Wells will push again for charter schools in W.Va.
Ry Rivard
Charleston Daily Mail
August 24, 2009
CHARLESTON — State Sen. Erik Wells plans to reintroduce legislation to allow charter schools in West Virginia.
West Virginia is now one of only 10 states in the country that don't allow charter schools, which are private-style public schools.
Supporters of charter schools say the change will allow more nimble schools and create a sort of open market for education. They also say that by allowing charter schools the state may stand a better chance of attracting tens of millions of federal dollars.
Critics are wary that charter schools will take resources away from public education and point to a recent study that shows, on whole, students in charter schools are not faring as well as students in traditional public schools
The charter school bill that Wells, D-Kanawha, sponsored earlier this year during the regular legislative session didn't make it out of committee for a vote by the whole Senate, but he expects to have more success next year given how "receptive" senators were.
He is less sure of how it will do in the House, where several pieces of education legislation were bogged down.
The bill that Wells sponsored would have given the state Board of Education power to allow individuals or groups to start their own public schools. The schools could not be profit-making enterprises or religious and they would still be under state control and have to comply with state and federal anti-discrimination legislation.
But they would not have to follow state laws that set the school calendar, the programs of study or instruction goals and methods.
The schools also would not have to follow some of the personnel laws related to hiring, firing and seniority.
"Charter schools will provide a break from the bureaucracy that at times bogs down the daily task of our classroom teachers," Well said.
Tim McClung, who focuses on public topics for Create West Virginia, also advocates such legislation.
"The existing system works for some percentage of the kids," he said. "There's also a lot of kids out there that are tuning out and dropping out, and what I'm suggesting with charter school legislation is we might be able to create new -- and I mean fundamentally new -- schools that would keep those kids interested in learning."
McClung said charter schools would allow schools to try new methods of education and end the central planning that has created a one-size-fits-all school system.
"It's not about creating more apples, it's about creating oranges," he said.
Some of the money for charter schools would come via the formula used by the state to fund public schools. That is, when students left a non-charter school to go to a charter school, the public money that would have gone to their regular education would follow them to the charter schools.
West Virginia spends $9,611 per student, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, although that figure includes federal money.
This eventually could provide students with multiple schools in their district to choose among. One might focus on, say, technology and another on arts.
Critics say this also could siphon money away from regular public education and duplicate resources. Charter schools elsewhere do not have to bus students, though some do or arrange for students to use public transportation.
Dale Lee, the president of the West Virginia Education Association, doesn't think charter schools are the way to go.
He said the state hasn't even had time to see how an "innovation zones" law it just passed would work.
The zones are a pilot project that will allow 10 or so schools around the state to receive exemptions from state education laws and policies to get greater control over things like curriculum, personnel and duration of the school day and school year.
The law also allows a state college or university to create its own innovation zone school -- which could end up being virtually the same as a charter school -- though the schools cannot use money from the public school funding formula.
Lee said these zones should be tried before the state tries charter schools.
"To me that's not putting much faith in their innovation zones bill," he said. "That's part of the problem with education now, you throw one idea after another without letting the first idea have a chance to work."
Lee also cited a recent study that shows charter schools are in some cases not performing as well as traditional public schools.
The study, from the Center for Education Outcomes at Sanford University, found that while 17 percent of charter schools reported academic gains that were significantly better than traditional public schools, 37 percent of charter schools showed gains that were worse than their traditional public school counterparts and 46 percent showed no significant difference.
Wells said charter schools would give educators more control over schools than innovation zones and the state needs to try whatever it can to improve public education.
"Charter schools will provide teachers with greater control over their classrooms than innovation zones will, because innovation zones are still controlled through the same bureaucracy that we have today," he said.
He added, "We fail when we are afraid to try new things, and now is the time where we need to take those steps to improve public education, and I think the people of West Virginia, the classroom teachers of our state and, more importantly, the students in the classrooms, will all benefit through the creation of charter school legislation."
There is also some debate over whether or not innovation zones alone will be enough to please the Obama administration and qualify the state for tens of millions of dollars in federal education grants.
The money, part of a $4 billion "race to the top" fund, will be given to states for trying new things to improve education. President Barack Obama and U.S. Education Department Secretary Arne Duncan have made clear that one of those things is charter schools.
"It's going to very competitive, and I don't see the Obama administration giving money to states just to appease states," Wells said. "They're going to give money to those states that have a serious commitment to improving public education through innovative ways, and that includes not just innovation zones but charter schools."