Charter schools are doing a better job of retaining students.

        During the 1999-2000 school year, nearly 30 percent of students who left Cincinnati Public Schools for charter schools returned. This school year, however, the return rate was 15 percent.

        The slowdown in the back- and-forth flow of students indicates a greater level of satisfaction with the programs provided by the 12 charter schools operating in Cincinnati.

        It mirrors what's happening nationally and across the state.

        The number of students at Ohio's 68 charter schools — 17,000 — remains steady, said J.C. Benton, spokesman for the Department of Education.

        “The charters have established their presence in the state and the interest is there with parents as an innovative approach for education,” Mr. Benton said.

        Authorized by Ohio in 1997, tuition-free charter schools — also called community schools — offer more options for parents and bring competition to the school market. They use state funds, but operate separately from public schools, instead governed by parent groups or non-profit organizations.

        Between June 1, 2000, and Jan. 24 of this year, 1,631 students left Cincinnati Public Schools to attend a charter school. Only 252 students returned during that 7 1/2-month period.

        More than 100 of those students left the Greater Cincinnati Community Academy in Northside.

        This charter school faced some management troubles last year and was among five charter schools sued by the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers for allegedly failing to comply with Ohio open records laws. A former academy board member last year accused school officials of wanting to alter meeting minutes before they were sent to state regulators.

        Attempts to interview Marie Congo, superintendent of the Northside academy, were unsuccessful.

Shakeout period

               Only five of the 12 Cincinnati charter schools saw significant numbers of students leave.

        “We expect that in every year we will see less movement,” said Susan Moore, principal at the SABIS International School in Mount Auburn, which opened this year and enrolled 393 students from Cincinnati Public.

        None of the SABIS students had transferred back to Cincinnati Public as of Jan. 24, the most recent statistics available.

        “I think our enrollment is holding because parents are very happy with our academics and the kids are doing so well,” said Ms. Moore. “There are challenges to be sure, but the academics are the heart of it.”

        It is those market forces that will help decide which schools succeed and which falter, whether they are charters or public schools, said John Rothwell, charter school manager for Cincinnati Public Schools.

        “If market forces prevail, one of two things happen,” he said. “Either a school does what it takes to stop losing customers or the customer base shrinks and the school is no longer solvent.

        “What's encouraging is that we are seeing some adjustments in the way district schools go about doing their business. Whether we attribute that to charters is arguable.”

Voting with their feet

               Many of the students who decided to try charter schools this year left behind low-performing public schools. District schools that lost the highest number of students to charters are those slated for redesign, including the high schools.

        But some parents simply wanted to try something different.

        Patricia Murphy decided the A.B. Miree Academy in Bond Hill would be a good place for her daughter, Patricia, 12, to learn.

        So Mrs. Murphy took Patricia out of Losantiville School in Amberley Village for the promise of more classes in art, music and more special education services. She even drove Patricia to school every day.

        The Murphys stayed at A.B. Miree only a few months.

        “I wasn't unhappy with the charter. I just thought it would be different because of all the things offered,” Ms. Murphy said. “Everything was promised, but then we get there and there was no art, music and no lunch room. She never even got a report card.”

        A.B. Miree's principal did not return a phone call.

        Patricia and her mom are happier now at Losantiville, where Ms. Murphy said Patricia gets the special services she needs and can take the bus to school.

        Quebec Heights School in Price Hill has welcomed back 17 K-8 students from charters this year - the largest number of students to return to one school.

        Principal Shelley Stein said she always welcomes children to the school, no matter what time of year they enroll.

        But for students to get the best education, and for schools to post their best performances on state tests, it helps when a student spends an entire academic year in the same place.

        “We need the children from the first day of school in August so that they receive the quality delivery of instruction and are able to meet our progressive benchmarks in order to be at a level where they can meet the promotion standards,” Ms. Stein said.

        “When they come in the middle of the year and are not caught up and they have to play catch-up, then we are responsible for their test scores.”

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