New Address!

Well we're moving on up...



Charter Nation has a new name and a new web address, one which more closely reflects its mission and should be easier to find.   From now on, we are NC Charter Chat.  Our new web address is below:

www.nccharterchat.blogspot.com

Go ahead and hit the link, and bookmark it once you get there.  I'll keep this one up and running concurrently for the time being, but once everyone's made the switch Charter Nation may just evolve into something else. 

State Board to discuss charters

The State Board of Education will hold its annual planning session Sunday August 28 through Tuesday August 30th, at the Sheraton Downtown in Raleigh.  This meeting was not announced on the SBE website, but is open to the public. 

On Monday the 29th at 3pm Philip Price is scheduled to brief the board on charter schools.  He's only been alloted thirty minutes, but his comments could give us an overview of where the board wants to go with charter schools over the next year. 

New Charters in 2012?

Could it really be...?



The Raleigh News & Observer reports today that the State Board of Education might actually consider allowing a few new charter schools to open their doors in the fall of 2012 after all.  Heres' the link:

http://projects.newsobserver.com/node/22710

Believe it or not, they may actually be serious about this.  A plan for reviewing 'fast track' charter school applications has been written and is on the board's agenda for the August 31-September 1 meeting.  You can see the plan here: 

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/stateboard/meetings/2011/09/lfi/09lfi01.pdf

In brief, the idea is to have the newly formed Public Charter School Advisory Council review existing applications that would have been approved last go-around, had there been no cap, and make recommendations to the board as to which of these should be approved for 2012.  Existing schools that want to convert to charters would also be allowed to submit fast track applications, as would currently successful charter schools that wanted to replicate or spin off another campus. 

There are a lot of things that could still derail this move, of course, starting with the board's discussion and vote next week.  As anyone who has spent any time observing the operations of the board knows, very little of substance ever happens in an open board meeting; the real decisions having already been made in private beforehand.  And of course, the advisory council that would have to review all the applications doesn't actually exist yet, so...yeah. 

Still, this is the best charter news to come from the state board since...well, it's the only good charter news that Charter Guy can ever remember coming from the board.

Constitutional Math: 8 > 4

More changes afoot?

During the recently concluded session of the General Assembly there was a lot of talk about amending the North Carolina Constitution to overhaul the way public education is governed.  Representative Bryan Holloway (R-Rockingham & Stokes) introduced a bill that would do just that, but after a few hearings and amendments the project was slipped onto the back burner.  The idea was that Holloway's bill (HB823) would be taken up during the special session that the legislative leadership planned in Spetember for consideration of constitutional amendments. 

Now comes a report from Carolina Journal about the September session, and the amendment on public education governance doesn't get a mention:

Politicos Brace for Down-and-Dirty Amendment Fight in September 
http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=8146

If the leadership has given up on the idea, it's probably just as well.  Holloway's original plan was just to make the Superintendent of Public Instruction a full member of the board and give her control over all state-level appointments of administrative and supervisory education personnel.  The bill as amended does that, but (and here's the rub) it also removes the General Assembly's power to confirm the governor's appointments to the State Board of Education. 

True, the amended bill gives the GA four appointments of its own, reducing the governor's appointees to eight (from the current eleven).  But eight is still a voting majority of the board's membership of 15 (the State Treasurer and Lieutenant Governor are also members), thus leaving an anti-charter governor in a position to lay a lot of land mines for charter schools during her term.  Too many for Charter Guy's comfort, anyway.  The bill would also reduce the current eight-year term of state school board members to a more reasonable six--a good thing, in Charter Guy's opinion. 

It's hard to imagine why any legislative body would willingly surrender its power to determine who will constitute the majority of an important policy-making board.  And to trade that power for a measly four seats seems like the kind of deal made by one who doesn't understand the equation 8>4. 

If this bill resurfaces during the September session, let us hope that the leadership brushes up on some basic math first.

Meet the new board, same as the old board

The old guy

The new guy



Governor Beverly Perdue has finally submitted the names of her nominees to fill the vacant expired spots on the State Board of Education.  Loyal readers will recall that the terms of two of the board's district representatives expired back in March, but those members have continued to serve due to a quirk in the law that the Perdue administration believes somehow trumps the Constitution's defined eight-year terms (see, "What's that smell?  SBE appointees WAY past their expiration dates," charternation, August 7th).  Board Chairman Bill Harrison's term also expired in March, yet he gavels on.

So to replace State Education District One's Jean Wooland the governor has chosen--Jean Wooland.  And to replace Chairman Bill Harrison, the guv's pick is--Bill Harrison.  Only district seven's Tom Speed is actually rotating off.  If Perdue gets her way, William Woltz would take his place (more about him in the coming days). 

After all, why change personnel when things are going so swimmingly (cough, cough, EOGs, cough, cough)?

The legislature is scheduled to consider these appointments during its September mini-session, and if they are approved the three anti-charter amigos would serve until 2019 (eight year terms, remember?).  That's six and one-half years into the administration of any pro-charter governor who might possibly be elected to replace Perdue in November of 2012. 

On the other hand, suppose the legislature doesn't vote to approve them?  Maybe they just leave those names and positions out of the appointment bill, just lets them continue to serve, waiting to see what happens on election day?  Then a new governor could nominate replacements upon taking office in January of 2013, get some people of his own choosing on the board right away...just say'n. 

Pat McCrory, are you out there?  Might want to give Speaker Tillis and Senate President Berger a call. 

From their cold, dead fingers...

Charter school advocates who are hoping that the election of a new governor in 2012 will usher in a  pro-charter era in state government need to take a close look at the details of the new Public Charter School Advisory Council which the state board of education is slooooooooowly putting together.  Those stalwart guardians of the education status quo have written the rules for the new council in such a way that anti-charter appointees will continue to dominate it for years.  The details can be found here:

http://sbepolicy.dpi.state.nc.us/

In brief, the council will be made up of 15 members and will have only advisory functions; the state board will remain in complete control of all aspects of charter school policy.  The governor will appoint a majority of the members (8), while the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tem of the Senate will each get to nominate three members.  The Superintendent of Public Instruction will nominate the final member.

We know what kind of lackeys our current governor plans to fill the board with, and we can assume that the superintendent's lone nominee will be no charter supporter either.  That's nine reliably anti-charter votes to start with.  Assuming that our legislative leaders nominate only pro-charter candidates for the six seats they control on the council, the council will begin life with a 9-6 anti-charter majority. 

You might think that simply electing a pro-charter governor (and superintendent) in 2012 would solve the problem, and it would--but not right away. 

That's because the people our current officials are appointing to the council are going to be serving for a long time yet to come--most of them for four years.  To make matters worse, the terms of these initial appointees are staggered in such a way that the governor's and superintendent's picks serve longer terms than those nominated by the legislators.

Six of the governor's picks will serve full four year terms, as will the superintendent's choice.  One of the governor's appointees will serve for three years, and the last one for only two.  That means that even if  the governor is replaced with a pro-charter candidate in 2012, there will only be one opening on the council in 2013 and one in 2014 for the new governor to fill.

And that's assuming that the state board really does get the council up and running before the end of this year.  If the board can somehow delay the official launching of the council until January 1, 2012 or later, you can add one year to those earliest replacement dates above. 

There's more mischief in the details.  The governor is not required to pick anyone with any knowledge of or experience in charter schools.  In fact, her appointees don't even have to pretend to be supportive of charter schools.  The legislative nominees are just that--nominees.  They must apparently be approved by the full board before being seated.  And two of them must be either district school board members or employees of district schools. 

All this goes to show that the legislature can pass all the laws they want to, but if they don't keep a close watch on how the bureaucracy is implementing those laws they don't do a bit of good. 

