The
Districts and Charter Schools Still Clashing
Competing for classroom space and
public funds, some charter programs face strained relations with the
traditional system.
By Deepa
Ranganathan
March 5, 2006
Four pairs of young dancers at
Six of their peers watch in silence at the
edge of the dance studio, then clap wildly.
"I could not take my eyes off you,"
Katie Shepherd, 17, tells one of the pairs. "You guys were like, in love."
"That was really, really beautiful to
watch," agrees their dance teacher, Jill Stripling.
Two years ago, the school's Performing and
Last week, the California Charter Schools
Association named the school one of two charter schools of the year.
"To do something you love along with
learning every day, that's why I come here," said Shepherd.
Charter schools like Natomas
are becoming a major force statewide. Since 1992, when the state became the
second in the country to approve enabling legislation, the number of charter
schools has grown from zero to 574. Nearly 200,000 students - 2.5 percent
of students in public schools - are enrolled in charter schools in
Political backing for charter schools has
grown as well. The National Charter Schools Conference drew a glittering array
of speakers to
Schwarzenegger has proposed spending $2.4
billion over the next 10 years to expand charter schools.
"I'd love to move forward with this,
to build, build and build," he said at the conference.
Charter schools are public entities that
operate free of many of the bureaucratic constraints that bind traditional
schools.
One of the goals of the national movement
is to offer families choice about where their children attend school.
Another is to provide a laboratory for ideas
that could transform public schools as a whole.
The schools have served as a flash point
for political debate, and researchers have issued dueling reports on their
effectiveness. But advocates say the question of whether charter schools should
exist is no longer relevant.
"We can't go back. There is no turning
back," Nelson Smith, president of the National Alliance for Charter Schools,
told roughly 3,000 conference-goers last week.
Charter schools have won over some prominent
education officials, most notably state Secretary of Education Alan Bersin, who oversaw a major expansion of the schools as former
superintendent of the
Still, in many districts, the traditionally
edgy relationship between school boards and charters remains.
Districts say charters rob them of students
and state funding, while charters contend they're helping students the districts
have failed.
"People in traditional schools as well
as charters have the same goal in mind, but it's a race to see who can get
there first," said Priscilla Wohlstetter, a professor of educational
governance at the
A recent analysis by San Juan Unified found
that the cost of losing students to charters was about equal to the revenue
they contributed by contracting with the district for services. But an analysis
by Sacramento City Unified concluded charters will cost the district a net
$1.3 million this year.
The fast growth of charters - and a scramble
to find space for them - has added further tension to the relationship. In
2000, California voters passed Proposition 39, requiring school districts
to provide charter schools that serve district students with facilities that
are "reasonably equivalent" to those granted to district schools.
The law has led to several legal standoffs.
In
Last year, the 5th District Court of Appeal
ruled against a
When it comes to facilities, "there
are some perverse disincentives for districts and charters to cooperate,"
said education chief Bersin.
For one thing, charters are seeking space
even as many districts are experiencing declining enrollment.
Districts often close schools to offset their
losses and lease them to outside organizations - but state law limits the
rent districts can ask charter schools to pay.
For another, some school board members say
charter schools that move into closed schools draw even more students away,
along with the state funding tied to their daily attendance.
"We closed schools because ... we were
trying to make the schools more efficient and economical, and charter schools
came behind us and really eroded that decision," said Larry Miles, president
of the board of San Juan Unified.
The district has closed six elementary schools
in recent years, and charters occupy parts of two of them.
But charter school advocates say it's only
fair to ask districts to provide space for district students.
"Charter school students are every bit
as entitled to the benefit of taxpayer-funded schools as all students,"
said Gary Larson, spokesman for the California Charter Schools Association.
Ledina Roles, chairwoman of the board for
"Our school has moved every single year,
so if we have in-district students, it's because they're committed enough
to move around here and there and everywhere," she said.
"People are coming because they were
already dissatisfied with the public school system."
Even when districts make an effort to comply
with Proposition 39 requests from charter schools, questions remain about
the definition of "reasonably equivalent."
Roles said San Juan Unified has honored its
Proposition 39 agreement, but the school doesn't have enough space to provide
a break room for its faculty.
John Palmer, director of planning and construction
for San Juan Unified, said the district has done "an adequate job in
providing them comparable space."
In 2004, only about 12 percent of
The state Education Department has formed
a task force to refine Proposition 39, including defining what "reasonably
equivalent" means and creating a way to resolve disputes.
"Prop. 39 was
maybe envisioned as being a greater solution than it has been," said
Greg Geeting, a consultant for the charter schools division of
the Department of Education. "The promise was bigger than the delivery
so far. But I like to think of it as evolving."
Manny Hernandez, a member of Sacramento City
Unified's board, said he sees competition from charter
schools as a positive force for improvement.
"But it's unhealthy when it undercuts
a school district and it means there's less money for kids in regular public
schools. You can only take so much bleeding before
you die."
Advocates counter that
districts should see charters as a way to save public education.
"Charter schools are taking over communities
that weren't served by the traditional school system," said Charlie Leo,
executive director and co-founder of
"We're not destroying the public schools. We may
be destroying old ways which haven't been successful."
CALIFORNIA CHARTER SCHOOLS BY THE
NUMBERS
574: number of
charter schools in the state
200,000: estimated number of students enrolled
2.5%: percentage of students in public schools
attending charters