Issue date: February 24, 1999
By RENEE BATTI
For some parents and educators, charter schools are the salvation of the public education system in California, where test scores are mired near the bottom of the national student performance roster.
For others, they are an experiment grounded in questionable motives and misplaced faith -- and, ultimately, a dire threat to the vitality of the public schools.
But for many, there's plenty of room to walk the middle ground, waiting to see how children in the "test lab" classrooms of recently established charter schools score on the various measures of student achievement and success.
The debate over charter schools -- pioneering public schools that are exempt from most requirements of the California Education Code -- has heated up on the Peninsula recently with the effort to establish a charter high school in the Sequoia Union High School District. Parents and educators behind the effort say they want to offer local children an alternative to large campuses and programs shaped by bureaucracies bogged down in red tape and, in some cases, stale ideas.
On January 4, four days after a new law authored by Assemblyman Ted Lempert went into effect liberalizing the rules for establishing charter schools, the Sequoia district received a petition to charter the Bay Area Charter High, or BACH.
BACH organizers emphasize what they want in a new school, rather than what they might not like about the Sequoia district schools. They are quick to acknowledge that many children can receive an outstanding education in the district's schools, which include Menlo-Atherton and Woodside.
But some children, they say, fall between the cracks when they arrive on large campuses with classroom programs designed to fill the needs of the "typical" student.
And, they say, they want to be allowed to participate more fully in their children's education -- something they say is often discouraged in large public schools but will be a requirement for enrolling children in BACH.
After several years in operation, enrollment at BACH is expected by organizers to reach 600 -- less than one-third the enrollment at Menlo-Atherton.
Since the petition was submitted, numerous questions have been raised about the school's funding, how the Sequoia district will be affected financially, and the fairness of creating a small school that will serve 600 children at most by taking money away from a district charged with educating some 7,300 students.
Up in the air
As a result of the cost to the district of about $660,000 the first year alone if it charters the school, the district and BACH organizers have been scrambling to find an alternative to sole sponsorship of the school by Sequoia. With the clock ticking toward a March 5 deadline by which the district must approve or reject the petition -- and the new law makes it very difficult to reject a charter petition -- details of the efforts are changing almost daily.
New agreement
Ms. Miller said her group also has agreed to a two-week extension of the legally set deadline to approve or deny the petition, giving the Sequoia district until March 19 to make a decision. BACH will not withdraw the petition at this point, however, she said.
Ms. Miller and other BACH supporters say they are determined to open the high school in the fall, although a location has yet to be found. The school would start with freshman and sophomore grade levels the first year, and add one grade level each year. With an anticipated 150-student enrollment the first year, organizers are piecing together a program that is likely to involve partnerships with industry and Canada College, a community college located in Woodside.
Experiment in education reform
The commission had visited 26 charter schools -- more than a quarter of the charter schools operating in the state at that time -- before writing the report, which noted that the charter movement provides "a platform and opportunity for innovative people who are struggling within the constraints of today's education system."
Charter schools are an anomaly in a public education system tightly regulated by the state's 7,000-page Education Code. They were established in California and a number of other states as a sort of test lab to try new approaches to education. Minnesota was the first state to authorize charter schools, doing so in 1991 -- one year before California waded into these experimental waters of education reform.
Publicly funded and prohibited from charging tuition, the schools must abide by only a handful of Education Code requirements. Each school is set free to create its own rules, governed by its own board of directors that typically includes parents, teachers and school-site administrators. Characteristics common to charter schools are parental involvement, smaller schools and strong community links.
As of August 1998, there were 125 charter schools operating in California, serving some 53,000 students, according to the California Network of Educational Charters (CANEC), a nonprofit association that serves as a network for charter schools statewide.
By passing AB 544 -- Assemblyman Lempert's bill -- the state Legislature last year essentially endorsed the experiment of charter schools, encouraging communities to form such schools to explore new educational methods and create improved models for teaching kids.
Charter school skeptics
Calling herself a "charter school skeptic," San Francisco board member Jill Wynns said she encourages people to consider what a charter school proposes to do that can't be done within the regular public school system. The experience in San Francisco, she said, is that the charter schools "did not do one thing that they needed a charter to do."
"One thing I know is there isn't enough money in the public education system. I don't want to give it away," she added.
Locally, critics of BACH say the school would drain money from the Sequoia district to create an "elite" school. Organizers, they say, have not adequately outlined methods to provide a sound educational program and to ensure that disadvantaged and minority students will be included.
The drain of funds will provide "choice for so few over choice for so many," says San Carlos parent Molly Barton, president of the Sequoia High School PTSA. Her husband, Brett, told the school board during a recent public hearing that their son, a junior at Sequoia, "is getting an above-average, if not superior, education, and questioned the need for the charter high school.
