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| Children
made peace cards at the Eugene Children's Peace Academy at the
Eugene Celebration |
Charting
a New Course
4J'S
FINANCIAL WOES COMPLICATE QUANDARY OVER NEW CHARTER SCHOOLS.
by
Aria Seligmann
The Eugene District 4J School Board will vote Feb.
26 on whether or not to grant the Eugene Children's Peace Academy
charter school status. Despite the community's enthusiasm for the
new school, a prototype for peace academies nationwide, the school
board may deny the application.
The school board's reasoning may be based on budgetary
constraints and the belief a new charter school will harm existing
programs.
The Eugene Children's Peace Academy is the brainchild
of Wendy Strgar, a local parent. Strgar was inspired by an international
call for peace academies — in this country sounded by Congressman
Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) — and began forming a coalition of
interested parents and educators. The kindergarten through eighth
grade school would enroll 100 students and would be headed by Helen
Park as administrator.
Park founded the Wellsprings Friends School, a Quaker
high school based on community and non-violence in 1994, and became
principal of Northwest Youth Corps' Outdoor School in 2000. She completed
her administrative license in 2001. Now, she says, "I feel a compelling
urge to work with younger children," adding, "I am a good administrator,
I run excellent programs, but more important, I understand learning,
and I believe I can strike the spark of curiosity and delight in a
child, in a faculty and in a community."
The Academy's curriculum, building on the ideas of
Edward T. Clark, would include an integrated design that is "learner
centered." According to the curriculum outline, classes would not
be divided up into compartmentalized segments to teach specific skills
(math, reading, etc.), but rather "each class, and the school as a
whole, will act as a learning community that explores fundamental
questions and principles of life together." Four major curriculum
strands interwoven throughout the school year would include: peace-making,
global citizenship, environmental stewardship and self-discovery."
Each grade level would engage in age-appropriate activities, according
to the outline, and academics woven into each unit. Spanish, music
and PE would be part of the school day.
"If we don't start teaching our kids how to really
communicate with people and if we don't start teaching them how to
take care of the earth, then we won't have an earth to take care of,"
says Strgar.
CHARTER
PROCESS
Oregon became the 35th state in the nation
to pass charter school legislation when it passed SB 100 in May 1999.
The purpose of the legislation, according to the Oregon Public
Charter School Handbook, was to "encourage the creation of new
innovative and more flexible ways of educating children within the
public school system." While the Republicans almost unanimously favored
it; Democrats almost unanimously opposed it, citing concerns that
it would dismantle public education. Gov. Kitzhaber initially threatened
to veto the bill because it did not require all charter school teachers
to be certified. An agreement was finally reached that mandated one-half
of teachers be certified and allowed local school districts to work
closely with charter applicants.
Oregon also received a $15 million grant under the
No Child Left Behind Act-Public Charter School Program over a three-year
period to support charter school start-up and initial implementation
phases.
Under charter school law, district-sponsored schools
get up to 80 percent, or $4,061, of the general purpose grant per
student ($5,076) for grades K-8 and 95 percent of the district's general
purpose grant for grades 9-12. The district returns one half of the
balance retained to the resident district for out-of-district students
and keeps the balance for in-district students.
Under the $15 million No Child Left Behind grant,
charter schools receive $50,000 in startup funds for the first year
and $150,000 for the next two years. Funds are for implementation
and cannot be used for operating costs. After three years, the schools
must maintain their programs on pupil allotments, grants and fundraising.
The charter school law is so new that a long-term track record for
their financial viability has not been established.
In Oregon, 23 charter schools have formed since 1999,
most in the Willamette Valley. The Salem-Keizer district has four
charter schools, the most in Oregon, and four more proposed.
According to the Center for Education Reform, there
are currently 2,695 charter schools operating nationwide for the 2002-03
school year, serving 684,495 students in 36 states and Washington,
D.C. At least 84 additional schools are already approved to open for
the 2003-04 school year.
Eugene currently has three, all formed in 2000: The
Pioneer Youth Corps, which serves grades six through 12; Ridgeline
Montessori, with grades K through six and The Village School, with
grades K through seven. Three more are in the application process:
The Eugene Children's Peace Academy, due to be voted on Feb. 26, Network
Charter School, a consortium of private alt-eds and non-profits, including
Center for Appropriate Transport, Nearby Nature, Skinner City Farm,
Full Circle Community Farm and other organizations that would form
an academic-apprenticeship model; and Field of Dreams Middle School,
which is still revising its application.
The Network Charter School was hoping to have its
application approved last fall, but due to Oregon's rigorous law requiring
applications to be highly detailed, had to keep revising its application.
Jan Vandertuin, overseer of the project, says it will be hard for
them to start up in the fall because the application has been delayed
this long, but the school board says it will decide before spring
break. Meanwhile, Vandertuin is requesting Oregon adjust its law to
make it easier and quicker for charter schools to start up.
The Center for Education Reform ranked Oregon as having
the 16th strongest charter law in the country.