Legislative Update

One of the many fine breakout sessions at the Charter School Conference put on by the North Carolina Alliance for Public Charter Schools in early August was this one on charter school legislation http://www.nccharters.org/2012conference/2011-breakout-sessions/ .  Click on the line under "Handouts" that says "charter schools briefing."

The short presentation gives an overview of what happened with Senate Bill 8 in the late session, what we achieved, where we fell short, and where we went backwards.  It concludes with a look at where charters stand now in the areas of governance, application standards, growth, and funding. 

Clearly, there is a lot of political work ahead for charter supporters if the movement is to survive.  The briefing's last slide is a call to arms of sort, quoting from President Andrew Jackson's farewell address to the nation in March of 1837.  It reads:

"But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing.  It behooves you, therefore, to be watchful in your States as well as in the Federal Government."

The governor's stealthy new cap

This short article in the Raleigh News & Observer, a reliably anti-charter publication, shows that the editors are at least aware now of the scheme by the Governor's office (and thus, by extension, the State Board of Education) to prevent any new charter schools from being authorized until 2013. 

Charter School Backers are Wary of Perdue

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/08/14/1411366/charter-schools-backers-are-wary.html

A few years back the state board adopted a policy requiring that once an application for a charter is approved, the applicant group must then spend a year in planning before being allowed to open its school.  It's a good policy.  But it appears that Perdue wants to use this policy to delay the opening of any new charter schools for at least two years. 

There was quite a bit of competition for the last charter available under the old cap of 100 schools.  Charter Guy has been told that there are a number of excellent applications in the Office of Charter Schools that have already been thoroughly reviewed, and had there been more charters available under the cap some of these would surely have been approved.  So, now that there is no cap, why not revisit and approve them now? 

Because that would start the one-year planning clock running, in time for the schools to open their doors in the fall of 2012.  And that is exactly what Perdue and her minions on the board want to avoid. 

Senator Richard Stevens, sponsor of the bill that removed the cap, has said that he'll be watching the board's actions (see August 10th, "Got my eye on you, man!").  Charter advocates should be watching him, and holding him to his pledge. 

For the anti-charter crowd, it's always a full moon

They're howling mad over charters

Just in case anyone in the public charter schools movement was unclear about the level of vitriol that charter-haters are ready to employ, or unsure about how low they're willing to sink to denigrate, discredit, and defame charter schools, a quick glance at www.Charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com will clear up the confusion.  As the name implies, the blog is:

"A compilation of news articles about charter schools which have been charged with, or are highly suspected of, tampering with admissions, grades, attendance and testing; misuse of funds and embezzlement; engaging in nepotism and conflicts of interest; engaging in complicated and shady real estate deals; and/or have been engaging in other questionable, unethical, borderline-legal, or illegal activities. This is also a record of charter school instability and other unsavory tidbits."

Of course none of these things ever happen in traditional district-run schools, right? 

Uh-huh.

It would be easy to dismiss the blog as ridiculous, almost to the point of being amusing.  But as you peruse the blog for cheap chuckles, keep this in mind.  Every time a story about real or suspected irregularities in admissions, testing, handling of funds, etc., makes it into print, the image of public charter schools is tarnished.  And that tarnish hurts our case when we're fighting the anti-charter establishment in the General Assembly and the State Board of Education for better laws or equitable funding.  

Charter school boards, administrators, and teachers have a tremendous responsibility, not just to run their schools in accordance with the spirit and letter of the law, but to make sure the public understands that's what they are doing.  It's not good enough to just be doing things right; charter schools must be seen to be doing things right.

In addition, charter schools must have an effective program of media relations.  They must be willing and capable of working with local media to respond quickly and professionally to any emerging threat to the school's public image.  The charter school board president or principal who doesn't have a good working relationship with the education beat reporters in his or her area is falling down on the job. 

