More Welcoming Climate for Charter Schools Should be Part of Reforming KC Schools
The Star’s November 1 editorial, Move Carefully in reforming KC Schools District, stated that one option for helping students in Kansas City public schools is to create “a more welcoming climate for charter schools.” We agree completely.
According to a recent report by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, 9,312 students are currently enrolled in Kansas City’s charter schools. That figure accounts for 35% of all public school students in Kansas City and is the 4th highest percentage of any city in the country. The same report shows that this figure is an increase from 32% in 2010. These figures clearly show that Kansas City parents are seeking charter schools as an option for their children.
There are two critical ways in which the climate for charter schools in Kansas City could be made more welcoming. The first is for the Kansas City Missouri School District to increase access to closed district buildings. Finding a building is one of the greatest impediments to opening a charter school. The ability to lease or purchase a closed district building, ready for use as a school, would bring more schools online to serve the needs of students who are now likely traveling outside of their neighborhoods to attend their current school. We are beginning to see a thaw in the policies of Kansas City school district in discussing leasing options with charter schools. Already, one agreement has been reached with Academie Lafayette, one of the highest performing charter schools in the state. This is a welcome step in the right direction.
The state legislature can also help to increase access to quality charter public schools in Kansas City by creating new options for sponsoring a charter public school. Creating a state charter school commission to increase the capacity for high quality schools to find a sponsor will help schools in the initial vetting process and help the quality charter applicants become operational faster.
Other states have recently created some type of state charter school commission, with various responsibilities and duties, to serve as the state’s public entity to work exclusively with charter schools. Creating a commission exclusive to charter schools would allow a focus on quality sponsorship and school practices. The commission could also serve as a key resource point for all charter schools and sponsors in the state. It’s important that the commission be developed while keeping a keen eye on protecting the relationship between other sponsors and their schools recognizing the importance of the autonomy for accountability bargain and authority the sponsor has to hold charter schools accountable for their performance.
Also, allowing local school boards to sponsor charter schools would allow for schools annexed into neighboring school districts to potentially be converted to charter schools and potentially be turned around faster. The editorial states that the schools annexed by the Independence school district have quickly improved and exceeded expectations.
Charter schools should not be seen as an adversary to the Kansas City Missouri School District, but as an option for the community to embrace to educate children.
As such, we agree with the Star’s editorial that the climate for charter schools in Kansas City should be a welcoming one, fostering cooperation and putting the students of Kansas City ahead of all else.
MCPSA Commentary: Autonomy for Accountability Bargain Important to Keep for Charters
This piece was published in the November 14 letters section of the St. Louis Post- Dispatch
In a November 6 Letter to the Editor of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Missouri State Board of Education President Peter Herschend discussed his views of the State Board’s role in the oversight of Missouri’s charter schools. Regarding the Imagine charter schools in St. Louis, the State Board of Education is taking the correct approach placing the authority of accountability with the sponsor, Missouri Baptist University.
We share Mr. Herschend’s desire that only high quality charter schools are operating in Missouri yet contend that the autonomy for accountability bargain at the foundation of the charter school model is important to keep intact. The best role for the State Board is to practice provisions in current statute holding sponsors accountable and, if appropriate, removing a sponsor’s right of sponsorship. This action transfers sponsorship of the schools to the State Board where they are able to close chronically underperforming schools if they see fit.
At various times the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has acknowledged that it would be challenging to assume charter school sponsorship due to the lack of capacity and resources. We see the need for legislation creating a state charter school commission helping alleviate this problem.
We feel it is important to note that there are many charter schools in Missouri working diligently to serve students everyday. When seeking policy changes affecting all charter schools it is critical to not look at one moment in time and create policy attempting to remedy that particular
situation.
Douglas Thaman
Executive Director, Missouri Charter Public School Association
MCPSA Commentary: Discoveries in Series on Imagine Schools Troubling
In our guest commentary, Imagine must be held accountable for its troubling record (published on September 22 in the St. Louis Post- Dispatch), the Missouri Charter Public School Association (MCPSA) hypothesized that a potential issue leading to the poor academic performance of Imagine Schools Inc. in St. Louis may be “a lack of resources and support available to the teachers and staff.”
The recent series of stories by Elisa Crouch in the St. Louis Post- Dispatch on Imagine Schools, Inc. strengthens our concern that this is the case, in addition to a host of other deeper problems uncovered in the series. A school spending such high percentages of revenues on building rent is taking significant dollars out of classroom instruction and teacher resources. Imagine Schools are spending 14.7% to 20.6% of their money on rent. The school spending the next highest percent on rent isn’t even in the double digits.
In addition, the Imagine Charter School Governing Boards are spending an additional 12% of the schools’ budgets on the management agreements for the schools. This number is especially alarming as nationally the average management agreement fee range is between 4% and 8%. Unfortunately it is not surprising to see former principals, teachers and parents coming forward in the stories to talk about shortages of basic items, like toilet paper, soap and pencils, when upwards of 27% of public school dollars are being used for facility lease and management costs.