Each state has its own process, some stricter, some
more lenient. Oregon, according to Joni Gillis, Oregon Department
of Education director in the office of curriculum instruction and
field services, has been applauded for its rigorous process that requires
a more complete application and more developed curriculum. By comparison,
in other states, such as Arizona, charter schools are easier to start
up. But says Gillis, Too many schools are in place and that state
is now having problems." In other states, various entities can sponsor
a charter, such as city hall or the library. In Oregon, only the local
school district can.
The Peace Academy was hoping to be approved last fall,
but the school board delayed its decision for financial reasons.
| MICHIGAN
SAYS NO
The Detroit Free Press reported
in December that Michigan state flat-out denied requests for
15 new charter schools in Detroit, citing lack of teacher certification
and a
financial drain on existing schools. Most state Republicans
voted for the charter schools, state Dems were unified in opposition.
BIG
BUSINESS
Back East, companies have sprung up that make money by writing
charter applications. "They're going to do to education what
they've done to health care," says Wendy Strgar. EMOs, or Education
Management Organizations, are forming to suck up charter school
funds. "Oregon has laws that will prevent that from happening,"
says Joni Gillis. But it's something to keep an eye on. |
When the school board votes on the Peace Academy,
it will look at the following criteria, based on the law:
"...demonstrated sustainable support for the charter
school by teachers, parents, students and community members; demonstrated
financial stability; capability to provide comprehensive instructional
programs; capability to specifically provide comprehensive instructional
programs for low-achieving students; and, whether the value of the
public charter school is outweighed by any directly identifiable,
significant and adverse impact on the quality of public education
of students residing in the school district in which the charter school
will be located."
Eugene District 4J, if the Feb. 13 school board work
session was any indication, will use the final criterion to vote against
the Peace Academy.
Because the district only pays out 80 or 95 percent
per pupil in charter schools, and gets to keep the balance of state
funds, some argue that the district makes money on charter schools,
especially when previously homeschooled children are enrolled. But
district personnel say they lose money in per pupil allotments when
children are pulled out of existing district schools to enroll in
charter schools, which leads to lower funds for district schools and
ultimately to staff cuts.
Districts also pay for special education services
for charter schools. These numbers were looked at during the Feb.
13 meeting when the school board was presented with numbers that broke
down both benefits and losses for the district.
Those numbers showed that if a new charter school
were to have 100 elementary students, which the Peace Academy is planning
for, 20 from out of district, 80 from within 4J boundaries, and of
those, 40 from existing programs and 40 new to district (previously
homeschooled or in private school), the district would benefit by
$13,000.
Another scenario showed the district losing money.
Of those same numbers, if of the 80 in-district students, all were
from existing programs and none were new, the district would lose
$65,500.
Board member Annette Spickard said "I'm a numbers
person. This looks like 40 percent of new students would have to be
outside of the district for us to benefit. That's unrealistic. It's
not gonna happen. That's pretty obvious."
But Strgar says only 28 of the 65 definite yes responses
she has so far are from in district, making that "unrealistic, not
gonna happen" 40 percent scenario already a 47 percent done deal,
"just from a one-time call list."
A committee of concerned parents and educators also
addressed the board at that meeting, bringing up the issue of declining
elementary enrollment and the additional need for special education
teachers, specifically the additional 1.75 special ed FTE that was
necessary because of the formation of the three new charter schools.
That may be the strongest point the school board could make in declining
the charter, if it can prove that special needs students in existing
schools are not getting their needs met.
Anne Villard, committee member and parent at Adams
Elementary, said, "We lose 71 percent of our kids to alternative and
charter schools." That means Adams also loses its per pupil allotment.
And the Family School says it had to cut a teacher because it lost
so many kids to the Village School.
But no one at the Feb. 13 meeting bothered asking:
Why are parents pulling their kids out of traditional schools?
"That's the question," says Assistant Superintendent
for Policy and Administration Jim Slemp.
"It reminds me of back in the '70s when everyone was
buying Japanese cars and some people wanted to stop importing," says
Strgar. "Should we stop importing? Or give people what they want?
What was wrong with American cars at the time?"
Mike Garling, Parker/Eastside principal, Parkside
Preschool president and one of the committee members who addressed
the board on Feb. 13, says in the '70s, "We looked at the birth of
alternative schools." That was about choice. "Charter schools are
a reinvention of that. The passions and intentions are noble but I
think we've hit the wall of what we can do with declining enrollment."
School Board President Jan Oliver said "Would it be
great to have small schools where every kid gets a small class and
high intensity education? Gee, that's a no brainer. But we don't have
the money. When I see 100 students, I think, which school are we going
to close?"
School board member Chris Pryor echoed the sentiment.
"I hate bringing it back to money but it's about money," he said.
"We lost $10 million last year and another $10 million this year.
We're taking a pass on something that's a great idea but we'll have
to take a pass on it."
But they're not allowed to "take a pass on it" if
it meets requirements, according to Gillis. "When looking at an application,
the district can't just say 'this is going to harm us financially,'
because anything right now will harm them, considering the current
budget crisis." The district has to discuss the value of the school,
and "actually show and weigh" any adverse impacts, she says.
