Group lauds La. charter schools

Louisiana won high marks Tuesday from a charter school advocacy group, including the state’s lack of any cap on the number of charter schools and the transparency of its application and review process.

The state was rated weakest in extracurricular and interscholastic activities for charter school students, student recruitment and access to capital funds, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

Louisiana is rated sixth in the nation for what the group called the strength of its charter school laws, up from 13th last year.

The schools operate in 43 states.

Charter schools are public schools run by nongovernmental boards.

The state has 104 of the schools used by about 45,000 students in 15 parishes, including East Baton Rouge.

The group rates state laws in 20 categories, gives a rating and weight in each and a total score.

State laws were given 151 out of 228 points, up from 119 last year.

Other categories where the state got high marks were the variety of charter schools offered; automatic exemptions from some state and school district laws; and adequate funding for authorizers.

Officials of the group contend that such measures are needed to make the schools innovative alternatives to traditional public schools, as backers claim.

Charter school critics say the schools generally have failed to deliver on those promises.

State Superintendent of Education John White said Tuesday he was not aware of any glaring need for additional charter school laws during the 2013 regular legislative session, which begins April 8.

Caroline Roemer, president of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, made the same comment.

White cited figures that show, between 2010-11 and 2011-12, charter schools grew at a rate faster than all schools in the state in their annual performance scores.

Figures from the state Department of Education show that the percentage of charter schools meeting annual improvement targets during the same two years was 41.6 percent compared with 37.7 percent for all schools.

Nina Rees, president and chief executive officer of the group, said while solid state laws are the first step in paving the way for quality charter schools, future reports will focus on quality and innovation.

Comments

1) Comment by crazycajun - 30/01/2013

I don't know what peeves me more. Jindal thinking the public is so stupid as to believe this or jindal period. You don't have to go past the first sentence to read the point. Knowing jindal as well as I do, any facts provided have been faked.

2) Comment by Whatchange - 30/01/2013

I don't believe y'all read the article at all and are commenting just to comment

3) Comment by SuzanneMS - 30/01/2013

You said it, spqr. As long as Will Sentell is the education reporter, we'll get biased, distorted and incomplete information. Why is this being reported again this week? Are we supposed to believe that these are two different reports from two different groups? This is just a rephrasing of the same information presented yesterday. This ranking is nothing but a rating of how easy it is to set up and run charter schools with state funds but without state oversight. Where are the ratings of the academic quality of these charter schools? Why is there no follow up on the repeated statement, "Charter school critics say the schools generally have failed to deliver on those promises?" Oh -- right -- because it was written by Will Sentell, who is in White's pocket.

4) Comment by spqr - 30/01/2013

Let us continue the charter school report card...D- for having 47 New Orleans charter schools with grades of D or F last year...F for the continued promotion of these schools despite NO and BR charter schools ranking, as a group, the lowest in the state. F for BESE's Chas Roemer promoting said schools while his sister runs a charter Talk about conflict of interest. F for the revolving door of teachers who leave charters so often students need a daily program of faculty who leave constantly. F for the state allowing charters this time of year to select weak students and remove them prior to standardized testing later this semester. It is routine and those "expelled" students return to regular public schools who have no such option. F for the media being too lazy to seek such expelled students and asking them the sad and true story of the utter failures of charter schools. It would make a good story and the Advocate will never allow it. F for the sheer lack of transparency. A for the continued charter school propaganda allowed due to the efforts of the powerful folks running this state.