Illinois is one of 40 states that allow charter schools, but it’s also one of 19 states that put a cap on the number of charter schools allowed. That’s a perfect example of an eek-that’s-enough! approach to education reform in the state.
The state needs to lift the cap … and do much more to help charter schools to flourish.
Three steps in particular would promote charters, and have the added benefit of making Illinois a more likely winner in the second round of funding for President Barack Obama’s Race to the Top initiative.
The steps:
•Change how charter schools can be authorized.
Local school boards have almost exclusive power to permit charter schools. Many local boards reject charters because they think the school will siphon money from traditional schools or reduce the board’s authority. The State Board of Education can override a local board, but that has happened only once.
Illinois needs alternative ways to get charter schools approved. That could be a state commission, as Georgia has done. It could mean giving authority to local colleges or other community institutions. But with a June 1 deadline looming for second-round Race to the Top applications, lawmakers haven’t done squat about charters. Without some movement, Illinois may fritter away a shot at hundreds of millions of federal dollars.
•Give them the same bucks as traditional schools.
Under Illinois law, school boards can provide a charter school with as little as 75 percent of the per pupil funding that goes to a traditional public school.
Other states have done a far better job funding their charters. “The vast majority are between 95 percent and 100 percent,” said Andrew Broy, president of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. The trend in most states is for charter authorizers to keep 2 percent to 3 percent of education dollars to cover administrative costs and turn the rest over to the charter operator. That includes money to cover facilities and maintenance, not just tuition.
“So Illinois kind of doubles down on inequity,” Broy said.
This keeps some of the best charter operators in the country, such as KIPP, the Knowledge is Power Program, from investing more heavily in the state, Broy said. There’s one KIPP school in Illinois; a second will open this summer. Houston has 16 KIPP schools. Los Angeles has five; New York has seven.
The law needs to be rewritten to ensure that charters get at least 95 percent of the total operational dollars per pupil that districts provide to traditional public schools. Districts can use the rest to cover administrative costs.
•Help charters pay for their school facilities. Charters often have to pay for rent out of their classroom funding. Given the state’s dire financial straits, it’s unlikely the legislature will find extra dollars for charter school facilities. But that should be the goal. In the meantime, state and local government, and businesses interested in education reform, should help charters find and finance their school buildings.
There are some exceptional charter schools in Illinois. We see success stories like Englewood’s Urban Prep Academy: All 107 seniors in its first graduating class have been admitted to college. Only four percent of the seniors could read at grade level when they entered the school as freshmen.
We need more schools like that in Illinois. Reforming charter school law will help the state’s Race to the Top application. More important, it will help ensure that our kids receive the best education possible.
