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(Elie Jbrtkroit (Observer-------
Focus
C h a r te r
June 9, 1999
Page 5
S c h o o ls
Through Charter Schools
trarily, and the charter school has
the right to appeal the decisions of
its sponsor to the state board or to
the circuit court.
O nce o p era tin g , th e c h a rte r
school receives funding from the
district for each student it serves.
The state gives each district addi-
’ tional revenue beyond the local
property tax so that every district
has the same am ount of funding per
pupil after adjustm ents for the num
ber of kids with special needs and
the average age of their teachers.
T he statute requires that the char
ter school and the district negotiate
the am ount the charter school will
be paid but for elem entary and
middle schools, this am ount may
not be less than 80% of the district’s
general purpose grant per pupil
(around $3800 per student) or for
high schools, 95% of the district per
pupil funding (about $4500). If the
state board charters the school, the
district must pay the charter school
at least 95% for any grade level.
Districts retain responsibility for
special education students attend
ing charter schools and for most of
the transportation needs of students.
The statute does not require a dis
trict to provide any facilities, ser
vices, or equipm ent to a public char
ter school. Building costs a re n ’t
funded out of the general fund bud
get of districts, and the operating
funds the charter school receives
must be used to furnish building,
equipm ent and other special costs.
R e n tin g space ty p ic a lly
costs schools from $600 to
$1,000 per pupil. O ne time
start-up costs for a new pub
lic charter school are often
around $100,000.
T here will be help for
new charter school develop
m ent. T he sta tu te estab
lished a charter school de
velopment fund for the fed
eral funds the state may re
ceive under a possible fed
eral grant. C harter schools
serving at-risk youth are to
be given priority. Congress
and the President want to
encourage charter schools,
an d C o n g ress a llo c a te d
$100 m illion for ch a rter
school grants. Strangely,
Oregon received a grant in
the past even without a char
for student learning.
Richard M einhard, Ph D. is the
President of the C enter for Educa-
tional Change. He can be contacted
by phone at 503/234-4600 or email
atedcenter@ teleport.com
PICA
GOING
ter law.
Public charter schools
create a new form of public
school accountable not only
to the ideals of public edu
cation but to the parents it
must serve. T he legislature
has put in place a non-coer-
cive law which could have a
powerful effect on the fu
ture of reform as charter
scho o ls d ev e lo p a new
model of self-governing and
self-reforming schools that
re focused on and rewarded
• Improve pupil learning.
• Encourage the use of different and innovative
learning methods.
• Increase choice of learning opportunities for pupils.
• Establish a new form of accountability for schools.
• Require the measurement of learning outcomes
and create innovative measurement tools.
• Make schools the unit for reform.
• Create new professional opportunities for teachers,
including the opportunity to own the learn
ing program at the school site.
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