State's charter school law gets 'B,' No. 11 ranking
Pennsylvania school boards are inconsistent in approving applications for charter schools, says a report from a national education advocacy nonprofit.
Pennsylvania's charter school law received a "B" and ranks 11th in the nation in the 11th annual Charter Laws Across the States report from The Center for Education Reform in Washington.
"School boards can't figure out a way to like (charter schools)," said Jeanne Allen, the group's president. "Public education is not supposed to be the excluding franchise of a school district. Public education is supposed to belong to everyone."
Charter schools are public schools managed by parent, community or educational groups and given a charter to operate by school districts. In Pennsylvania, school boards approve those charters. The state has 128 charter schools. If a school board denies the application, the school can appeal the decision to state education officials.
"School boards can't figure out a way to like (charter schools)," said Jeanne Allen, the group's president. "Public education is not supposed to be the excluding franchise of a school district. Public education is supposed to belong to everyone."
Charter schools are public schools managed by parent, community or educational groups and given a charter to operate by school districts. In Pennsylvania, school boards approve those charters. The state has 128 charter schools. If a school board denies the application, the school can appeal the decision to state education officials.
That has happened with all five of Propel Schools' charter schools in Allegheny County.
"Clearly, there's a need for some changes," said Jeremy Resnick, executive director of Propel Schools, which educates about 1,700 students in kindergarten through grade 11. "To me, it's a major problem. Getting charter schools to the next level of impact in Pennsylvania means adding other authorizers."
Propel recently paid $2.3 million for a building in Braddock that once housed a home improvement center, and plans to open its sixth charter school there by August.
It would be the second Propel school in the Woodland Hills School District, which last year denied the organization's application to expand. Other Propel schools are in Turtle Creek, which is in Woodland Hills, and Munhall, Homestead, McKeesport and Kennedy. Propel has about 1,500 students on waiting lists.
Other states have authorities outside of school districts that approve charters, Allen said. Charter approval is particularly difficult in the Pittsburgh area, she said.
Pittsburgh Public Schools, which held public hearings for two proposed charter schools Monday, generally will not sell vacant buildings to charter schools. Still, six schools have charters through the district. In Philadelphia, where a board independent of the school district approves charters, nearly 70 do.
"The board has always given every charter school a thorough examination and judged each charter on its merits," said school board member Bill Isler. "I have to judge that that charter school will give that student a better education than the city schools can."
The center took exception to the fact that Pennsylvania school districts, and not the state, issue payments to charter schools for the students they enroll. Charters receive 75 to 80 percent of what public schools get in state funding per pupil. Allen said the payments need to come directly from the state.
Longtime board member Jean Fink said she has a problem with the way the state funds charter schools.
"If you have three children in a classroom who leave to go to a charter school, you still have the same fixed costs. The funding problems are on my mind, definitely. You have to think about all of the kids."
Despite such shortcomings, the report showed that Pennsylvania does several things right. There is no limit to the number of charter schools permitted in a district. Schools are not subject to public school regulations and are permitted to contract with whatever providers they want, Allen said.
