Fast Track a Narrow Lane



Small is the gate and narrow the road...and only a few shall find it



As expected the State Board of Education approved the new "fast track" charter approval policy at its September 1st meeting.  The Raleigh News & Observer reported on that development here.   While the new policy is fine as far as it goes, don't expect to see new charter schools popping up like Starbucks in the nineties.  The new policy may create a straight and narrow path, but few will be able to follow it. 

According to the N&O report the office of charter schools is saying that there are six charter applications from last year that are eligible for fast track consideration.  That's not a lot of schools, but it's apparently too many for board member Jean Woolard, who was quoted by the N&O as saying "I'm a little bit wary about proceeding so rapidly."

Ms. Woolard is one of the board members governor Perdue would like to re-appoint to the board, and the General Assembly is scheduled to consider her nomination in its 'appointments bill' next week.  Perhaps our legislative leadership should be "a little bit wary about proceeding so rapidly" with Ms. Woolard's nomination.  After all, why should they rush to appoint to an eight-year term on the state board of education an NCAE activist who sees a problem with allowing the board to merely consider adding six charter schools a year?

Also on Charter Guy's radar are the comments towards the end of the article about buses and bus safety.  The article points out that buses used by charter schools are not subject to the same safety regulations as buses at district schools,clearly implying that charter school buses are less safe.  It quotes Derek Graham, section chief of transportation services for DPI, as saying the 183 buses and 24 vans now being used by charter schools makes him "cringe."  The article goes on to say that the new North Carolina public charter school advisory council will be asked (by the board, presumably) to "review the issue." 

Of course any bus or van used by a charter school to transport students must be in good condition and operated in a safe manner.  But readers will recall that transportation, or lack of it, was one of the phony issues crafted by the guardians of the failing status quo to derail the charter school bill in the last session of the General Assembly.  Don't be surprised if certain members of the council push for a recommendation to the board that all charter-owned vehicles used to transport students be required to meet costly new requirements.  And if they are successful in that effort, to follow up with a recommendation that all charter schools purchase vehicles to provide comprehensive student transportation. 

New Charters in 2012?

 

Could it really be...?



The Raleigh News & Observer reports today that the State Board of Education might actually consider allowing a few new charter schools to open their doors in the fall of 2012 after all. Heres' the link:

http://projects.newsobserver.com/node/22710

Believe it or not, they may actually be serious about this. A plan for reviewing 'fast track' charter school applications has been written and is on the board's agenda for the August 31-September 1 meeting. You can see the plan here:

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/stateboard/meetings/2011/09/lfi/09lfi01.pdf

In brief, the idea is to have the newly formed Public Charter School Advisory Council review existing applications that would have been approved last go-around, had there been no cap, and make recommendations to the board as to which of these should be approved for 2012. Existing schools that want to convert to charters would also be allowed to submit fast track applications, as would currently successful charter schools that wanted to replicate or spin off another campus.

There are a lot of things that could still derail this move, of course, starting with the board's discussion and vote next week. As anyone who has spent any time observing the operations of the board knows, very little of substance ever happens in an open board meeting; the real decisions having already been made in private beforehand. And of course, the advisory council that would have to review all the applications doesn't actually exist yet, so...yeah.

Still, this is the best charter news to come from the state board since...well, it's the only good charter news that Charter Guy can ever remember coming from the board.