k is about 7500 students.

In that way, Utah doesn’t have a “cap” on charters, but rather a restriction on growth. However, the charter movement (if I can speak for it) largely believes that the growth rate is reasonable and allows for the continued expansion of charter school options at a manageable rate that keeps up with demand. In fact, demand for charters is so high that of the 13,000 new students in Utah public schools this fall, about 7,000 will be in charters.

One way that charters are strengthening the public school system is by absorbing so much growth. Currently between 50 and 60 percent of the growth in public schools is in charters. Can you imagine the problems districts would face if their growth rate doubled for next year?

Hopefully, this reasonable and manageable growth rate for charters won't keep Utah from receiving innovation funding that could provide new opportunities for all public schools to develop innovative programs and improve academic performance.

No raises in Jordan

No raises in the Jordan School District, or what's left of it.

"The board's budget vote Tuesday eliminated educator salary increases for "steps" and "lanes" to save up to $6 million."

The district also reduced professional development days from ten to three. Ouch.

As if we didn't know

The state's budget in fiscal year 2010 may not be good. Legislators are worrying about it.

Well, so am I. I'm also worried that some in the legislature will target charter schools because of that, even though charters get fewer tax dollars per student than district schools. Charters make a convenient target for some because charters are relatively small--about six percent of the overall public school population.

That's a bit like Proposition 8 opponents unleashing their fire on the LDS church for support of Prop 8. Not because Mormons were more effective or turned out in greater numbers, but just because in California, Mormons are small, misunderstood, and in the right circles politically unpopular.

Just like charter schools are in Utah.

"Real Democrats Support Charter Schools"

Don't take my word for it (why would you about what Democrats should support?). Instead, take the word of Democrats for Education Reform, who are pushing, along with President Obama and his Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, for support and expansion of charter schools.

The best quote: "Public charter schools are leading the charge to save public education and delivering results."

Second best: "When Democrats, who have historically been proud supporters of public education, are the ones standing between the families we claim to represent and the public school options for which they clamor, we have to re-examine our priorities when it comes to schools."

In Utah, Democrats are much less likely to support charter expansion and freedom, but that doesn't absolve Republicans. In fact, the greater threat to charter schools may be Republicans like Mel Brown and Sheryl Allen, who have pushed for a moratorium on charter growth and restrictions on their operation.

With this push by the current administration (and the funding tied to their support of charters) Democrats could turn out to be better allies for charters than some in the GOP.

Editorial in favor(?) of charters

The DNews has an interesting editorial today about Obama's incentives for charter schools. The News really takes no positions. Here's a sampling of their "opinion":

• "Utah should seize on this opportunity but alter its policies with eyes wide open."
• "While the Obama administration may champion charter schools, these schools remain unpopular with teachers unions because they often operate outside collective-bargaining agreements."
• "But the states, and charter-school supporters themselves, would be wise to take a long view of this short-term incentive."

Because the editorial itself expresses almost no opinion, I have no comment.

Performance Pay launches new program

Two charter schools are among the five schools selected to be part of the state's new performance-based compensation pilot program. Each school will get about $50k to distribute to its teachers to develop and then use a program that provides bonuses and raises based on student performance, teacher excellence, and parent satisfaction.

I'm not surprised that charters are over represented. Charters have used performance pay already, and are the home of innovative practices that demonstrate the capacity to see a pilot program like this through.