The district has the responsibility to make the case
against the school So far, there has been one precedent: Corvallis
recently denied a charter application based on adverse impacts to
existing schools and the state upheld that decision on appeal. "But
the law is only three and half years old," says Gillis. "Everyone's
still figuring it out."
They're also trying to figure out the math. The negative
presentation given Feb. 13 had some murky numbers. Completely left
out of the number crunching was rent, which charter schools in 4J
pay to the district. Slemp says "It's a break-even, when you consider
utilities and custodial services." Even if that's true, why wasn't
that clearly shown in the presentation?
Adverse impacts cited at that meeting go beyond financial
ones.
Slemp says he's concerned that the Peace Academy could
drain the Village School of its enrollees, and "the district is committed
to supporting existing charters."
But Strgar says "It's not the same curriculum. The
Peace Academy is a really beautiful combination of both the Village
and Montessori schools. It embraces both the community of Waldorf
philosophy (Village School) and the individual focus of Montessori
with some really important thematic stuff."
WHAT
THEN?
If the Peace Academy application is denied,
it can reapply to the district, which then has 20 days to make another
decision. If 4J still denies the application, the school can appeal
to the state.
If the state approves and sponsors the charter, then
the school will get up to 90 as opposed to up to 80 percent of funds
per pupil. The district must return one half of the balance (5 percent)
to the Oregon Department of Education.
That happened for the first time just recently after
Portland denied an application based on incompleteness. Victory Middle
School organizers regrouped, amended the application and the state
approved.
A new bill before the Legislature, SB 124, would allow
the state to return a positive application back to the home district
to approve before the state does, thus saving the district that extra
5 percent per pupil.
OTHER
OPTIONS
Slemp says, "This board is committed to
choice." What, then are the options for starting a new school? Slemp
points to existing 4J policy that allows for the formation of alternative
schools and says with that in place, charter schools are unnecessary.
But Gillis says that's not viable because a district could, and probably
would right now, say no to the formation of a new school when it's
shutting down existing ones. "Under charter school law, they have
to have a hearing and consider the school. They can't just say no."
Another possibility is adopting an innovative approach
used successfully in Salem-Keizer, home of Oregon's largest concentration
of charter schools. That district opened a charter school, Optimum
Learning Environment, within the existing Forest Ridge Elementary
School, infusing it with $350,000 over a three-year period. The two
schools, according to the Statesman Journal, have the same
building, principal, equipment, curriculum and services.
Other models throughout the country show organizers
even successfully opening charter schools within charter schools.
"It's hard to know where the state would come down
on this if the district denies the charter," says Strgar. "The law
doesn't say you can't have a charter if the district is financially
strapped."
If 4J denies the charter, the Peace Academy will apply
to the Bethel district and if still denied, appeal to the state.
"I really believe the Peace Academy is a gift to the
community," says Strgar. "We're trying to teach if we all work for
the common good, peace will happen. It's basic stuff. But there isn't
a lot of that provided in public education."
EW Associate Editor Aria Seligmann is a 2002 Foundation
for Child Development Fellow and a 2002 Casey Fellow.
TROUBLE
IN PARADISE
"THIS
IS OUR SCHOOL. LET PEACE DWELL HERE" reads The Village School
motto.
Not only is it a huge endeavor to start a charter
school, but keeping it going is also a challenge. Recently, The Village
School, which formed under charter law in 2000, underwent an upheaval
in leadership when Executive Director Sally Biongiari, the school's
founder, placed second grade teacher Kay Corbin on probation for performance-related
problems that may have led to low test scores among children in her
class.
The Village School is entitled to Title I funds under
the No Child Left Behind Act, which administers federal dollars to
lower income schools provided their students pass Title I tests. The
act was passed to ensure children, even in the poorest schools, were
receiving adequate education. Funds were made available to help with
that endeavor, and the testing implemented to keep schools accountable
for their academic success.
But, because Village School bylaws did not have any
specific verbiage regarding probation, Corbin filed a grievance with
the board, of which she is also a member. (Corbin did not return EW's
call requesting comment.) The board, "without commenting on the merits
of the case," according to board member Josh Daniels, lifted probation,
which angered Biongiari, who, feeling her authority had been undermined,
resigned.
Biongiari points to the issue of accountability, a
keyword in determining the success of charter schools. "I believe
that, especially in a school like The Village School, where students
remain with the same teacher for two years instead of one, teacher
accountability is critical," she says.
Jim Slemp, who oversees 4J charter schools, says "The
Village School is doing a good job. Starting something new is always
hard work."
Not only were Title I test scores low in that one
class, but the state benchmark tests, although seen by the Eugene
4J school board as merely a "political tool," were low for the entire
school: 73 percent in reading and a 54 percent in math for 2002.
Joni Gillis, who oversees charter schools for the
state, says the first few years a school is forming no one expects
test scores to be high. "But by year three, they should be showing
improvement," she says. "If not, we'd look at that" when the charter
comes up for renewal in two years. — AS
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