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Charter Schools Fueling Minneapolis Budget Woes
Row after row they stand, the uniformed students at Sojourner Truth Academy, a charter school bursting at the seams in north Minneapolis.
Those rows of fresh faces at a recent school assembly represent a new challenge for Minneapolis' public schools. The growing popularity of charter schools is one of the factors fueling a $28.6 million budget problem for the Minneapolis School District. State funding for schools is meted out on a per-pupil basis, so when traditional schools lose students to charter schools, the money goes with them.
"We're losing a little bit of what people in the business world call market share," David Heistad, the district's data expert, said as the school board grappled with the budget last Tuesday. More details about proposed cuts are expected at tonight's board meeting.
Charter schools are just part of the problem. Declining birth rates and rising expenses have played a big part as well.
But while recent numbers show that birth rates are up, enrollment is expected to continue downward in part because of competition, said Jim Liston, an information technology specialist for the Minneapolis district.
Projections for fall 2003 show that Minneapolis public-school enrollment will drop by about 1,400 students -- in part because of competition from charter schools and other public-education choices.
Charter schools are a key part of the school choice movement.
They are public schools that operate free of traditional school district constraints.
The number of Minneapolis children attending charter schools has risen from 1,621 in 1999 to 2,833 in fall 2002. Enrollment in Minneapolis public schools slid from 46,243 to 43,589 in the same time period.
A similar trend has been noted nationally. In Washington, D.C., and Kansas City, 15 to 20 percent of public school students attend charter schools, said Todd Ziebarth, a policy analyst with the Education Commission of the States. In St. Paul, a charter school that draws many Hmong students inspired a neighboring public school to create a program that incorporates elements of Hmong culture.
"Students are being looked at more as customers," said Steve Dess, executive director of the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools.
About two-thirds of Minnesota's 68 charter schools are in the Twin Cities metro area, with half in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
In Minneapolis, several charter schools have taken root on the North Side. Among them are Sojourner Truth Academy and Harvest Preparatory Charter School, which offer a back-to-basics approach on academics and stress parent involvement, and WISE, a new elementary school sponsored by the YMCA. Though the schools are open to everyone, all three primarily serve black students.
No selling needed now
When Sojourner Truth Academy opened in fall 1999, school officials had to knock on doors in the neighborhood to find students, said Julie Guy, Sojourner's director. Today, the elementary school is full with 250 students. There's a waiting list for the fourth, fifth and sixth grades.
"We don't have to sell ourselves," Guy said. "People come to us."
The K-6 school is sponsored by the Minneapolis School District. It offers class sizes of 20 or less and structured lessons in reading, language and math. Literature, social studies and science are taught using Core Knowledge Sequence, a curriculum that features a specific body of facts for each subject.
Parents are encouraged to get involved, with family events held at least once a month. At Family Math Night last Thursday, Gwendolyn Polite smiled as she watched her daughter, Sasha McRaven, mingle with classmates and teachers.
Polite said she sent her two children to Sojourner because she didn't want them to get lost in a large school. Before, her kids went to Brooklyn Park schools and then to Minneapolis public schools. Her son, Lawrence McRaven, is now in ninth grade at Minneapolis North High School. Sasha's in her last year at Sojourner.
Teachers call her regularly, Polite said, to tell her if Sasha is slacking off or if she's doing something especially well. Sojourner's teachers, who are on a merit-pay system, receive credit for calling parents on a regular basis.
As a member of Sojourner's board, Polite has had a hand in decisions as broad as what kind of curriculum should be taught and as specific as what will be on the lunch menu.
Kimberly D'Antignac said she pulled her son, Nathanael, out of regular public schools because teachers said he should be in special education. Since Nathanael moved to Sojourner last fall, "he doesn't have behavior problems," D'Antignac said. "He's a peer mediator here. Those leadership skills he had -- this school brought them out."
Every day, she drives Nathanael and his little brother, Christopher D'Antignac-Day, from their home in Bloomington to north Minneapolis for school. "It's worth the drive," she said.
While it's clear that many charter schools enjoy high parent satisfaction, it's less clear whether their students are getting an education equal to or better than they could get in regular public schools.
State test scores show a wide range of performance for charter schools, from well above the regular district schools to well below.
The Minneapolis district publishes data on test scores and other measures for each of the charter schools it sponsors. The report on Sojourner shows that students in some grades didn't make as much progress in reading as other Minneapolis students, according to test scores. However, Sojourner students outperformed Minneapolis district students in math in most grades.
District will compete
Heistad, the school district's data expert, would like to see more parents using such information to make choices instead of relying solely on visits or brochures.
But the Minneapolis district also must respond to the changing market, he said.
To do that, said Minneapolis Superintendent Carol Johnson, the district must look at what drives parents' school choices. Over the next few months, school leaders will survey parents who have chosen schools in the district or elsewhere to find out why they chose what they did and what programs and services the district can offer to attract and keep students, she said.
For example, the district recently created a Montessori program at Armatage Elementary School in response to parents' request for one in southwest Minneapolis, she said. And while enrollment is down at the elementary level, it's picking up in the high schools, Johnson said, since the district created small, themed classes in the high schools.
"We want to be the district of choice for families," she said. "We have to work harder to make sure families continue to view us as a viable choice."
— Allie Shah
Charter schools fueling Minneapolis budget woes
Star Tribune
Jan. 28, 2003
http://www2.startribune.com/stories/1592/3617629.html
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