Mississippi House, Senate Must Compromise on Charter Schools Bill

According to the Clarion Ledger and other news outlets, a six-member conference committee must resolve differences between the different charter school bills passed by the Mississippi House and Senate. The House version gives veto power over proposed public charter schools to local school boards in districts rated A, B and C. The Senate gives veto power only to A and B districts. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said that more students – about 50,000 – attend failing schools in C districts than in D and F districts combined, and suggested he might stand firm on the keeping C districts from vetoing charters. House Speaker Philip Gunn warned that most of the House would balk at such a change, sinking the bill. “If the Senate is truly supportive of the charter school concept, then they will work with us to help the children of Mississippi,” he said. A Daily Journal article noted that the House bill “appears to have a broader coalition of support.”

Sources: Clarion Ledger, Memphis Commercial Appeal , Daily Journal

Report: Districts Should Partner With Charters on Resources, Practices and Facilities

According to Education Week’s District Dossier blog, a new report by the Boston Consulting Group recommends that districts with declining enrollments collaborate more closely with public charter schools. The report recommends partnering with charters, along with community organizations and other schooling providers, to pool resources and best practices. In addition, the report suggests that providing space to charters in under-used buildings benefits both parties, and that rather than leaving charters on their own to find facilities, local charters should be managed as an investment.

Source: Education Week

The Future of Urban Schools

On Education Week’s Bookmarks blog, Catherine A. Cardno interviewed Andrew Smarick of Bellwether Education Partners and Bernard Lee Schwartz of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute about the future of urban schools. According to Smarick and Schwartz, a successful charter school sector needs, among other things, policies that support the start up, growth, and maintenance of great charters, including rules related to authorizing, facilities and funding. In the short term, Smarick and Schwartz suggest making each district-run school a charter held accountable by a third party, with a ‘sector agnostic’ accountability system. “We must focus on school results, not school operator…we shouldn't care who runs a school as long as it is superb…[W]e need a fair funding system built around school quality. In the long term we need to make people realize that ‘the district’ is not synonymous with ‘public education.’”

Source: Education Week

Philadelphia Charters: ‘Viable Education Reform’

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, a change in how the “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) of Pennsylvania charter schools is calculated led to a drop in the percentage of charters meeting benchmarks, but the percentage of Philadelphia charters meeting AYP (29 percent) is still higher than that of the city’s district-run schools (13 percent). Lawrence Jones, president of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, said: "We are sad to see the reduction in the number of charter schools" meeting the state standards, "but in Philadelphia, especially, it shows we are viable education reform.” The U.S. Department of Education ordered charters to be measured as individual schools, rather than districts, which led to the decline in the percentage meeting AYP. Jones said the numbers indicate that charters and district schools “all have a lot of work to do.”

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer