The Campbell Reporter
News
Charter school fans, opponents have heated discussion at forum
By Eli Segall
Bundled into a room at the Santa Clara County Office of Education, supporters and opponents of charter schools came to discuss and analyzed facts and figures. But in the end, most were there to mainly speak their minds.
State Sen. Joe Simitian, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on California's Master Plan for Education, sponsored the Oct. 19 open forum on California's charter schools. The event brought together a host of teachers, administrators and parents who addressed one of the state contentious issues. It's an issue that hits home in Silicon Valley.
Santa Clara County is home to 20 charter schools; statewide, there are 600 charters that serve elementary, middle and high school students. There are 16 charter schools in San Jose including the successful Downtown Prep, which is part of the San Jose Unified School District.
Another example of charter success can be found in the Cambrian School District, which draws students from Campbell and Cambrian areas of San Jose. The district converted its three elementary schools--Fammatre, Farnham and Sartorette--to charter status along with its middle school Ida Price, because former superintendent Barry Groves saw it as an innovative way to retain students and stabilize enrollment.
In Campbell, Leadership Public School, a 9-12 charter school, also opened this fall as part of Campbell Union High School District, and a second school, South Bay Prep, is seeking approval. In both cases the schools' charter applications were appealed after the district denied them. Leadership Public School was approved on appeal by the Santa Clara County Board of Education, illustrating districts' reluctance to approve any school outside the mainstream of education.
At the forum, waves of passionate education advocates weighed in on the issue. Proponents argued that: students fare exceptionally well in charter schools, often better than non-charter counterparts; opponents maintained that charter schools have no oversight, and worse yet, take sorely needed funds from school districts.
Andrew Goldenkranz, principal of Pacific Collegiate School in Santa Cruz, said his charter has a 100 percent graduation rate and a 100 percent acceptance rate into a four-year college or university. The school also works with significantly less money per student than traditional public schools, he said.
Charters rely heavily on fundraising and receive only a slice of public monies given to traditional public schools.
But it was student funding that hit a nerve with the anti-charter bloc. Forum participants estimated that between $5,000 and $6,000 in public funds goes out the door with each child who leaves a traditional school for a charter.
Karen Edmonds, principal of Santa Cruz High School, took a swipe at Goldenkranz on this issue.
"I can't help but think that all those kids Mr. Goldenkranz mentioned should have been my kids," she said.
Some present at the debate were turned off by the occasional overtly negative tone of the discussions.
"These kids are not just a bunch of apples that we're putting into crates," said April Lussier, a charter schools advocate.
The alternative public schools were created with the Charter Schools Act of 1992, a state bill. Each charter must negotiate its school structure and mission with a nearby local or county school board. Although these schools receive fewer public funds, charter schools are subject to fewer state restrictions. Charters design their own curriculum, may easily expand school day hours and often have mandatory community service requirements for parents.
