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With the proliferation of charter
schools and widespread acceptance and use of 'charter', that has
become a significant problem and bids to become even more so,
according to Jennifer Davis, deputy state secretary of
education.
Delaware
Department of Education has counted 154 returnees statewide from
charter schools so far this academic year. Of those, 113 came
back to their home districts after the Sept. 30, 2000, nose
count which determined both state financing and the amounts
districts owed the receiving schools. Figured conservatively,
that means districts were out about $105,000 of their own money
and did not receive another $250,000 in state funds.
"We have
to take a snapshot in time" to determine the level of state
financing, Davis said. That is done by what is known as a 'unit
count' system. Greatly simplified, that means the state puts up
about 70% of total operating costs in increments based on groups
of 17 students in kindergarten through third grade and 20 in
other grades. The units are calculated on the number of students
enrolled and attending during the last 10 school days in
September.
If a
child who lives within the geographic limits of a district
elects to attend a school in another district, he or she is part
of the receiving district's unit count or figures into a
separate per-student count for a charter school. The districts
must send along a payment equivalent to their average cost of
educating one student -- essentially the total amount of local
money budgeted for operations divided by the number of students
enrolled.
There is
no provision in the laws governing choice and charter for
refunds if a student transfers after Sept. 30.
State
Representative Joseph Miro has introduced proposed legislation
to change that. His bill, if enacted by the General
Assembly, would provide for refunding 75% if the transfer occurs
within the first 45 school days, 50% after 45 and before the
90th, 25% between the 91st and 135th school day, and nothing
after that. There are the equivalent of 180 school days in
public school calendars.
Miro was
out of town and unavailable for comment as this article
was being prepared.
Davis
said, however, that she is not sure that would be the best way
to do it. "Charter school [officials] are concerned because they
have fixed costs that don't change if some of their students
leave," she said. Salaries and other expenses are budgeted based
largely on projected Sept. 30 enrollments. Although they are
public schools, charter schools have no taxation powers.
While
most colleges and private schools have tuition-refund policies,
she said "it's more complicated than that for charter schools."
At present they do not have endowments or other sources of
income.
Davis
suggested that a more equitable arrangement would be to require
negotiation between the schools and the districts along the
lines of what she said is common practice now with regard to
vocational districts in the three counties. While they can and
do levy taxes for local revenue, the vocational districts
receive their state financing on the same basis as conventional
districts.
Officials
in conventional districts have long alleged that the vocational
districts tend to 'pad' their enrollments by accepting some
students not likely to persist in their specialized curriculum
with the anticipation that they will leave after the level of
state financing is established. Davis declined to comment on
that.
She also
said DelDOE has not made any effort to determine reasons why
students leave charter schools. Most of those schools have
waiting lists, so departing students are replaced and updated
enrollment data does not indicate trends. An exception to
that is Edison Charter in northeast Wilmington. Its enrollment
at last count stood at 753 students, down from 835 at the
beginning of the academic year.
"Some of
it may be discipline, some may be [academic] difficulty and some
is probably normal attrition. We have no way of knowing," she
said.
On the
other hand, DelDOE does know the extent of the problem from the
perspective of the conventional districts. Eleven of the state's
19 have gotten students back from charter schools. Colonial
leads the way with 36, of whom 29 returned after Sept. 30. Red
Clay is second, with 31 and 22, respectively. Christina with 26
and 25, Brandywine with 24 and 20, and Appoquinimink with six
and six round out New Castle County. There was one student who
came back, after Sept. 30, to the New Castle County Vo-Tech
district..
There is no comparable data for
transfers among 'choice' students.
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