Editorial: Louisiana Ranks High in Charter Schools

An American Press editorial celebrates Louisiana’s sixth-place ranking in the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools’ (NAPCS) annual assessment of state charter laws. Last year, Louisiana rose from 13th place, in part due to a law passed by the Legislature in 2012 that gives non-profits the power to charter a school. “We are firm believers that in order to get quality right you first have to start with a strong law,” said NAPCS CEO Nina Rees. The editorial says "Louisiana and other states need to have wide latitude in designing educational models that fit the local conditions.”

Source: American Press

Growth of Charter Schools in D.C. Continues

According to the Washington Post, D.C. is on track to become a city in which most children are educated in public charter schools. Charter enrollment has climbed steadily in the past decade, jumping 10 percent this year, to more than 34,000, or 43 percent of all students. “So long as there is a demand, you are going to continue seeing the growth,” said Nina Rees, president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. David A. Catania, chair of the city council’s new education committee, has suggested the city should more actively manage charter growth, a call charter advocates resist. Two dozen groups — including proven operators such as Rocketship Education, Green Dot and Democracy Prep —intend to apply by March 1 for approval to open new charter schools in D.C. as soon as fall 2014. D.C. Public Charter School Board Executive Director Scott Pearson said he expects total charter enrollment to grow by another 8 percent in 2013-14.

Source: Washington Post

D.C.'s Doing Something Right: Number of Kids in Public Schools Keeps Rising

On Education Week’s Policy Notebook blog, Sara Mead writes that rising enrollment in both D.C.’s public charter and traditional public schools shows that “education in D.C. doesn't have to be seen as a zero-sum game…If the District's public schools as a whole are becoming more attractive to families, both DCPS and charters can grow at the same time,” which Mead calls “the best possible outcome for D.C. families.” Enrollment in both traditional public and public charter schools in D.C. rose 5 percent in 2012-13, the fourth consecutive year of enrollment gains in the city after years of declining school district enrollments. School district reforms and the growth of quality charter options are making the D.C. more attractive to families who in the past might have moved to the suburbs or sent their children to private school. According to Mead, long-term urban renaissance depends on offering quality schools for students from all backgrounds.

Source: Education Week

D.C. Charters Shell Out to Renovate Long-Vacant School Buildings

According to the Washington Examiner, several D.C. public charter schools are spending millions to renovate closed district schools. Washington Latin Public Charter School is spending $23 million to renovate the former Rudolph Elementary, which has fallen into disrepair after sitting empty since 2008. "People had gotten in there and smashed glass and stolen copper piping. It was a mess," said Martha Cutts, Washington Latin’s head of school. Repairs to the former J.F. Cook Elementary, also vacant since 2008, are expected to cost Mundo Verde Public Charter School $8.5 million. "There were holes in the walls, the sinks have been cracked or are falling off the walls, the bathrooms are completely unusable," said Kristin Scotchmer, Mundo Verde’s executive director. Legally, D.C. is required to give charters the first shot at closed school buildings, but that doesn’t usually happen. Six closed schools still sit vacant, and the district has yet to announce plans for 10 soon-to-be-closed school buildings.

Source: Washington Examiner

Charters Help Make D.C. a ‘Smart City’

On Education Week’s Vander Ark on Innovation blog , Tom Vander Ark examines D.C.’s successful school reforms, which he attributes to “a combination of great charters, college scholarships, and tough reforms.” Public charter schools now serve 43 percent of the city’s public school students on over 100 campuses and continue to grow. Vander Ark shines a spotlight on some of the city’s great charters, including the Friendship Public Charter Schools network, E.L. Haynes Public Charter School , the KIPP DC network, the DC Prep network, the SEED Foundation’s public charter boarding school, BASIS DC, Inspired Teaching Demonstration Public Charter School and Two Rivers Public Charter School. “The high school graduation rate for D.C. public charter schools is 18 percentage points higher than DCPS despite higher levels of poverty,” Vander Ark writes.

Source: Education Week

Tennessee Charter Advocates Call for District Schools to Share Space

According to WREG , the Tennessee Charter Schools Association is asking state lawmakers for changes to the charter school law this year, including how applications for charter schools should be handled. The association is also proposing new rules on offering space in underused school district buildings to public charter schools. “We have a lot of traditional public schools that are half empty. That’s a perfect situation where we need to share those buildings with charter schools,” said the group’s executive director, Matt Throckmorton. Hundreds of families attended a charter school fair in Memphis on Saturday.

Source: WREG

Baltimore Schools CEO Moves to Close Low-Performing Charters

The Baltimore Sun’s Inside Ed blog explored Baltimore’s efforts to close low-performing public charter schools, even those that are politically connected, such as a school whose co-founders and board members include city council members. "Charters are supposed to be about innovation and performance,” said city schools CEO Andres Alonso. “They should be about higher expectations. Not about excuses." Alonso recommended last month closing four independently operated schools and bringing two other schools under district control, after a months-long review process. "School reform is really hard work, and these recommendations shouldn't be viewed as an individual rejection of an individual operator," said Alison Perkins-Cohen, who oversees the district's office of new initiatives. "We don't want to discourage partners that are taking on some really hard jobs, but we also don't want to continue having schools that aren't serving kids well."

Source: Baltimore Sun

Op-Ed: In Connecticut, Education Reform Makes Good Business Sense

In a Hartford Business op-ed , Jennifer Alexander, acting chief executive officer for the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN), urges state lawmakers to stick with the full implementation of Public Act 12-116, which included a per-pupil funding increase for public charter schools, “an important step towards treating students in these public schools of choice more equitably.” According to Alexander, “80 percent of charter schools are outperforming traditional public schools in their districts. Charters have achieved these results despite operating within a funding mechanism that is inequitable and unfair, and now parent demand for these public school options is at a record high.” Unfortunately, $2 million in mid-year funding cuts have left charter schools “having to make unfortunate sacrifices, left to choose between foregoing essential services and retaining their teachers.”

Source: Hartford Business

It's Time to Separate Facilities from Operations

On his Education Week blog, Tom Vander Ark writes that “it's time for us to rethink the relationship between learning programs and public facilities. It's time to decouple the delivery and the ownership of school buildings…There are more than 6,000 charter schools nationwide and most of them don't have access to local funding or public facilities. As former head of the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools Nelson Smith noted recently, this is big flaw in public policy--about 5 percent of kids attend schools with no means for provisioning facilities. Charter schools typically can't access bond funding or other low-interest financing vehicles. Without local funding they usually operate on a smaller budget and then have to pay rent. Not only do public charter schools lack a facilities provisioning mechanism, in most urban areas they are treated with hostility and can't even access unused or underutilized existing district facilities.”

Source: Education Week