Education Law

When a charter isn’t working, school boards need to speak up

Think all urban school board members hate charter schools because they sap off their best students and take money away from traditional public schools? Think again.

A sometimes-spirited discussion at NSBA?s Council of Urban Boards of Education annual conference yesterday showed that board members have quite an array of experiences and opinions with charters in their cities. (School Board News is reporting on the major events and panels at the CUBE conference in Baltimore Sept. 30-Oct. 2, read more at http://schoolboardnews.nsba.org)

Some board members from Maryland noted that they were proud of some of their charters for offering quality, focused programs, such as health and fitness or a Montessori curricula. Perhaps their positive experience has a lot to do with the fact that local school boards are the primary charter authorizers under the state?s law.

Others reported less positive experiences, noting that they had no control to shut down charters that were clearly underperforming  (only 17 percent of charters have significantly increased student achievement compared to traditional public schools, according to this report.)

Board Buzz liked the advice given by Ursula Wright, chief operating officer of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, who said school boards have every right to insist on that accountability, even where the school board is not responsible for the school?s charter.

Go to the authorizer body with the appropriate information, she said. ?If a school is not serving its students, not living up to its charter . . . it needs to be shut down.?

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on October 01, 2010 (boomark / email).