Parents upset with the pace of the Baltimore school system's fledgling policy for opening charter schools have enlisted the support of a significant ally: the Baltimore City Council.
At tonight's council meeting, Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. is scheduled to introduce a resolution inviting schools chief Bonnie S. Copeland to explain how she is implementing the school board's November decision to allow its first wave of charter schools to open in the fall.
The request for the hearing with Copeland coincides with a planned rally outside City Hall at 4 p.m. today by parents and charter school advocates who have grown frustrated by what they say is the school system's unwillingness to provide them with a realistic contract and level of funding.
FOR THE RECORD - An article in Monday's editions about charter schools in Baltimore incorrectly identified the location of Northwood Appold Community Academy. The planned charter school is in Northeast Baltimore.
The Sun regrets the errors.
Under a two-year-old Maryland law, charter schools are financed with taxpayer money but have greater autonomy than traditional public schools.
The city school board has given five groups - including parent and community groups, a church and a college - approval to start charter schools and has authorized a few public schools to convert to charters.
"One of the most pressing questions is, `Why is it taking so long for the school board to act?' and the second question is, `How will their inaction affect the start of the school year in September?'" Mitchell said. "It's unfair to have gotten everyone's hopes so high last fall and now to have the air in their bubble slowly being released."
City Council members' interest in charter schools comes during a budget season in which city government has increased its control over schools and heightened tensions between City Hall and the school administration. The council also will begin tonight to consider Mayor Martin O'Malley's budget plan, opposed by the schools chief, to control millions of dollars slated for school construction projects next year.
School officials said they have not been able to conclude contract negotiations with charter operators because the state law is vague and has been untested until now.
"Some of the things that are holding up the contract have to do with interpretation," said David Stone, the administrator who oversees charter schools for the system.
Charter groups say the amount of money they stand to receive from the school system would prevent them from being innovative - and effectively violate the spirit of charter schools.
