All 40 applications for new charter schools should be rejected because additional charters would only deepen the district’s financial problems, Public Citizens for Children and Youth urged the Philadelphia School Reform Commission on Thursday.
And absent new revenues, the report by the Philadelphia-based nonprofit (PCCY) said, any new charter would cause the district to cut more resources from its underfunded schools.
“Parents across the city want schools to improve, and they have every right to be impatient about the progress of reform,” said Donna Cooper, executive director of PCCY. “But opening the floodgates to new charters will harm students attending district-run schools.”
District spokesman Fernando Gallard said the SRC would not comment because it was in the midst of the charter application process.
Charter proponents dismissed the report.”PCCY is making a premature and inappropriate judgment without examining the actual details of the new charter applications,” said Bob Fayfich, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools.
In October, the district announced that it would accept new charter applications for the first time since 2007 to comply with the requirements of the state law that authorized a $2-per-pack cigarette tax for city schools. The measure also gives rejected applicants the right to appeal to the state Charter Appeal Board in Harrisburg.
Cooper said that while the district was compelled by that law to accept new applications, other laws require the SRC to consider the impact its decisions have on fiscal solvency.
PCCY’s 15-page report said its analysis of the applications found that if all were approved, the district’s payments to charters would grow to more than $1 billion and consume 42 percent of the district’s total annual budget.
The organization said additional charters would further burden the district’s small charter office, which cannot effectively manage the 84 existing charters.
In addition, the expansions would boost charter enrollment from more than 67,000 to 104,642, which would mean that 51 percent of the total number of district students would be in charter schools.
The PCCY report also said that 20 of the applicants operate other charters. At nearly half those schools, less than 50 percent of the students are on grade level in math and reading.
In addition, the report found that most of the charters had fewer minority and low-income students, and fewer students who were trying to learn English, than the district average.
“The SRC should carefully consider all charter-school applications and should reject many,” said Mike Wang, executive director of Pennsylvania School Advocacy Partners, an advocacy group created by the Philadelphia School Partnership. “But it would be irresponsible to reject those applicants that have the demonstrated ability to effectively serve low-income students.”
Fayfich, from the state charter coalition, said: “The blanket condemnation of 40 charter applications based on data for 20 existing charter managers would not pass any test of credibility. It is also interesting to note that the report does not take into consideration the desperate need of the thousands of children on waiting lists for charter schools in Philadelphia.”
Cooper said she was anticipating some criticism from charter proponents.
“I don’t envision that the charter community in general will see this as a positive report, but facts are the facts,” she said.
The Philadelphia inquirer – January 15, 2015 – Read article online