Mississippi Legislature Puts Charter Schools Back On Agenda

According to the Clarion Ledger, public charter schools are back on the Mississippi Legislature’s agenda, a year after a charter school bill died in the House. “I believe a large majority of Mississippians support public charter schools," said Republican Lt. Governor Tate Reeves, a leading charter proponent, along with Governor Phil Bryant and House Speaker Philip Gunn. House Education Committee Chairman John Moore and Senate Education Chairman Gray Tollison are both drafting charter school bills. The state Board of Education wants to be the authorizing body, but some charter supporters would prefer an independent authorizer. Both bills being drafted would allow three statewide virtual schools. Charters would be nonprofits, but would have the same authority to hire private contractors that traditional public schools have. Tollison and Moore said their measures would allow local boards in the state’s fifty A-and-B-rated districts to block charters. At issue is whether the state's 42 C-rated districts would have the same power.

Source: Clarion Ledger

New Hampshire Charter School Bill Aims to Fix Funding Problems

According to the Nashua Telegraph, a bipartisan bill in New Hampshire would adjust the charter school funding law to what it was before a 2010 change. That year, the Department of Education inaccurately predicted charter school enrollments, leading to inadequate funding. Bill co-sponsor Rep. Ken Weyler said the bill would ensure adequate funding for charter schools. Charters currently receive about $5,450 per pupil in state funding, while traditional public schools spend an average of nearly $14,000 per pupil. The bill would require that charter schools receive half the state’s average per-pupil costs in state funding. “We’ve always underfunded charter schools,” Weyler said. He added that with traditional public school enrollments decreasing, money could be directed towards charters as they grow. “I would hope that the parents of charter school students are watching the actions of the Legislature and make certain that they get active in this attempt to get some decent funding for charter schools,” he said.

Source: Nashua Telegraph

Maine Governor Wants to Remove Cap on Charter Schools

According to the Maine Sun Journal, Maine Governor Paul LePage is preparing legislation that would eliminate the cap on the number of charter schools statewide. Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin said that LePage is intent on abolishing the current limit, which allows 10 new charter schools to be established over the next decade. Changes to the charter school law will be part of a wider conversation about school funding. The erosion of education funding over the last five years is forcing the state to find ways to use existing resources more wisely. “From my point of view it’s really about everybody taking a look at whether we’re using our education dollars to their best use,” said Sen. Brian Langley, a member the Legislature’s Education Committee. “We have a good place to start from in really looking at streamlining the efficiencies in our state government.”

Source: Maine Sun Journal

D.C. Charter Schools Expel Students at Higher Rate Than District Schools

According to the Washington Post, D.C. charter schools expelled 676 students in the past three years, while the city’s traditional public schools expelled 24. Sixty out of 97 charter campuses did not expel any students in 2011-12, but charter expulsion policies and practices vary widely. Scott Pearson, executive director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board called the expulsion rate “a cause for concern.” He added that releasing discipline data has already had a “profound effect,” with charter expulsion rates dropping 25 to 30 percent so far this school year. Schools are “taking a new look at their discipline procedures, and in many cases have modified their discipline procedures significantly to reduce the number of suspensions and expulsions.” The D.C. school system’s expulsion rate is significantly lower than the national average. Pearson doesn’t think charters should match it, because such a low rate implies “that there is essentially no behavior that is so egregious, so disruptive to the school environment that it shouldn’t be handled through expulsion.”

Source: Washington Post

National Labor Relations Board Asserts Jurisdiction over Charter School

According to JD Supra , the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) asserted its jurisdiction over the nonprofit corporation that operates the Chicago Mathematics & Science Academy Charter School (CMSA), a position supported by CMSA and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The NLRB concluded that CMSA was not created directly by the state and qualifies as an employer that hires, fires, compensates and provides benefits to its teachers, much like other government contractors over which NLRB routinely asserts jurisdiction. One member dissented from this point, due to CMSA’s status as a public school. The NLRB was careful to limit the reach of its decision, holding that it was not establishing jurisdiction over all entities that operate charter schools.

Source: JD Supra

Opinion: Give Parents the Choice of Public Charter Schools

On CNN’s Schools of Thought blog , Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein write of the “overwhelming evidence that quality public charter schools provide a viable education option, particularly for students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds,” citing 2012 test scores showing New York City public charter schools outperforming traditional schools throughout the state -- despite higher poverty rates and far greater numbers of minorities. “Incredibly, eight states still do not allow public charter schools to exist. That means children assigned to low-performing schools in places such as Birmingham, Alabama, Louisville, Kentucky, and Omaha, Nebraska, are trapped without a choice or a way out.” Rhee and Klein call for parents to be empowered with meaningful information and choice, among other policy changes. “Our schools are supposed to be America’s great equalizers, ensuring every kid a shot at success. We know, given the right tools, that every student can achieve at high levels.”

Source: CNN

Charter Schools: On the Horizon in Kentucky?

In a Bowling Green Daily News op-ed, Jim Waters describes how the school district in Petersburg, Virginia improved after Governor Robert McDonnell suggested establishing a public charter school there. “Thankfully for Virginia’s young people, their commonwealth is one of 41 states and Washington D.C. with charter school legislation – a big step in increasing quality options for parents and students,” Waters writes. “…Just imagine if students attending one of Kentucky’s 1,950 ‘dropout factories’ – high schools with graduation rates lower than 60 percent – were afforded the life-changing opportunities to actually attend such schools.” Last year, a charter school bill “gained significant political clout in the Kentucky General Assembly,” but ultimately failed to pass. “With the 2013 legislative session just around the corner, let’s hope our elected officials allow this market mechanism that works so well in so many other states to work its magic here in Kentucky, too.”

Source: Bowling Green Daily News

Thousands Attend D.C. Charter School Expo

According to the Washington Post, thousands of parents attended D.C.’s annual public charter school expo on Saturday. Parents Kerry and Dan Mustico said they were grateful for the plethora of options. “You can sense that they have to be better than the competing schools, and that’s good,” Dan Mustico said. The D.C. Public Charter School Board released a free mobile phone app at the fair. The app compiles test scores, re-enrollment rates, transportation details and other data about each school and is sortable by location. “In order to really empower parents to be able to make good choices, having access to information is critical,” said Brian Jones, the board’s chairman. This year, most of the city’s charter schools have agreed to make life easier for parents by using the same application and lottery dates. At the expo, Mayor Vincent C. Gray praised the city’s charters for pushing district schools to improve. “Competition creates better outcomes for children,” Gray said. “There’s no longer a monopoly.”

Source: Washington Post