Md., Va. resist charter schools, despite federal push
By: Leah Fabel
Examiner Staff Writer
June 26, 2009
A groundswell of federal support for an expansion of charter schools likely will not be enough to overcome resistance in Maryland and Virginia.
Charter schools in the Washington metro area
Number of operating charter schools:
D.C.: 93
Md.: 34
Va.: 4
Year charter law was passed:
D.C.: 1996
Md.: 2003
Va.: 1998
Score (out of 55) and rank (out of 41) of strength of charter school law:
D.C.: Score - 47; Rank - 1
Md.: Score - 14; Rank - 32
Va.: Score - 8; Rank - 39
(Data and scores compiled by the Center for Education Reform, Ranking and Scorecard 2009)
Charters, intended to be publicly funded schools independent of school districts and teachers unions, traditionally have been a Republican-backed issue. In recent months, however, they have received support from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and other Democrats who see them as an innovative option for struggling districts.
Duncan has warned states that hamstringing charters by capping numbers or providing fewer per-pupil dollars than traditional schools is to put at risk millions in stimulus funding.
Charter advocates in Maryland and Virginia worry, however, that federal overtures will be repelled by state laws that provide a narrow-enough avenue for the existence of charters to keep U.S. education officials at bay, but too narrow for significant growth. Without growth, proponents say charters can’t accomplish their underlying purpose: To provide healthy competition to regular public schools.
The states’ laws are written so that potential charters must apply to local school boards for permission to operate. Because that would mean a loss of students — and per-pupil funds — from the district, charter advocates cry conflict of interest. Both states also bind charter school teachers to local union contracts, the result of legislative compromises to gain union support.
Because of that, charters “can’t do innovative things like schedule longer school days, even if their teachers have volunteered for that,” said Dave Miller, director of the Maryland Charter School Network. “That’s where we see the biggest roadblock,” he said, adding that his organization isn’t opposed to unions, but wants more flexibility to work within them.
In Virginia, changes to the charter law during the past legislative session lifted the cap on the number and size of schools.
Don Soifer, an education policy analyst for the Lexington Institute and an member of the District’s Public Charter School Board, called those changes significant, but said more needed to be done if Virginia was to become attractive to charters, like the vaunted KIPP Academies. The Knowledge is Power Program runs several of the highest-performing schools in the charter-friendly District.
“There are clauses in Virginia’s law that say that the local school board can close the charter at any time. That’s really intimidating to an organization that just spent millions of dollars to convert an old warehouse into a school campus,” Soifer said.
