Charters face scrutiny

Charter schools spend twice as much as district-run public schools do in administration costs. Charters pay their top officials far more. And since 2007, district reimbursements to charters have outpaced actual charter enrollment. These are only some of the findings in Pennsylvania School Boards Association’s new report on charter schools in the commonwealth.

The report isn’t an attack on charter schools, a PSBA analyst told media, but added that “charter schools need to be held to the same standards of accountability and transparency as traditional public schools.”

Whether you’re a public school booster or a charter school champion (or both), we all want our publicly funded education system to provide our students with the quality education they’re owed and do so by leveraging funding with efficiency and impact.

The report raises some very serious questions, many of which may be answered by a long sought-after solution: new charter legislation. Earlier this summer, House Bill 530 came close to reforming what the state Auditor General famously declared as “the worst charter law in the United States.” But HB 530 proved too problematic to pass and legislators jettisoned the bill to pass the state budget. The work must continue if our children are to find greater success in whichever school they attend.

See also:
Newsworks: Seeking accountability, states revise charter school laws

SRC broke law, fixes suspension policy

The Philadelphia SRC broke state law when it cancelled its contract with the teacher’s union, said the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday, affirming two lower court rulings. Newsworks reports: The Supreme Court ruling has no direct financial consequences for the district because the contract cancellation attempt wasn’t successful and district teachers never experienced a corresponding reduction in benefits. The district highlighted that point in a statement Monday.

In other news, the SRC banned suspensions of kindergarten students in all cases other than those that resulted in serious bodily harm. Of kindergartners and first and second graders suspended last year in Philadelphia, 90% were for nonviolent reasons, reported the Inquirer.

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Charter schools spend twice as much in administration costs than conventional public schools, says a new report from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. Read More

“We can’t educate children who are not in school, and the fact that kindergartners are being suspended for things that are not considered violent behavior, that’s something that we need to address,” PSD Superintendent William R. Hite Jr.. READ MORE