Group ranks Louisiana No. 6 in strength of charter schools

In 2010, Louisiana was listed as having the ninth-best charter school law in the nation.

Louisiana ranks sixth in the nation in the strength of its charter school laws, a group that calls itself the leading advocacy organization for the schools said.

The findings are included in a report set for release on Tuesday by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

“Louisiana overhauled its law in several areas, resulting in a large jump in the ranks from 13th to 6th,” Todd Ziebarth, vice president for state advocacy and support with the group, said in a prepared statement.

Charter schools, which are legal in 43 states, are public schools run by nongovernmental boards.

They are supposed to offer innovative alternatives to traditional public schools.

The state has 104 such schools with about 45,000 students in 15 parishes, including East Baton Rouge. New Orleans has one of the largest presences of charter schools in the nation.

Applications for new charters shot up by five times last year over 2011, mostly because of a new state law aimed at helping Louisiana’s lowest-performing districts.

The law was one of a series of steps pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal, and backed by the Legislature last year, designed to increase the number of charter schools.

Among other things, new laws require local boards to use the same timelines, standards and common applications as Louisiana’s top school board; eliminated a rule that most charter school teachers have to be certified and expands the authority to approve charters to community groups, nonprofits and universities that win state approval.

Backers contend that charter schools are an alternative to failing public classrooms.

Last year 36 percent of the state’s roughly 1,300 public schools were rated “D” and “F” for school performance.

Opponents contend the charter schools have failed to provide promised breakthroughs in improved student achievement.

They also say the schools have siphoned money from traditional public schools amid four consecutive years of freezes in state aid.

Minnesota is rated as the state with the strongest charter school laws in the nation.

Mississippi is listed as last, or 43rd nationally.

The rankings are based on 20 topics that the group considers vital to establishing laws that promote quality charter schools, including accountability, funding and whether the state has a cap on growth.

The group has issued its rankings for four years.

In 2010, Louisiana was listed as having the ninth-best charter school law in the nation. But 19 months later state education leaders said key changes were needed to improve oversight.

Those changes followed the state’s revocation of the charter for Abramson Science and Technology School in New Orleans amid allegations of sexual abuse and other problems.

Comments

1) Comment by teacherguy - 01/29/2013

I'm telling you all...listen to me clearly...the legislative body has realized what they have done with the reforms has been a load of hockey pucks...these press releases are LDOE damage control b/c the arguments in the courts are proving these reforms were not well thought out/planned. My fear is these charters are going to redirect the cash from the public school systems to charters that will "give it a go" for 3 years, make some money for the mother companies...and then close up shop. The public school systems in these legislators' districts will have been starved to bankruptcy...and they are going to have to figure out how to start up those public schools again. What guilt these legislators will have on their hands when they realize they THOUGHT LA's ed system was bad/failing...only to find out...well prepared teachers have been working miracles with the raw materials (students) the general public has been sending them. What guilt they will face when charters don't live up to the hype (laws making them easier to open does not mean LA charter schools perform 6th in the nation) and they have bankrupted the local public schools?

2) Comment by crabby - 01/29/2013

Don't forget . . . the seemingly unethical rules Boobie put in place let public tax dollars go to "religious" charter schools. The idiots that run this state were fine with that until it was pointed out to them that we have non-christian religious schools. You go, Islamic School of Greater New Orleans, get you some voucher dollars.

3) Comment by 1ryben - 01/29/2013

A degree a d certification are different things given by different groups. The University confers the degree while the Dpt. of Ed. handles certification. One can have a law degree but not licensed to practice law. It's similar I guess. As for why LDOE doesn't require teachers to be certified? Easy. You can pay uncertified teachers less. Therefore, increasing profits for the charter schools. Non-profit you say? Have you seen the salaries for some of these charter operators? Another reason for uncertified teachers? Well, none of the leaders in LDOE are teachers. Anyone can take a short training course to be test preppers.

4) Comment by foldgers - 01/29/2013

Well, so, a person gets an education degree and is NOT qualified to teach? If I remember correctly, while in college, they also sort of "intern" at random schools and classes. Watching the teacher and sometimes helping out or even teaching themselves to get practice. I thought all this was done while they were in school. I find it weird that after they get a degree, they are not "certified." I would think that would be included with the degree. To me, that states that the degree is NOT good enough to teach my kids or anyone else's. Why don't they extend the education degree by a year or so and that last year is all about getting certified. That way, EVERY teacher in La would be certified and do a better job at teaching, right? Besides that, I find it amazing that they would take that out of the law that charter school teachers do NOT have to be certified. But, heck, what do I know?

5) Comment by bluelotus63 - 01/29/2013

I am also dissappointed by the misleading nature of the title of this article because it perpetuates the inaccurate idea sold by the Jindal administration to the general public that Louisina charter schools are very successful overall . This headline implies Louisiana charter schools were rated as 6th in the nation, while in actuality it is the laws that are being praised by a biased charter organization.

6) Comment by WestCoast - 01/29/2013

"Some charter schools get high test scores, some get low scores. They do not get better than public schools." - Diane Ravitch LILA13 Just want to throw that here.

7) Comment by SuzanneMS - 01/29/2013

Why am I not in the least surprised to see Sentell's byline on this blatantly biased and distorted story? The headline itself is deliberately misleading. "A group that calls itself the leading advocacy organization for the schools" is hardly an unbiased, objective source. And what do they base their ranking on? Student achievement? Graduation rates? College admissions of graduating students? Nope. They base it on laws that make it easier to open and operate charter schools. "The rankings are based on 20 topics that the group considers vital to establishing laws that promote quality charter schools, including accountability, funding and whether the state has a cap on growth." Where are the ratings of the charter schools last year, Will? Why don't you include those?

8) Comment by morellok2 - 01/29/2013

Ahh, the point we must see in this piece is "eliminated a rule that most charter school teachers have to be certified". Be very careful with this. Certified teachers show that they intend to make teaching their career rather than a 2-3 year way to build their resume before getting a "real" job. There is absolutely no way to become a great teacher in under 5 years in the classroom-it takes that long to hone the skills and develop the resources you will use for teaching all children.