The anti-charter establishment will do everything it can to frustrate and impede the growth of quality charter schools, and they are not above using things like the Charter Schools Scandal blog to press their case with the public.  We can't stop them from taking their shots.  But we can make it very difficult for them to find ammunition. 

~Update~

August 14th

Turns out, the anti-charter crowd in North Carolina has its own version of the Charter School Scandals blog.   Viewers of www.nceducationpolicy.com can find just about every anti-charter myth, half-truth, and discredited 'study' used in the recent debates over Senate Bill 8, all in one convenient place.  Run by lobbyists for traditional school district intrests, the site also offers helpful links to what it considers "edgroups," such as NCAE and the NEA, and "friends" such as Blue NC (the Democratic Party's website) and Progressive Pulse, a far-left website. 

The site does not appear to have been updated in recent months, or roughly since Senate Bill 8 passed. 

A board of their own

Not everything in our nation's capital is a steaming mess.  Just as in North Carolina, D.C.'s public charter schools are outperforming their traditional counterparts.  The editors of the Washington Post think they know why.  You see, Washington's charter schools are governed by their own board, and in the Post's opinion that board...

"...deserves credit for its insistence on successful outcomes.  The board’s willingness to shut down schools that don’t perform — more than a third of schools since the start of charter reform — not only weeds out failing schools but helps set the bar higher for those that stay open."

Now, what was one of the main objections the anti-charter crowd had to an independent governing body for public charter schools?  Something about foxes guarding henhouses? 

And D.C.'s charters aren't just picking the low-hanging fruit either:

"Particularly striking was the performance of charters serving neighborhoods in economic distress; in some cases those schools actually outperformed schools in more affluent areas of the city."

The editorial goes on to give several examples.  You can read it all at the link below.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rising-test-scores-show-what-dc-charter-schools-can-achieve/2011/08/03/gIQAtU3K7I_story.html

Got my eye on you, man!

Two new charters won't be enough

This article by Sara Burrows in today's Carolina Journal Online shows that pro-charter Republicans in the Senate are finally getting wise to the dangers of an anti-charter State Board of Education.

Charter School Backers Worry About Gov's Picks to Council
http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=8110

Readers will recall that Senate Bill 8 called on the state board to establish a charter school advisory council to do the board's dirty work of developing new charter school policies, recommending new standards for applications, revocations, renewals, and so forth.  Without any independent powers of its own the council will be advisory in nature only. 

Still, charter advocates had hoped to have enough pro-charter members on the council to keep the proceedings honest.  But the plan of organization approved by the board last week only requires that two of the sixteen council members have experience with charters.  The governor will appoint a majority of the members, and we can expect that all of her appointments will reflect her negative views on charter schools.   

Clearly the plan is to use a stacked council to stiffle the growth of charters.  But it may not be that easy.  Check out Senator Richard Steven's reaction:

“We expect to see some new charters,” Stevens said. “So if we get 50 quality applications and [the council] approves two, we’ll be back talking to them in [next year’s] short session.”

“We believe in good faith they will honor the new law and allow the cap fully to be lifted,” Stevens said. “Sometimes there’s a big difference between a law being passed and how the administrators deal with it.”

It's good to know someone is watching with a critical eye. 

Timing is everything, or, 'That was then, this is now'

Just when you thought it was safe to read the editorial page again.  From the Greensboro News & Record...

Editorial: No building funds for charter schools

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

(Updated 3:05 am)           

 

"Charter schools are generally a good deal for North Carolina because they offer K-12 educational alternatives and they save taxpayers money (italics Charter Guy's)." 

 

Nice of them to say so, don't you think?  After months of hearing charter schools denounced by the anti-charter crowd as a scheme to 'drain money away from public education' or as 'a luxury we can't afford in these difficult times' at least one major North Carolina paper finally gets the fiscal math right.  Charter Guy thinks this may be the first time that anyone from the anti-charter crowd has publicly acknowledged the fact that charter schools save taxpayer dollars. But you couldn't drag that admission out of them during the debate over Senate Bill 8.   

