Converting
the School District of the City of York to 100% Charter Schools
Frequently
Asked Questions and Answers
Based on YorkCounts research and
understanding of the laws and regulations under which charter schools operate in Pennsylvania
What’s the difference between charter schools and other public schools?
Ø Charter schools are
public schools of choice. Parents or
guardians choose to send their child to a charter school in place of their
district-assigned school.
Ø Like traditional public
schools, charter schools are free to all students.
Ø Charter schools must
meet educational achievement goals and basic education requirements set by the
Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Ø Typically, charters offer innovative teaching methods
or specialized education that distinguish them from traditional schools.
Ø Currently, charter
schools do not have to accept every student that lives in the district but in a
100% charter school model, every student will be accepted.
Ø Special education students must also be served by the
charter schools, which have the option to contract with the local Intermediate
Unit to provide those services.
Ø At least 75% of the professional staff members of a
charter school must hold appropriate State certification.
Ø All charter school employees are enrolled in the
Public Employees Retirement System and must be provided the same health care
benefits as employees of the school district. Each charter school board of advisors
determines salary levels of teachers and staff.
Ø Charter school students take the same state
standardized tests as traditional public school students and are required to
report the results to the School District and Pennsylvania Department of
Education.
How
are charter schools funded?
Ø Charter schools are paid a per pupil rate that is calculated
by a funding formula established by the Pennsylvania Department of
Education. These funds come from local
real estate taxes, State basic education funding and Federal funding.
Ø Charter schools can be non-profit or for-profit organizations. The York County Community Foundation recommends
non-profit charters are selected so any earnings are invested back into the
school.
How
are charter schools performing?
Ø While local charters are not performing as well as
others around the country, there are many examples of high-performing nonprofit
charter schools operating throughout Pennsylvania and in other states. These
charters have demonstrated that students with economic challenges equal to York
City students can outperform their peers on state test scores.
Ø The School District develops standards for charters
and issues a request for proposals that attracts the best charter operators to
York to serve students. Up to this
point, the School District has only responded to applications for charters from
local educators.
Ø The same charter operator could be selected for one or
more of the 7 schools in the district.
Ø Our recommendation is that students could choose to
attend any school in the City and not be restricted by neighborhood boundaries. Parents would be responsible for
transportation or public transportation could be used if they chose to attend a
school in a different neighborhood.
Ø Charter operators would be selected based on their
ability to adhere to the best practices for successful schools including those
described in our report A New EducationModel for York.
What happens to the Teachers, Administration
and School Board in the 100% Charter model?
Ø All teachers, principals and administrative staff
could apply for positions in the charter schools or submit an application to
operate a charter school.
Ø There would be a need for district administrative
staff to develop the district’s budget, guide the district in establishing the
requirements for charters, evaluating and selecting charter schools and
monitoring their performance, and reporting results to the Department of
Education.
Ø By law, the elected School Board for the district
would continue to exist and be responsible for governance of the district
including establishing the requirements for charters, evaluating and selecting
charter schools and monitoring their performance. It would also have the authority to levy and
collect school taxes and approve the district’s budget.
Ø Each charter school would have its own Board of
Advisors that can consist of parents and community volunteers from within or
outside of the district. This Board
would oversee all of the operations of the school.
Ø Each charter school would have a head of school or
principal who is responsible for operations, implementing curriculum,
recruiting students and hiring and firing of staff. The head of school reports to the charter
school’s board of advisors.
What
are the critical components of the York County Community Foundation’s
YorkCounts proposal?
Ø The District would institute the Communities in School
Model which provides a service coordinator at each school to bring in the
highest quality services for students and links students with programs that
best meet their needs. The aim is to
provide coordinated access to the services that children may need to help them meet
their academic, social and developmental goals.
(http://www.cis-pa.org/)
Ø The Pennsylvania Department of Education would strengthen
the ability of the School District to revoke a charter if it was not meeting academic and financial performance
standards.
For more information about the Pennsylvania Charter School Law go here.
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