Charter requests skyrocket

New law that allows direct application to BESE cited

Applications for new charter schools shot up by five times this year, mostly because of a new state law aimed at helping Louisiana’s lowest-performing school districts, officials said.

A record 26 new requests have been filed with the state’s top school board, up from five last year.

In addition, 23 other applications were filed to run schools placed under state control or to replace former operators, according to the state Department of Education.

State education leaders said the increase is spurred largely by the fact that applicants from districts rated D or F can now apply directly to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Caroline Roemer Shirley, president of Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, said Monday some charter operators filed because they feel chances are better for approval than when they had to win permission from often hostile local school boards.

“When you have to go to the district, in most places in the state, that is a pretty hostile environment,” Shirley said.

“The chances of being approved are pretty slim,” she said.

Some local school board members see charter schools as a threat to traditional public schools.

Charter schools are public schools run by nongovernmental boards.

They are touted as a way to offer novel classroom methods without much of the red tape common in traditional public schools.

The state has 104 such schools with about 45,000 students in 15 parishes, including East Baton Rouge.

Louisiana has about 1,300 traditional public schools and roughly 700,000 students.

Of 70 school districts, 27 are rated D and F.

Critics contend charters have often failed to deliver on promises and siphoned crucial state aid dollars from their traditional counterparts.

State officials are sifting through the applications — some are voluminous — before they are placed on the state education department’s website, said Barry Landry, spokesman for the agency.

One proposal, called the Louisiana Key Academy, would be aimed at students with dyslexia.

“It is a need not being addressed,” said Dr. Laura Cassidy, president of the board seeking the charter and the wife of U. S. Rep. William Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge.

The law is part of a series of steps pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal, and backed by the Legislature earlier this year, designed to increase the number of charter schools statewide.

In the past direct appeals to BESE to open charter schools were rare, mostly because operators failed to win approval from a local school board.

“A lot of people were deterred,” Shirley said.

“Now there is an opportunity to go to an authorizer (BESE), which is seen as more friendly than not, more open-minded to charters,” she said.

Charter changes approved by state lawmakers earlier this year were part of Act 2, which is best known for setting up a statewide voucher system.

But the law also requires local school boards to use the same timelines, standards and common applications as BESE; eliminated a rule that most charter school teachers have to be certified and expands authority to approve charters to community groups, nonprofits and universities that win state approval.

In a prepared statement, BESE President Penny Dastugue praised the increase in applications.

“We look forward to accelerating this growth through this new process, which seeks to locate quality school operators to serve communities with the biggest educational needs,” Dastugue said.

BESE is set to decide on the applications in December.

Comments

1) Comment by iluvbtr - 21/08/2012

I havn't heard anything about how BESE will handle the issue of the "legacy costs" as charter schools expand. These costs include debts already incurred by the district, but not yet paid, such as the cost of providing mandated health benefits to retirees and the costs of prior construction and renovations to be paid in upcoming years. If charter schools don't contribute to the payment of these debts, the remaining debt will be heaped upon those remaining in the regular public schools. Could the debt associated with legacy costs potentially force school districts into bankruptcy?

2) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/08/2012

@LaneMosely: AIE, formerly Advance Baton Rouge (ABR), has a very highly paid leader, and yes, you are correct, she ran Advance Baton Rouge, a group started purportedly to help EBR schools. Instead, they decided to go into direct competition, spurred perhaps by the lure of power and money. In one instance ABR lied to the media and said that the EBR school system was involved in efforts to get $500 thousand from BP, and to her credit, the co- founder of ABR, Christel Slaughter, came and apologized to the EBR School Board. LSU's Dean of the College of Education was also caught in that lie. The schools taken over by ABR failed miserably, no matter how you evaluate them, and are being taken over, as you say, by the RSD. The same people who thought ABR was so wonderful will likely go with AIE, who is perhaps needing more money to pay their salaries. I have mentioned the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, who often acts as fiscal agent for many of these groups, is likely to also skim off a bit from this, but I cannot say that for sure. John Spain likely has his hands full with the New Schools for Baton Rouge "Non-profit" group, where he is the only officer. He was on the Board of ABR with Slaughter. As to the question you raise about 4th Sector Solutions, I would say that you need to look at all of the money going to third-party operators. Nothing in the Charter Law prevents so many conflict- of-interest from happening. Imagine having a checkbook on an account financed by the public, but without ANY scrutiny of your purchases. Perhaps that is going to far, but I doubt it. I don't necessarily see serving on AIE or ABR Boards and the Louisiana Charter School Association as being a conflict of interest. But, I am not sure the entire idea of "conflict of interest" is ever considered by BESE or the state, when it comes to the privatization. During the legislative hearings opening up Charters, we had all this discussion and language included about not letting charters cherry-pick students. Totally ignored by the administration. There was language about not having more than 20% of the members of a charter Board being from one family. Has anyone checked on this? There is virtually no oversight, and even prohibitions about who can serve on Boards is totally watered down. I mean, would you vote down a charter chaired by the wife of a sitting Congressman? I like Laura Cassidy, and she was a great Surgeon, but I hope you see my point. Would you, as a BESE Member, feel comfortable voting for the contract that paid your salary, even if a convoluted argument was made about how the contract was actually "signed" by superiors to that BESE Member? Chas Roemer's sister heads up the Louisiana Charter School Association, and for whatever reason that hasn't stopped her from testifying before BESE (as if that would even matter). SO, as many of us say, Follow the money!

3) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/08/2012

"Charters have open enrollment policies, and a school’s enrollment must reflect the at-risk population where a school is located." This statement is from the press release announcing this flurry of charter activity. I am trying to figure out how Avoyelles Public Charter (APC) School slipped past the "oversight" of BESE. APC has 51.5% of its students qualifying for free or reduced meal prices, while the two closest elementary schools have over 92%. Avoyelles Parish has "only" 81% of all students qualifying. Cottonport and Marksville ElementarySchools, the closest to the beautiful new school at APC, have an average of 9% Students with Disabilities, and an average of 34% white children, while APC has 2.5% of its students qualifying for special education services, and 73% of its students are white. Look over this and the schools in the comments below.... does it sound like the state is enforcing its own laws? Is BESE exempt from following the law? Anyone else see a pattern here? Why isn't ANY of this in The Advocate? Follow the money?

4) Comment by LaneMosley - 21/08/2012

Noel, I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the Advance Innovative Education / Advance Baton Rouge connection since AIE is listed as an applicant for Lanier Elementary. Wasn’t AIE’s CEO the Executive Director of ABR during the application and approval process for ALL of the current ABR charter schools – including Lanier Elementary (which, as you know, are still failing so badly that the state is revoking all of their charters)? Will the state release the charter applications to the public? I’d like to see how AIE’s application compares to the previous ABR application - because, if awarded, they will be using the same third party operator, 4th Sector Solutions (evidenced by the contact info in the letter of intent). When the going gets tough and failure continues, will another nonprofit shoot off from AIE allowing the CEO to run for the hills while someone else takes the fall (such as Hank Sheppard in the case of ABR)? Is it a conflict of interest that the CEO of AIE and its Board Chairman are both on the Board of Directors for the Louisiana Public Charter School Association? The names of the teams may keep changing, but the players are all the same in this losing game. Which leads us to BEG the question: HOW CAN WE KEEP LETTING THIS HAPPEN? Mr. Sentell, follow Noel's lead: do some research and expose this for what it is.

5) Comment by nimby? - 21/08/2012

schools need to leave the political arena and return to the business of educating , period ....

6) Comment by WhoCares - 21/08/2012

Noel throw BRHS into the magnetic empire. They are the death star of the east baton rouge schools system.

7) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/08/2012

To understand why local boards are understandably reticent to approve many charters, read http://tinyurl.com/charterscost2much if you dare.

8) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/08/2012

Almost forgot... Delhi Charter, the one I mentioned in a post below, also had a few "quirks" that made national, and international news. Right up until this up-coming year, young women at Delhi Charter who were suspected, yes, suspected of being pregnant were forced to undergo a pregnancy test at a doctor's office of the school's choosing, and if found to be pregnant, would not be allowed to continue her studies at the school while pregnant. Yep. Minor violation of Title IX laws, but apparently BESE wasn't doing anything about it, so the ACLU did. The policy has now changed. By the way, other public schools in Delhi had an average of over 13% of students qualifying for special education, while Delhi Charter had less than 5%. No discrimination here. Stop asking those pesky questions.

9) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/08/2012

"Charters have open enrollment policies, and a school’s enrollment must reflect the at-risk population where a school is located." This statement is from the press release announcing this flurry of charter activity. I am trying to figure out how Ben Franklin High School in New Orleans gets away with apparent discrimination, of a variety of sorts. (It has ALWAYS been legal that Magnet Schools, run by school boards for the purpose of desegregation could use criteria designed to make the magnet "attract" students of different races.) Open enrollment... at-risk must reflect the at-risk population where a school is located. Ben Franklin admits students based on test scores. Low-scoring applicants need not apply. And, apparently, low income students don't have much luck either. In the Orleans Parish School district 66.3% of students qualify for free meals, yet Ben Franklin has less than half of that, at 28.6%. Open enrollment? Wait, my bad, I just realized that you CAN discriminate using test scores, just NOT IQ scores. Orleans Parish School Board Schools are 74.2 % African-American, but Ben Franklin has only 29.7% African- American. OK... I get it. There are many more of these schools that don't seem to fit the quote from the Press Release above.

10) Comment by LawyerDan65 - 21/08/2012

If traditional opublic schools must accept all applicants, provide accomodations for any diability, use certified teachers, provide teachers retirement, then why are Charter schools, funded by the EXACT SAME TAX DOLLARS, exempted from all fo those fiscal mandates? How many Charter school successes have been incorporated into the general school law, so that all public school children can benefit

11) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/08/2012

"A charter school’s enrollment must reflect the at-risk population where the school is located." This is from the press release announcing these new applications. In fact, that quote was so important that they included it twice in the last paragraph of the press release. Now, here is Delhi Charter, chartered by BESE in Richland Parish. The regular public schools in Delhi, Louisiana have an average of over 90% of their students qualifying for free meals. Delhi Charter? Over the last four years has averaged around 45%, just under half. Ah, you say, but what about the whole parish of Richland? (Am I trying to put one over on you?) It is actually the public schools in a parish that you are compared to. In Richland Parish public schools the average % of students qualifying for free or reduced meal pricesas averaged 78% over the last four years. Oh wait, I'm sorry, I just reread the paragraphs in the state law specifically granting an exemption from this requirement to... Type 2 (BESE approved) schools in Richland Parish. Silly me. For further note, the regular public schools in Delhi are over 90% African-American while Delhi Charter is 83% white. OK. I get it now.

12) Comment by 8point6 - 21/08/2012

"Some local school board members see charter schools as a threat to traditional public schools." Ya think?! "Critics contend charters have often failed to deliver on promises and siphoned crucial state aid dollars from their traditional counterparts." And public schools have succeeded?! "crucial state aid dollars"....do you mean "taxpayer dollars"? For all my "progressive" friends, that was sarcasm.

13) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/08/2012

Anyone amused by the "non-profit" status claimed by many charter schools should ask to see the IRS Form 990s which have to be filled out by most non-profits. Check to see how much money is being paid to vendors and then visit the halls of the legislature when "charter bills" are being pushed. Thar's money in them thar charters, and lots of it! Also, a heck of a way to avoid those pesky "public bid laws" for construction, leasing, and a host of other services. And isn't it amazing that most of those pesky ethics laws don't apply to charter school boards getting millions of dollars from the taxpayers.

14) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/08/2012

The following IS NOT one of my longer pieces of writing. Instead, it is just ONE of the examples of what happens when BESE does not ask the tough questions. There are numerous examples of charter operators not paying off their employees and vendors, or legitimate costs to be paid to local districts. Capitol High School is another great example, where the RSD took over a school when the local charter group folded, leaving teachers unpaid. It is quoted directly from the state laws governing charters. Yes, all of this is actually in the state charter school law. Formatting is lost on The Advocate online, so my apologies. To find this in its original format, just google "Northwood Preparatory High School and CHARTER SCHOOL DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS LAW" and go to page 31. Enjoy! F.(1) The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, hereinafter referred to as the "board", shall develop and administer a process for consideration and settlement of claims by former employees of the Northwood Preparatory High School, a nonprofit corporation domiciled in Amite, Louisiana, hereinafter referred to as the "school", for earned but unpaid wages and benefits as the board deems appropriate, subject to the provisions of this Subsection and pursuant to the availability of funds as provided in Paragraph (4) of this Subsection. (2)(a) The board shall develop and administer a process for determining eligibility for settlement and payment of claims for unpaid wages and benefits by former employees of the school, as well as determining the amounts due each claimant and the execution of settlements with respect to claims. While the board shall establish the criteria for eligibility for settlement of a claim, at a minimum, a claimant shall have been employed by the school at the time of its closure and shall make a claim in accordance with the requirements of the board no later than July 30, 2003. Any former employee of the school who makes a claim for unpaid wages and benefits, who is determined by the board to be eligible for consideration for payment of unpaid wages and benefits shall execute a receipt, release, and waiver of any past, present, or future cause of action against the state and its departments, agencies, subdivisions, boards, and commissions, and the Tangipahoa Parish School Board with respect to earned but unpaid wages and benefits, hereinafter referred to as a "settlement agreement". Such settlement agreements shall contain a clause which provides that neither the state nor any of its departments, agencies, subdivisions, boards, and commissions, nor the Tangipahoa Parish School Board shall bear any liability to pay any compensation to a claimant unless the provisions of Subparagraphs (b) and (c) of this Paragraph are met: (b) After all settlements have been executed by the board with all claimants who made a valid claim by July 30, 2003, the board shall certify that a settlement has been effected with every person who was employed at the school at the time of its closure. (c) The cooperative endeavor agreement executed by the Louisiana Department of Education and the Tangipahoa Parish School Board on March 25, 2003, has been amended to extend the effective date of the contract through December 31, 2003, and to expand the purposes of the contract to include payments either in whole or in part to the former employees of the school who have entered into settlement agreements with the board. (3) The board shall complete its consideration and settlement of claims as provided herein no later than September 30, 2003. If the conditions of Subparagraphs (b) and (c) of Paragraph (2) are met, the board shall then transmit a copy of all settlement agreements not later than December 1, 2003, to the Tangipahoa Parish School Board for its use in determining the payments to be made to the former employees. (4) In the event the conditions of Subparagraphs (b) and (c) of Paragraph (2) and Paragraph (3) of this Subsection are met, the Tangipahoa Parish School Board shall make payments to satisfy the settlement agreements, to the extent that monies are available from the cooperative endeavor agreement with the State Department of Education, with the amount of each payment made at the discretion of the Tangipahoa Parish School Board based on monies available.

15) Comment by spqr - 21/08/2012

And here come the Jindal contributors and power brokers with political connections all in neat lines awaiting what was promised during the last campaign for governor. So many charter schools are performing so poorly maybe these new applicants can replace the old charter applicants. As for the former Caroline Roemer, her brother Chas supports charters she runs and much of the charter school money is in daddy's (Buddys) bank. This is such a joke. Louisiana should be annexed by Central America.

16) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/08/2012

To see how charters cost local local and state taxpayers more money, just google "Why charter schools do not save communities money" and check out what the media doesn't seem to want you to know about charter schools. There are some interesting articles there about the myth of charter school achievement there as well.

17) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/08/2012

"Of 70 school districts, 27 are rated D and F." Actually, the only two "districts" rated "F" both involve the state of Louisiana and its "Recovery School District." The Recovery School District itself is one, and St. Helena Parish public schools, where the state has taken over the Middle School, is the other. St. Helena Parish schools have the highest percentage of students qualifying for free meals in the state, and we all know (and reformers deny) that the underlying conditions of poverty have the greatest impact on student achievement. Didn't the state just go to court asking Judge Brady to prevent St. Helena from offering any choice to parents of Middle School Children in St. Helena? When, at the request of parents, St. Helena schools offered to open a 5th grade in their elementary schools (5th grade being included in the school take over by the Recovery School District) and suddenly the Federal Courts (perhaps at the request of the state?) cried foul, and so parents in St. Helena do not have any choice. They are forced by the state and the Federal Courts to remain in a school that, by the reformers' standards, is failing sadly.

18) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/08/2012

Caroline Roemer Shirley says that local districts can be "pretty hostile" environments. I guess that is true, if "hostile" is defined as asking questions. Most charter operators do not liking answering questions, hence the need to be able to go directly to BESE, I'll bet it makes it much easier for Charters, especially when so many members of that body have never asked any tough questions of charters. Caroline's brother, Chas, a member of BESE, doesn't believe that Charters should have to prove anything to anyone. They don't need certified teachers, or teachers who even have degrees in anything, in fact, I'm sure if he were in charge, they wouldn't even need to apply. Just start taking in money from the taxpayers with no strings attached.

19) Comment by vicwill - 21/08/2012

BESE sure has expanded its powers. So now a random charter group can seek approval to take over a school that may be a D or F school and improving on its own, without any input from the local elected school boards?

20) Comment by vicwill - 21/08/2012

And the war begins. All this is doing is spreading the funding for education out even more. BESE is now going to be selling the public schools out to the highest bidder now. How many of the charter schools in the BR area have actually succeeded in improving the schools? Folks want to talk about all of this competition stuff, but education should not be run as a business. And for the business people, what happens when you have a situation where you have an oversaturation of businesses offering the same services?