From our news partners at The Seattle Times: Charter-school operators must prove they have both a strong educational vision and business savvy if they want a shot at opening one of the state's first charter schools.
|
Steve Ringman via The Seattle Times "Kristina Bellamy-McClain, left, with the name of the school she hopes to found in Tacoma — Soar Academy. Maggie O’Sullivan, right, would like to run a school in the Highline school-district area called Rainier Prep." |
Last week, the 19 educators who hope to run Washington's first charter schools pitched their dreams to the state commission that will decide their fate.
In what basically were job interviews, the candidates had to show they have not only the vision for a great school, but the financial savvy to run — with taxpayer dollars — what is essentially a small business.
They also had to show they have money, or a credible plan for getting it, to cover the many startup costs they'll incur in the long months before the public funds start flowing.
Two potential operators with established charter-school networks in California — Green Dot Public Schools and Summit Public Schools — have multimillion-dollar grants already in hand from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to expand into Washington if they're selected.
But most applicants plan fundraising campaigns, and some say they might go into debt — a riskier option that is raising legal questions about whether the schools can pay back the loans with the public money they would receive to educate each enrolled child.
Communities in the Seattle-Tacoma area will hear from the charter schools that want to open in their neighborhoods at six public forums this week, beginning Monday at South Seattle Community College.
Charter schools are free, privately operated schools that aren't bound by many of the rules and regulations governing traditional districts. But they're considered public schools because they receive taxpayer dollars on a per-student basis, like school districts.
Charter schools operate in 42 states and the District of Columbia, accounting for about 5 percent of all public-school students, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
For years, opponents successfully fought back efforts to allow them in Washington, but in 2012, voters narrowly approved a law allows the state and approved school districts to issue contracts to nonprofit organizations to operate up to 40 new charter schools over a five-year period.
The Washington State Charter School Commission is considering 19 applications and is expected to announce its choices at a meeting Jan. 30. The Spokane school district is expected to vote Jan. 22 on whether to authorize any of the three nonprofits it's considering.
