SRC is asking more from charter operators
by Dale Mezzacappa
The School Reform Commission, after six years of mostly tepid oversight, made moves this spring first to terminate underperforming charter schools and then to consider using new charters more proactively to address the District’s educational needs.
The latter proposal especially, which comes as the SRC struggles with continuing budget deficits, has riled charter school advocates and operators who want continued autonomy in deciding why and where these independent public schools are established.
“The charter movement has nothing to do with partnership with the District to achieve their needs,” said Tim Daniels, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools. “It has everything to do with partnership with parents to achieve their needs. The basic premise of a charter is choice.”
Daniels said that he did not have a problem with stricter accountability for poorly performing and scandal-ridden charters.
The SRC voted in April not to renew the charters of Germantown Settlement Charter and Renaissance Charter, both middle schools in Northwest Philadelphia that have had financial and academic issues. In the six years of its existence, the SRC has never closed a charter school.
In addition, it put off a vote on the Philadelphia Academy Charter School in Northeast Philadelphia in the wake of a worsening financial scandal. The Philadelphia Inquirer disclosed mismanagement, nepotism, and conflicts of interest involving PACS founder Brien Gardiner and his handpicked CEO, Kevin O’Shea. Gardiner and O’Shea have been dismissed and the 1,200-student school is restructuring in an effort to win renewal.
The two charters that the SRC voted to terminate have an opportunity to make their case at public hearings, Germantown Settlement on June 4 and Renaissance on June 6. After that, there is a 30-day public comment period before the SRC makes its final decision.
Since there is a state appeals process, it is likely that the charters could stay open through next year even if the SRC upholds the terminations.
The 13 charter schools that were renewed in April all had conditions attached, as the District signaled stricter enforcement over whether charters were hiring certified and qualified teachers, using proper financial controls, and monitoring conflict-of-interest policies for employees and board members.
At the same time, the District has not approved any new charters since 2006, although five new charters opened this year and two more will start in September. Eleven successfully went through a screening process in 2007 but were deferred. This year, four more applicants made it through, for a total of 15 waiting for the SRC go-ahead.
But at the May 14 SRC meeting, Catherine Balsley, director of the District’s Office of Charter Schools, recommended that the SRC delay voting on these schools and instead incorporate charter development into a more “holistic” school-reform strategy.
This made sense, she said, given current conditions: a new CEO about to take over, continuing budget problems, 70 poorly performing District schools requiring intervention under federal law, and “tremendous” growth in charter enrollment.
Balsley asked for “a more strategic plan… to address the needs of various communities,” not just neighborhoods, but types of students.
Balsley recommended an expedited charter application process in which the 15 successful applicants might tweak their plans to fit into the wider strategic framework. She suggested applicants might consider taking over low-achieving District schools or coordinate with District plans to reorganize the system’s privately managed, alternative, and accelerated schools.
New schools, charter and restructured, could open by September 2009, Balsley said.
SRC members seemed receptive to the idea. James Gallagher, the most pro-charter member, said that he envisioned charter enrollment growing to 50,000 in the near future. “It’s the only vehicle we have that allows us to innovate,” he said.
Currently, more than 30,000 students are enrolled in 61 charter schools. Charter operators say that 20,000 students are on waiting lists.
But Lawrence Jones, CEO of the Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School and president of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools, said that new charters should move forward.
“Should we retard the choice movement because of District issues?” he asked. “We can open new charter schools and let charters take over some restructured schools.”
A task force chaired by Gallagher and made up mostly of charter operators and their supporters has begun meeting to discuss how the District could better support and advocate for the independently run schools.
During the renewal process, the District strictly limited access to the files of charter schools. Efforts by the Notebook to confirm the level of compliance of charters with standards and requirements were largely rebuffed. District lawyers have maintained that the files, with some exceptions, are not public records under Pennsylvania law.
After the vote to renew some charters, the District made additional records available, but not for those schools that had been recommended for termination or not yet considered.