 

So are the editors of the News & Record getting smarter about charters?  More conscientious in their reporting, perhaps? 

 

Read on...

 

"The legislature could rewrite the law to allow for public funding of charter school buildings, but at what price? Counties are burdened by capital costs already. Forcing them to build charter schools would hurt taxpayers and kill one of the chief benefits these schools provide, namely a less-expensive alternative. (italics Charter Guy's)"

Notice the rhetorical slight-of-hand there?  Yesterday we couldn't possibly afford more charter schools, but today those same schools are so cost-effective we dare not alter their funding scheme, lest we "kill one of the chief benefits these schools provide..."

You can read the whole thing here:  http://www.news-record.com/content/2011/08/08/article/editorial_no_building_funds_for_charter_schools

Facilities funding

By now everyone in the charter community is aware that the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled against former state Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr in his lawsuit demanding that charter schools be given access to capital funds for school construction.  The court found that decisions regarding what types of funding charter schools should get were rightly in the hands of the legislature, and the charter school law clearly did not allow charters a share of public school capital funds. 

Now, Charter guy respects Bob Orr.  Charter guy likes Bob Orr.  If Charter Guy were a Charter Gal, she would say 'yes' if Bob Orr asked for a dance or a date.  But Charter Guy draws the line at taking funding decisions away from the legislature and turning them over to the judiciary.  Charter Guy is just not that kind of guy.  Or gal. 

Charter Guy knows this decision by the court is a major disappointment to any charter school operators who may have been counting on a slice of state or local capital funds, but really, it was almost inevitable given the law as it is.  Which just means that Charter Nation (that's all of us, loyal readers) need to redouble our efforts to elect legislators who will amend the law to allow a per-pupil share of capital funding for charter schools.  You know, like Senate Bill 8 would have done before it was eviscerated by the anti-charter crowd. 

Oh, and one other thing.  One of the reasons Charter Guy wishes Justice Orr had not filed this suit is because he hates reading smarmy, disingenuous editorials by the anti-charter media, such as this one:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/08/04/2501850/appeals-court-right-to-rule-against.html#ixzz1U6YUJZiE

The numbers don't lie

From the North Carolina Alliance for Public Charter Schools:

"North Carolina Public Charter Schools continue to shine. Reports released by the NC DPI today reflect that 52 of the 99 charters, or 52.5% made AYP versus 27.7% of public schools overall. 23.5% of charters made the highest level, the Honor School of Excellence versus 7.9% of district schools."      

-Eddie Goodall

From the John Locke Foundation's Terry Stoops:

Charters among best schools in the state

Posted on August 4, 2011 at 11:50 am

According to a preliminary analysis of last year’s state test results, 23.5 percent of charter schools received the state’s top classification – Honor School of Excellence. Only 7.9 percent of regular/traditional public schools received that honor.

And...

Charter schools outscore traditional public schools… again

Posted on August 4, 2011 at 11:25 am

I compared the average performance composites of all regular/traditional public schools and all charter schools. (Note: All schools classified by the Department of Public Instruction as “alternative” were not included.) The performance composite is the percentage of students performing at or above grade level (Level III) on all state tests taken at the school during the 2010-11 school year.
Last year, the average performance composite of 2,351 regular/traditional schools was 76.1 percent. The average performance composite of 98 charter schools was 79 percent.

What's that smell? SBE appointees WAY past their expiration dates

Jean W. Wooland was appointed to the State Board of Education in September of 2010 by Governor Perdue to fill the vacancy left by the untimely death of Kathy Taft.  According to her "member profile" on the State Board's website (http://www.ncpublicschools.org/stateboard/about/profiles), Ms. Wooland represents the state's First Educational District (northeastern North Carolina), lives in Plymouth, and is a long-time teacher union (NCAE) activist. 

