INC NEWS - Charter Schools -- what I know...

[Melissa Rooney]

Unlike Private Schools, because Charter schools
receive money from the state, Kestrel Heights does not
charge any tuition. Since they do not get Durham
money, building the school did/does not cost Durham
taxpayers.

I'm not sure exactly how the financing for Kestrel's
building is structured, but I do know they are
associated with a group called Imagine Schools. I
believe Imagine actually funded the building of the
school and then  Kestrel "leases" the building back
from Imagine, as a lease is an operating expense that
is permitted from the per pupil allocation. There 
may be some other administrative services that Imagine
provides too. This is not an uncommon financing
structure for a charter school as facilities 
are one of the largest challenges charter schools
face.  I'm sure I could find out more if that info is
needed.

Now I believe Imagine is a "for profit" company and
some people are horrified by that.  However the school
is not "for profit" and is dedicated to providing a
great education to kids.  It's really no different
than DPS outsourcing some of the services it needs to
companies that are "for profit":  If you think of it,
DPS pays interest on the bonds they use to finance
schools and the holders of the bonds make a profit on
the loan of their money.  Same thing really happens
between Kestrel and Imagine -- its just on the school
level instead of being lost in the government cloud.

In any case, one of the key controls with charters is
that parents vote with their feet -- if the charter
school isn't providing a good education that meets a
child's needs then parents will withdraw kids and the
school will close.

Because charter schools do need to pay facilities
costs out of their operating allocation, they
generally have to run pretty efficiently. For instance
Kestrel doesn't have a cafeteria and the kids eat
either in classrooms or outside when it is nice.  
They do cater in a hot lunch for those that want it
but not having to dedicate space to a cafeteria
reduces costs.  I actually find not having a cafeteria
to be an advantage as the 
cafeterias in most schools are too small forcing kids
to eat in shifts with some kids having either
outrageously early or late lunchtimes (my KG daughter
eats lunch at 10:40 AM).  

I could see how DPS might have a burr under their
saddle over charter schools because it drains money
from their coffers, but I think the competition is
good for them and might serve to make the school
system strive to be better. More importantly, our
schools are currently overcrowded and charter schools
are an option that help accommodate the increasing
student demand without taxpayers having to pay for the
buildings.

Cheers,
Melissa



--- RW Pickle <randy at 27beverly.com> wrote:

> Is there anyone on this list that tell us the
> difference between these?
> Such as State educational requirements, per pupil
> funding provided by the
> State (to charter school children), and how it is
> possible for charter
> schools to build buildings without charging more for
> children (or that
> they do; like private schools do). Maybe even the
> difference between
> charter, private, and public. I guess kids who
> attend private schools also
> get the State funding sent to that school.
> 
> I have no kids, so I missed out on all this
> new-fangled educational
> process. It seems (to me) that these charter schools
> are just a drain on
> funding for our public schools and if things need to
> change there, we as
> taxpayers will be called on to meet that burden.
> Charter schools will just
> close as some have. I can understand that there may
> be some overcrowding
> from time-to-time in our current schools, but growth
> (of children in
> numbers) is a hard thing to plan. And unless someone
> is keeping an eye on
> it (like Melissa says, where will her kids go in 5th
> grade if preschool is
> already this crowded), it could get really out of
> hand in a hurry. I know
> developers never estimate how many children will
> impact a school when they
> do development. And I doubt anyone else can predict
> that as well. My
> street over here once had 52 school-age children on
> it. Today that number
> is 10. And of those 10, 2 attend a charter school, 1
> attends a private
> school, and the rest go to public schools. But
> that's a big difference
> from the 52 who were once here and that must really
> mess up planning for
> someone.
> 
> Because we live in a different world today than when
> I was growing up, it
> seems our society has become so transient. Given
> several large company
> moves from our region, the entire population base
> that we plan for could
> move as well. I think about the declining cities in
> the north; they could
> use more students. Here, our economy is good, so we
> get more residents
> (and their kids). It must be a hard thing to plan
> since building schools
> are not something that is done overnight. I guess
> that is why we've turned
> to trailers as a temporary solution. The kid
> population could change one
> way or the other from year-to-year depending on
> where the parents are in
> their lives.
> 
> RWP
> 27 Beverly
> 
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