All of the above coupled with the reports that the schools are exceeding occupancy limits, being cited for building code violations and opening a school in just 21 days indicates that there is a pattern of inattention to what is best for children and their education. MCPSA is also deeply concerned about the legal and ethical questions regarding real estate and contractor dealings reported in the series of stories.
This latest series of revelations on schools managed by Imagine Schools Inc. leads us to call for an investigation of these schools by the Missouri State Auditor. We also believe that the school’s sponsor, Missouri Baptist University, should receive enhanced support from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and other community leaders in working to determine what actions need to be taken in regards to these schools. These groups should not be making the decisions for Missouri Baptist University but providing all the necessary information and support allowing the Sponsor to move intentionally and swiftly.
What is clear is that the status quo in these schools is not acceptable. We must not sit idly by if classrooms are not adequately resourced and student needs are not being met in order to fund expensive lease agreements and if accountability provisions, able to be executed in current law, are being ignored. The children in these schools deserve nothing short of that.
MCPSA Talks to NBC Action News Kansas City
Group trying to change charter school rules in Missouri
Posted: 10/14/2011
Last Updated: 23 hours and 13 minutes ago
KANSAS CITY, Missouri – One group is trying to change charter school laws in Missouri.
The Missouri Charter Public School Association is lobbying to pass a bill expanding the area where charter schools can operate.
Currently, charter schools are only allowed within the city limits of Kansas City and St. Louis.
Supporters say charters should be available to parents across the state, not just those in urban areas.
“It allows parents a chance to choose an option that meets the needs of their kids and the particular interests they have. Charter schools also allow for closer control of the finances and the programs that are taking place in the school,” said Dan Thaman of the Missouri Charter Public School Association.
Last year a similar bill came close to passing through the Missouri legislature.
MCPSA Editorial: Imagine Schools, Inc. Not Meeting Acceptable Performance
Simply put, a charter is a contract to improve student achievement. The Missouri Charter Public School Association (MCPSA) commends the charter public schools in the State who are honoring this contract and operating in the best interest of the students they serve. MCPSA is, however, deeply concerned by the performance trends being displayed by the cluster of charter public schools in St. Louis managed by Imagine Schools, Inc. These schools are clearly not meeting acceptable standards of academic performance.
The poor track record of these schools over the past several years is reinforced by the majority of their 2011 Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores which are well below the average for the State of Missouri and St. Louis Public Schools. In multiple instances the percentage of students reaching the top levels of proficient or advanced in Mathematics and/or Communication Arts is in the single digits. In addition, points awarded for the MAP Index score, a weighted formula providing a school credit for their ability to move students out of the bottom performance levels, doesn’t present any better picture of academic growth.
While standardized state testing should not be the only measure of a charter school’s success, it is impossible to accept scores at these levels. For a charter public school with a small student population or a true alternative student population (dropout recovery, significant number of English Language Learners, etc.) it’s reasonable to understand the need for alternative forms of authentic assessment to gauge their success. For a cluster of schools under one management company, serving thousands of students, these standardized test scores serve as a real indicator of significant performance issues.
MCPSA believes the Imagine Schools’ performance trends reflect most poorly on the management company, Imagine Schools, Inc. and is not a condemnation of the teachers and staff within the schools. Often a significant issue leading to such poor academic performance is a lack of resources and supports available to the teachers and staff by their employer. Another issue, often, is charter public school governing boards not being able to execute the oversight authority they are statutorily entitled as the management company has contractually assumed that authority.
It is important that the poor academic performance of these schools is not taken as a poor reflection of the Missouri charter school community as a whole, including other education management organizations. In St. Louis, six of 18 charter schools posted better reading scores this year than St. Louis Public Schools. Seven charters posted better scores than the district in math. Four charter public schools performed at or above the state average in Communication Arts while two charter public schools performed above the state average in Mathematics. Positive gains by charter public schools using the State’s MAP Index were also achieved. It’s evident that the majority of the charter public schools in St. Louis are heading in the right direction.
Two important tenets of charter public school education are autonomy and accountability. The school has the autonomy to employ innovative educational best practice and is held accountable for the academic performance of their students. If a school continues to decline academically, the Missouri’s charter public school sponsor has the obligation to uphold their statutory mandate and hold the school accountable through probation, nonrenewal, and/or closure.
MCPSA does not want schools to fail, and is ready to assist schools at the first sign of academic decline. However, as an organization that advocates for quality charter public education, we remain steadfast that Imagine Schools, Inc. and their chronically underperforming schools must be held accountable. We owe this to the other charter public schools in Missouri who are academically moving students in the right direction.
We also owe this to the parents of Missouri’s children who entrust their most precious possession to these schools. Most importantly we owe this to the children in our charter public schools. They deserve nothing less than the very best educational opportunities.
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