Mary C. Tillotson, Watchdog.org
Charter school authorizers in Minnesota whose schools fall in the lowest 25 percent of public schools could be required to close those schools or submit an explanation to the state.
That’s if state Senate Bill 836 passes. Charter school supporters are split over whether the legislation from state Sen. Terri Bonoff would strengthen or weaken charter schools in the state where the movement began.
Increased regulation is unnecessary and could threaten the independence that’s core to charter schools’ identity, said Eugene Piccolo, executive director at the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools, and Kara Kerwin, president of the Center for Education Reform.
“Four years ago we overhauled our charter school law that put in a process for evaluating the performance, Piccolo said. “Why don’t we go through the process one time and see if it works? And if it doesn’t work, let’s tweak it.”
Kerwin’s group ranks Minnesota’s charter school law as the second-best in the country, behind Washington, D.C. The National Association of Public Charter Schools ranks Minnesota’s law as the best in the country.
But Brian Sweeney, director of external affairs for Charter School Partners, said the bill would improve the overall quality of charter schools and make it easier for supporters to defend the charter movement.
“There are those that want to close down all charter schools, and we think it would inoculate the charter sector if we ourselves cleaned up those troubled charter schools,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney and Piccolo both said it was hard to compare charter schools to traditional district schools.
Whether charter schools are better academically is “controversial,” Sweeney said, though he referred to a “Beating the Odds” column in a local newspaper, highlighting the highest-performing schools with at least 85 percent of students living in poverty. A majority of those schools are charters.
Many charter schools in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area are very high performing, they said, but others don’t do as well.
About 40 percent of charter schools can only be compared to district schools in an apples-to-oranges way, Piccolo said. That’s partially because charter schools serve twice as many English-language learners as district schools, and more than twice the number of students in poverty.
Right now, 17 charter schools are in the lowest 25 percent of Minnesota’s public schools, based on three years of test scores, Sweeney said.
He referred to an uptick in lawsuits in recent years, filed by charter schools against their authorizers when the authorizers decided to close the schools. This could work as a disincentive, making authorizers less inclined to close underperforming schools, he said.
“We think it gives them cover for those authorizers who need more push,” Sweeney said. “Closing down a charter is difficult.”
A 2009 overhaul of the charter law emphasized the authorizer’s role and gave the authorizer more ability to close down an underperforming charter school.
As part of that overhaul, authorizers must lay out their plan for overseeing their schools’ performance, academically and financially. Schools agree to academic goals and financial operations in a contract between the schools and the authorizers.
“Authorizers have different levels of intervention they do before they pull the plug, but (there’s) nothing that says they can’t boot the place. We’ve had a quarter of all charter schools close,” he said.
Charter schools already have much more accountability measures and procedures than district schools, including testing and financial audits, Piccolo said.
Furthermore, the state’s charter law stipulates that “an authorizer may or may not renew a charter school contract at the end of the term and may unilaterally terminate a contract during the term for cause” and that “an authorizer is immune from civil and criminal liability for all activities related to a charter school.”
Threats of lawsuits shouldn’t deter authorizers from closing underperforming schools, Piccolo said.
Under the 2009 law, the state commissioner of education reviews authorizers’ performance every five years, and that first review hasn’t come due yet.
Piccolo said lawmakers should wait to change the process until the state has been through it once.
Bonoff’s office didn’t return a request for comment.
Why I Want to Work in Education Reform
Starting when I was a teenager, I’ve always loved working with kids. I worked at a local summer camp for many years, volunteered at a charter school in DC and last summer, I was an advisor for students at a private school preparatory program called REACH Prep based in Stamford, Connecticut.
Now in my junior year studying Political Science at The George Washington University, I have developed an interest in public policy and have become more educated in the ways that politics works. As I come closer and closer to graduation (something that excites and terrifies me all at the same time), I have begun to think about what direction I want my career to go. I have had some experience working in a non-profit office before; I often volunteer at my mom’s non-profit back home in New York. I am hoping CER with give me more experience and great insight into the realm of education policy.
The issues of education reform are very personal to me. As an elementary school student, I left my local public school for a private school after attending the REACH Prep program (the same program I interned for this past summer). The dedication of the staff and the resources made available to me at my new school were amazing. Even as young girl, I realized how lucky I was to have been given that opportunity. The transition took a lot of hard work and sacrifice from my family and me and I will always be grateful for those who supported us. I’ve always believed that every student should be able to have the opportunities I did, whether they are able to afford private school or not. This is why I want a career in education reform, whether it’s working hands-on in a school or in policy.
Today is my first day at CER and I am excited to learn more about the charter school movement, how to raise awareness, and make change through a combination of hard work, research and passion. I am looking forward to getting the ball rolling on my first full day on Friday.
Sahara Lake, CER Intern