LWVeducation
by Eileen Roy, Chair Alachua County School Board
The Soul of Public Education
We all need to write more letters. Eileen presided when Khanh-Lien spoke before the Alachua County School Board last week about 5forChange. Eileen quietly cheered. Then she wrote a letter to the Gainesville Sun. Read this one and get inspired.
This session the legislature has bills ranging from accountability to discipline and sex, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The State LWV Florida sent out a helpful list of education bills that will be heard in committee tomorrow. The Tallahassee Democrat overview is helpful to understand the legislative priorities.
The League asked the Florida State Board of Education: “What Next?” What should be happening to fix problems, not just point fingers?
The New York Times published some solutions that are working in Union City, New Jersey. Note that it is not Newark, New Jersey where big money and celebrities tried to impose charter school solutions. Less hoopla and more methodical, careful community planning make a difference in Union City. See how click here.
Legal frameworks for charter districts plus the creation of the Florida Charter School Institute, move Florida toward a separate educational system from the traditional public school system.
This bill creates the Institute for Charter School Innovation, Charter School Collaborative Networks, High Impact Charter Networks and some greater transparency in the backgrounds of charter school service providers.
The Charter High Impact Charter Network is a structure similar to those in other states that are called takeover districts in low income areas whose public schools are turned into charters. These take over districts have been the source of significant community resistance and have a poor academic track record. The bill is sponsored by Representative Bob Cortes from Seminole and Orange Counties. HB 7029 School Choice will be heard in the House Education Appropriation Committee on Monday.
Major components of the bill are listed below. The provisions to revise the calculation of full time equivalence for online learning and credit for End of Course exams are in the bill but not included in this summary.
by Meredith Machen
League of Women Voters of New Mexico Study
Charter School Regulations: Public School Funding, Accountability, and Transparency
Scope of Study: In the context of the growing emphasis of some governmental policy-makers on promoting charter schools, this study will review information regarding the regulations and policies from which charter schools are released to determine if the exemptions from regulations may impede the progress of traditional public schools and the sufficiency of funding for public schools.
Because charter schools are publicly funded, the study raises the question of whether they should be held to standards of accountability and transparency that are at least as rigorous as those of traditional public schools. The study will also examine the need for changes in charter school regulations regarding their missions (which now allow adults to get their high school credentials, have specialized curricula, and alternative assessments), their governing bodies (which are not publicly elected or complying with the Open Meetings Act), their operations (which are not publicly audited), and rules for authorization and reauthorization.
Florida’s charter industry has received over $700 million in state tax dollars for facilities and capital expenses since 2000. The Associated Press analysis reveals that closed charters received over $70 million since 2000 just for their buildings. The money spent on closed charter facilities is lost. The facilities are owned privately.
Many small private operators rely on state capital outlay dollars that they receive in addition to the per student funding that both public and charter schools receive for operating schools. These funds, often called PECO (Public Education Capital Outlay) used to go to traditional public schools for renovation and maintenance. For the last several years, the legislature designated most of the PECO funds to charter schools. Districts feel the impact of the loss of funding as they try to upgrade aging traditional public school buildings.
Just to make the problem real, read a 2014 Ledger article from Polk County. Alachua County has had similar concerns. In today’s Gainesville Sun, Erin Jester reports that Alachua County received no PECO funds from 2011-2014, but its charter schools received over $163,000. The article lists losses of over $1.2 million due to the closure of seven of the county’s 21 charter schools.
by Meredith Machen
New Mexico’s League has become alarmed at the shift in funding from traditional public schools to charters. Too much charter funding is misused according to the National Education Policy Center.
Please see the chart below from the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee which shows that from FY08 to FY15 charter schools received 46 percent of the change in funding while educating only 6.6% percent of all students. Over the last 7 years there has been a steady increase in funding for public education. School districts received about $114 million in additional funding while charter schools received about $98 million.
| Table xx: Change in Funding from FY08 to FY15 for Charter Schools and School Districts | ||||
| FY08 Funding | FY15 Funding | Number of Students, FY15 | Change Funding | |
| Charter Schools | $92,723,831 | $190,656,486 | 22,008 | $97,932,655 |
| School Districts | $2,234,708,899 | $2,348,700,663 | 309,178 | $113,991,764 |
| Statewide | $2,327,432,730 | $2,539,357,150 | 331,187 | $211,924,420 |
| Source: PED | ||||
For the larger context, please see the report from the National Policy Education Center below.
The Business of Charter Schooling: Understanding the Policies that Charter Operators Use for Financial Benefit
Four major policy concerns are identified in the report:
Recommendations to address these concerns are listed in the NEPC report. Charters should be public in more than name only. They financial data should be transparent, their facilities should be publically owned, oversight should be improved to include major contracts between EMOs and charters. More attention must be paid to open meetings, independence of boards and other agents involved in the charter schools, and funding oversight based on tracking the movement of students from school to school or for students with special needs must be improved to reduce gaming incentives.
While Circuit Court Judge Reynolds denied a request for a summary judgment to halt the voucher and tax credit scholarship programs, the Citizens for Strong Schools case continues. The judge ruled that the attorneys for the case did not show harm to the defendants due to vouchers and tax credit scholarships for private schools, but argument could be made when the case comes to trial in March, 2016.
We posted several analyses of the updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Current legislation, called the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), is on its way to the President’s desk. No Child Left Behind Act and Race to the Top are gone. What remains are annual testing requirements and support for charter schools. Responsibility for most education accountability reverts to the states. Thus, each state can determine how test scores are used for teacher evaluation, school grades and the Common Core.
States are required to identify schools with under performing students and help fix them. What this means is unclear. For a good analysis, see Education Week. Many provisions are subject to different interpretations. One thing is clear, citizens need to turn to their state legislatures to make reasonable, valid decisions about how test scores are used. Continued policies that force districts and teachers to focus instruction on ‘passing the test’ can be changed, if the voters insist.
Comparisons between traditional public and charter schools have little meaning. In an article entitled: Making School Choice Easier in today’s New York Times, charter school operators made concrete proposals to improve charter school achievement data.
Representatives of New Visions for Public Schools offer four ways to help parents make more informed decisions about the effectiveness of charter schools. New Visions are charter schools located in New York. They are non-profit.