Tuesday, March 09, 1999
CPS plan makes room for charter schools
Approval would be up to district
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Their reputation is wrong, Cincinnati Public Schools officials say. Long thought to be critics of charter schools, district leaders insist they support the independent public schools — as long as they, instead of the Ohio Department of Education, approve them.
Monday, leaders of the 47,200-student district made two steps toward proving that point when:
• A school board committee approved a draft policy allowing the district to create charter schools. The policy is set for a board vote March 22.
• The school board hired John Rothwell, who now oversees charter schools for the Ohio Department of Education, as the district's charter school manager. Mr. Rothwell, who starts his job April 5, will make $70,000.
Lawmakers passed Ohio's charter-school law in 1997. Charter schools, called community schools in Ohio, operate free from many state and local mandates.
State officials approved all of the 15 charter schools that opened last fall in Ohio, and they're considering 37 more proposals for this fall, including seven in Cincinnati.
Local educators complain that state-approved charter schools drain students and money from the district.
They also aren't sufficiently monitored to ensure accountability, critics say. Harmony Community School in Bond Hill, one of two charter schools that opened in Cincinnati in September, is being investigated by state education officials and the Ohio attorney general's office after accusations of money troubles and mismanagement.
Under CPS' draft policy, offi cials could convert existing schools to charter schools if they're successful and deserve more autonomy, or failing and need redesign.
Under that policy, the “conversion” schools and new, or “start-up,” charter schools should do one or more of the following:
• Reflect the district's five-year strategic plan, Students First.
• Introduce promising practices that could be used on a bigger scale.
• Address an underserved student population or need in the community.
Under the policy, charter ap plicants must sign contracts with the district by Dec. 1 of the year before the school opens. School size should be at least 350 students.
Community leaders have been lobbying district officials to embrace charter schools as a way to lure back the hundreds of students who drop out or transfer each year. Enrollment has dropped by 716 students since last year, according to district data.
Monday, Cincinnati Federation of Teachers President Tom Mooney applauded the district's initiative in drafting the policy but stressed the need for stringent oversight.
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