Her profile also states that her term expired on March 31st, 2011, over four months ago.  Yet Ms. Wooland continues to serve on the board. 

Boone attorney Robert Speed, appointed by former governor and convicted felon Mike Easley in 2003, also continues to serve on the board despite his term having expired at the end of March as well. 

How can this be?  It 'be' because Governor Perdue has figured out how to use a little-known statute to avoid having her appointees confirmed by the (Republican-controlled) General Assembly.  According to G.S. 128-7 "All officers shall continue in their respective offices until their successors are elected or appointed, and duly qualified." 

Taken at face value, the statute would seem to indicate that if a governor had a crony on a board or commission whose term was up but she didn't want to risk losing in a confirmation battle in the legislature, she could keep him around forever by simply never naming a replacement.  The appointee's 'term' would then be indefinite, at least as long as said governor was in office.  That appears to be what she's trying to do here with Ms. Woolard and Mr. Speed.

There's a huge problem in this case, however.  The term for state board of education members is set, not by some statute, but by the North Carolina Constitution.  That term is explicitly defined as eight years, no more, no less (Article IX, Section 4, "Appointments shall be for overlapping terms of eight years").   

As every public school student, or at least every public charter school student knows, statutes cannot overrule constitutions.  If the Constitution of the great state of North Carolina says the term is for eight years, then the term is for eight years--end of arguement. And end of Ms. Woolard's and Mr. Speed's terms.  Or at least it would be if anyone were to take the board to court and make a case out of this. 

Perhaps the governor will renominate the pair, or two others like them in her 'apointments bill, which the GA will consider during its September mini-session.   But what if she doesn't?  The Constitution says that state board appointees must be confirmed by the General Assembly.  Will Republicans in the legislature let her get away with extending current members indefinitely, and thus doing an end run around our Constitution?

Alliance conference gets air and ink

The North Carolina Alliance for Public Charter Schools managed to get a little coverage for its annual conference in Raleigh last Monday and Tuesday (1st & 2nd of August).  

News 14 Carolina had this:  http://triangle.news14.com/content/top_stories/644703/workshop-helps-charter-schools-get-started . 

And the Raleigh News & Observer printed this:  http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/08/03/1386850/charter-schools-polish-plans.html

But then the N&O also weighed in with this turkey of an editorial:  http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/08/05/1390968/care-with-charters.html

Two steps forward, one step back...

Hooray! The cap is gone!

So, with the legal cap of 100 charter schools now consigned to the dustbin of history, new charter schools will soon be popping up around the state like mushrooms after a summer rain, right?

Uh, no.

OK, we didn't really think it would be that easy either. There were always going to be obstacles, of course. Anyone who's ever been involved in starting up a charter school, or even running one of our many fine existing charter schools, knows that there is a mountain of time-consuming work involved. Things of value, things worth creating, always take time. Rome wasn't built in a day.

But if the North Carolina State Board of Education had been in charge, Rome would still be under construction. And cap or no cap, the SBE is in charge, very much so when it comes to new charter schools. Having lost its favorite cap (the de jure model) in the legislature, the board seems intent upon finding a new one (the de facto model--very stylish!) in the board room.

Bill Harrison and the board have been mum about how long it will take the board to approve new charters, but the signs so far are not good. The Office of Charter Schools staff, which would have to examine the applications before approval, has been reduced. The board has received a grant to craft a new application process--but does a new proceedure mean that pending applicants have to 'start over' once the new process is in place? And what about recent applications that were rejected solely because of the cap; could they pick up where they left off, or will the board make them start over as well?

Between the bureaucratic obastacles that could be erected, and the length of time between the SBE meetings (generally a month apart) at which decisions regarding charter policies are decided, the board could easily delay the awarding of new charters until the spring of 2012 or later. And with the recently-adopted one year 'planning period' policy, it's entirely possible that North Carolina will see no new charters opened until the fall of 2013.