By Christen Smith
Staff Reporter
Capitolwire
HARRISBURG (Jan.12) — A December 2014 report released by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NASCA) says Pennsylvania’s charter school policies lack focus and consistency — though still perform better than other states like it.
The problem, according to the report? No statewide, universally-mandated policies regarding charter applications, renewal terms and performance frameworks currently exist, which NASCA says undermines the “best practices” implemented in the state by some charter school authorizers and not others.
In Pennsylvania, school districts serve as charter school authorizers, except in the case of 14 cyber charter schools, which are authorized by the state Department of Education.
“We anticipate that state legislatures will use this report to strengthen their charter school laws, especially concerning accountability,” said Greg Richmond, president and CEO of NACSA, in a prepared statement last month. “Fully implemented, NACSA’s recommended state policies will help parents and public officials understand the quality of their community’s charter schools. Whether they have great charters that should grow, or chronically poor-performing charters that ought to be closed, these policies will give people what they need to take constructive action over time.”
The report organized each of the 50 states into three categories to ensure an “apples-to-apples” comparison: school district authorizing states, states with many authorizers and states with few authorizers. Pennsylvania and 16 other states comprise the first category, where school districts authorize more than 50 percent of the state’s charter schools.
Each state in Pennsylvania’s category could earn a total of 30 points. The higher the score, the “stronger” NASCA considers each state’s charter school policies. Pennsylvania tied for fourth place in the category with California and Illinois, scoring just 11 out of 30 points.
NASCA’s recommendations for strengthening the charter school law include creating “provisions for both strong charter school accountability and an alternative authorizer.”
“Pennsylvania should establish a high-quality statewide alternative authorizer, a default closure provision, and policy requiring authorizers to use strong performance management tools reflecting professional standards, authorizer standards, and essential authorizer accountability,” NASCA wrote. “In addition, these strong accountability requirements must apply to all authorizers, including Philadelphia under the School Reform Commission, as well as both brick-and-mortar schools and virtual schools.”
Bob Fayfich, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, agreed Monday that the state lacks “consistent” policies for approving and renewing charter applications.
“We have been generally supportive of a strong authorizer to increase consistency in the charter school community,” he said. “New York is always recognized as a good model for an alternative authorizer.”
The State University of New York (SUNY) authorizes 43 percent of New York’s charter schools, and while NASCA ranked it 18 out of 21 states in its category, the organization recognizes that New York’s two statewide authorizers — SUNY and the state Board of Education — “employ high quality practices and oversee portfolios of charter schools with strong performance records.”
“The works of these authorizers include strong performance management and replication practices, as well as extensive voluntary performance reporting that, in practice, meet many of NACSA’s criteria,” NASCA wrote of New York’s charter school policies. “These two authorizers will oversee all new charter schools, their practices are more important than similar practices in states where potential new authorizers could become active. These factors provide important context for reviewing New York’s rating within NACSA’s policy framework.”
The university authorizer provision isn’t new to state lawmakers and for Sen. Lloyd Smucker — the Lancaster County Republican who authored charter school reform legislation last session — it’s an idea “with merit.”
Smucker’s Senate Bill 1085 would have implemented “widely supported” accountability and transparency reforms for Pennsylvania’s 176 charter schools. The legislation nearly made it to Gov. Tom Corbett’s desk in June, but a university authorizer provision stalled negotiations.
Smucker did win approval last session for a resolution that now has the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee studying the alternative authorizer issue and preparing to release a report that could be used to guide the future of charter school reform policies.
“I think we are all for improving schools, whether it’s traditional public schools or charters,” Smucker said Monday. “We want to improve accountability and transparency, but we are waiting on the report to determine which direction the bill will go in terms of authorizers.”
Smucker was named chair of the Senate Education Committee last week, and says he will eventually reintroduce charter reform legislation in the new session, though no concrete plans exist yet.
Gov.-elect Tom Wolf has eyed charter school reform, too, even telling the York Daily Record in July that he wanted to establish a state-level charter school office to improve oversight.
Jeff Sheridan, Wolf’s spokesman, reiterated these sentiments Monday, saying “Governor-elect Wolf believes we need greater accountability and stronger oversight of charter and cyber schools.”
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