While her biggest concern is that Sequoia rather than state funds might be used to support BACH, Ms. Barton also expresses frustration that parents who want to be involved with their children's education -- and work to improve education in general -- won't put their energy and efforts into the existing schools. She and others criticize the charter school movement as a way for parents to create elite schools that are more like private schools, but are funded by the taxpayer.
"I believe so strongly that every child should have the same opportunity," Ms. Barton stresses. "Come and be part of the public school system -- find ways to make our public school education meet the needs of all children."
Norm Heise, president of the Sequoia District Teachers Association, opposes not only a high school chartered by Sequoia but the charter school movement in general. "I'm very concerned that what we are witnessing, and I think without justification, is an attack on public schools," he says.
While he acknowledges problems with education in California's public schools, saying parents "have the right to be angry" about low test scores, he said the state should put money into existing education programs rather than dilute educational funds by trying to reform education in a "piecemeal way."
The experimental nature of charter school programs also concerns Mr. Heise. "I would be leery of putting my child in a school which is a promise."
Mr. Heise also questions whether the charter high school would be equitable -- embracing students whose parents or guardians cannot contribute the required 80 hours of volunteer work for the school annually.
Menlo Park parent and BACH supporter Margaret Fruth responds that scholarship aid, in which a family can apply to have some of the volunteer hours forgiven, will be available. "No child will be turned away because of volunteer hours issues," she states adamantly.
What's BACH about?
As they work to find a funding solution agreeable to all, they note that most students of the school will live in the Sequoia district, and the district shouldn't balk at funding BACH if an alternative cannot be found.
Most leaders of BACH have been involved in the San Carlos Charter Learning Center, founded five years ago. The first charter school in the state, the learning center has been recognized by the state as a "Distinguished School." Some BACH organizers have children now in the eighth grade who would be part of BACH's student body in the fall.
BACH leader Alice Miller was one of the founding members of the San Carlos charter school, and says its success should be an indicator of the possibilities BACH can offer local students.
Students at the charter learning center who talked with the Almanac on a recent afternoon praised the technology program, the rigorous educational program, and the teachers.
"The teachers are willing to give us support," said seventh-grader Arielle Bellows, who has attended the school since fifth grade. "They're really good teachers, and they teach according to your needs."
Eighth-grader Kasi Krauss also praised her teachers and their approach to education. "It's not whether you turn in your work; it's whether you understand it."
The small size of the San Carlos school makes it possible for teachers, students and parents to be like a community -- a big selling point for a number of BACH supporters. "Historically, people are used to community schools," says Ellis French, a former music teacher in San Jose schools and a co-founder of the San Carlos charter school. "People today are missing that contact," he adds.
Mr. French, who has a doctorate in music from Stanford, has immersed himself in the local charter school movement, although his own children are long out of school. He is overseeing curriculum development for BACH.
BACH plans to offer "a challenging curriculum based upon the course requirements for admission to the University of California," according to the charter petition. In order to offer advanced courses and a variety of foreign language and other elective courses, organizers are working to form a partnership with Canada community college.
The college has a program that allows high school students to enroll in its courses under certain circumstances, says Canada Vice President Olivia Martinez. "We're certainly open and willing to work with them" to provide needed classes, either at the college or at BACH, she says.
Giuliano Carlini, whose two children are in lower grades at the San Carlos school, says he was first drawn to the charter school because it allowed him to participate in his children's education. Both he and his wife, Susan Rendina, have a high degree of computer technology expertise which they've shared in the school's classrooms.
Mr. Carlini stresses the individualized instruction children at the learning center receive, and notes that BACH students will benefit from the same "self-paced" learning model.
While students at the San Carlos elementary charter school appear to like the small, community environment of their school, some are not sure they want such an environment in high school. Eighth-grader Jose Leon, who has attended the charter school since it opened five years ago, said he might attend BACH, but worries that "you can't get to know many kids the same age" on a small campus.
Sixth-graders Jenni Lerche and Janet S. Frishberg are taking a wait-and-see approach, noting they have two years to make a decision. "We've had a few years already of being guinea pigs," says Jenni, referring to being part of an experimental educational program.
Other students responded with a quick "yes" when asked if they wanted to attend BACH when they were freshmen.
Grants and outreach
Parent Beverly Bellows says organizers also are planning a major outreach effort to get the word out in minority communities. That effort will include open houses and public meetings in various areas of the Sequoia district, she explains.
Regarding the funding questions that have caused some concern -- and some animosity -- within the Sequoia district community, Ms. Miller says: "The Sequoia district is not the culprit in this. You can't blame them for wanting to hang on to their resources. BACH is not the culprit. If there's a culprit, it's the state of California -- its unwillingness to give adequate financial backing to education."
Marjorie Mader contributed to this report.
© 1999 The Almanac. All Rights Reserved.