[NLA] Discussion: What are the implications of the Supreme Court Decision...

[KathleenBombach@aol.com]

Ref Charter Schools closing down or being shut down:

The first reason, I hear, is that the charter schools underestimated the challenge of keeping kids in school, and since their funding depends on Average Daily Attendance (ADA), they tooe in less money than they planned for, so they went under financially.

The second reason I hear is that they cannot meet the academic standards based on the state testing system.  The kids just don't do any better in a charter school, and occasionally do worse.

Texas charter schools are public schools. They must do outreach to all populations and must accept all applicant children in the order in which they apply, i.e., no screening out of challenging kids, no special recruitment of high achieving kids or discretion on which kids to accept. Stricly first come, first served. They must provide transportation just like the school districts, and they must fully accommodate any applicants with disabilities. They also must cover the mandated school curriculum, although they have considerable opportunity to use different instructional methods. Their students must take the same statewide exams and roughly must score as well as kids in the school districts. It was just this past year the state built up enough data to identify low performing charter schools.

So, at least in Texas, the grass is not always really greener on the other side.
Kathleen Bombach
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