A new report recommending no new charter school approvals in 2015 finds fault with state legislation that required a new round of applications as a condition of extending a local cigarette sales tax.

Public Citizens for Children and Youth, which advocates for quality schools, recently released the findings.

The group said increased competition would reduce funding to more drastic levels, pulling resources from existing schools and reduce quality of those programs.

For example, the findings show half of the applicants already operate charter schools in the city and nearly half of those fell short of meeting state benchmarks in reading and math. The report also found that charter schools proposed in area near Temple University, Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania, raising concerns that enrollment declines are possible at 18 public schools run by university-affiliated partnerships in the surrounding area.

PCCY wants the school district to hold off on approving new schools until more resources are available for public education.

The district has taken the brunt of steady declines in funding, forcing cutbacks in staff, programs and services for the last three years. The organization recommends taking no action on charter school proposals because significant numbers are familiar names in Philadelphia and have reported academic troubles, financial missteps, and student disciplinary issues.

The district is scheduled to wrap up a second round of public hearings on 40 new charter school applications on Friday. Applicants showed up at this month’s hearings, as a follow to initial public hearings held in December.

PCCY warned against expanding charter schools without new reforms in public education funding that critics say would address inequities. The organization’s leadership also argued that expanding charter schools would make oversight more difficult by an understaffed and already overburdened Office of Charter Schools, which is part of the district administration.

The school reform commission, the state-controlled panel charged with overseeing the city’s public schools, put a moratorium on new applications in order to rein in operating costs for the privately managed schools.

Donna Cooper, executive director for PCCY, said she hopes the commissioners will take heed of the call to hold off approving new charter schools due to the financial crisis now in its third full year.

The lion’s share of the district’s operating budget goes to traditional, district-run schools, but privately run charters are gaining ground. Charter school costs accounted for 18 percent of 2014 budget, and would only increase incrementally with new charter schools. By comparison, charter school costs hovered at 11 percent three years ago, according to school district records.

Charter school approvals create increased competition for strained budget in a district with no taxing authority, critics said. Funding comes from the city coffers, state lawmakers in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, federal government and other sources.

“Charter school expansion will require the district to make payments to charter schools and the source of those payments, absent more state or local aid, will have to come from already starved district-operated schools,” the report stated.

Cooper doesn’t believe rejecting all charter school applications defeats the purpose of the legislation because a moratorium on new charter schools should never have stayed in place for seven years.

“You have to have an open, transparent process because every other school district in the state is required to do that,” Cooper said.

Under state law, the local district must reimburse charter schools within its jurisdiction, based on enrollment figures submitted to the central office.

According to the report, the provision in state legislation requires the commission to consider new charter applications, but “it does not relieve the commission of its basic duties and obligations.”

The Philadelphia Tribune – January 23, 2015 – Read article online