Charter Schools

Imagine a group of teachers eager to get to work every morning, and a principal eager to see them because he chose them and enjoys working with them.Imagine students showing up enthusiastically because it's the school that they and their parents chose -- not one that some distant bureaucrat assigned.Imagine an elementary school in which the lights of curiosity don't flicker out in kids' eyes by the fifth grade. A school whose teachers believe passionately that even children from the most disadvantaged families can learn.

The Baltimore City school board voted Tuesday to pass the district's proposed $1.31 billion budget, which includes a decrease in the per-pupil funding for charter schools. As the amount spent on students in traditional schools increases, the system's 33 charter schools will see their per-pupil expenditures drop by $257 from 2012, for a total of $9,007. The overall amount for charters, however, has steadily increased as their populations grow. The charters are funded differently than traditional schools.

Students at Baltimore's charter schools tend to come from more advantaged backgrounds than their peers at regular city schools, according to a new report to be presented to the board of education Tuesday. The city's charter schools serve fewer special education students, over-age students who have repeated a grade, and students eligible for federally subsidized meals because of family poverty. Overall, they are also more racially diverse than traditional schools, attracting more whites and Latinos, though some that converted from neighborhood schools are almost entirely segregated.

Cori Dykman's story is typical of many parents whose children attend charter schools. Her math-whiz son, 11-year-old Andrew, wasn't being challenged at his elementary school. So she skipped Andrew a grade and, taking a leap of faith, enrolled him at a new charter school, Chesapeake Science Point in Hanover. Dykman and other parents said they saw Chesapeake Science Point - a school that focuses on math, science and technology, and is one of 14 charters that opened in Maryland last fall - as a promising alternative to traditional public schools.

Baltimore school officials recommended Thursday severing ties with independent operators of six schools after a months-long review of more than two dozen diverse programs. In a presentation to city school board members, district officials recommended granting three-and five-year contract extensions to all but three of the 18 charter schools seeking renewal: Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy Middle School, Baltimore Freedom Academy and Collington Square Elementary/Middle School. Bluford and Baltimore Freedom Academy would stay open for current students until the end of 2013-2014, admitting no new middle and high school students as officials weigh whether the schools would close altogether at the end of that year.

Using one of Baltimore's most successful charter schools as a backdrop, state schools Superintendent Nancy S, Grasmick announced yesterday that Maryland will receive an $18.2 million federal grant and much of it will be used to start charter schools. "We asked for $18.2 million and got every penny of it," Grasmick told an enthusiastic audience that included students and teachers at the Crossroads School, which is in Fells Point and run by Living Classrooms, a nonprofit group. Maryland is one of 10 states chosen to tap some of the $284 million in federal money set aside to nurture charter schools, which are public schools that operate independently under contracts with local school boards.

The small girl, her dark hair pulled back into a braid, stood behind the podium at the front of her school library. Although she was too short to reach the microphone, fifth-grader Ebony Acton welcomed the governor to her school in a loud, clear voice. "Thank you, Governor Ehrlich, for giving my family and others the freedom to choose where we want to go to school," said Ebony, who was dressed in a long khaki skirt and gray T-shirt that read "Class of 2013." Sitting on her left, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. smiled his approval.

The first comprehensive study of the nation's charter schools was published recently by the Center for Research and Educational Outcomes at Stanford University. The findings make it clear that students in traditional public schools do as well academically or surpass their charter school counterparts. According to the study of charter school students, 37 percent scored significantly lower in reading and math than similar students in traditional public schools; 46 percent were comparable to the local public schools; and 17 percent showed better results than students in the traditional schools.

Three charter school operators asked the Maryland Board of Education yesterday to resolve disagreements with Baltimore and Prince George's County school officials over how much autonomy and public money the independently run schools should receive. Arguing that the school systems are undermining the independent nature of public charter schools by giving them too little funding, lawyers for the charters asked the state board to determine how much money the schools are entitled to. "This is a statewide issue that requires a statewide answer," said Will DuBois, an attorney for City Neighbors Charter School in Northeast Baltimore.

Three organizations have told Anne Arundel County school officials they want to open charter schools in the county, triggering the first stages of a process that could end up giving the groups access to public funds. The groups include KIPP, an organization with 38 schools nationwide including in Baltimore and Washington; Chesapeake Lighthouse Foundation, a group of local educators looking to open a middle- and high school science and technology program; and an organization calling itself Light Public Charter School.