District did its job with charter decision
Daily Pilot
February 1, 2006
Charlene Ashendorf
Our Newport-Mesa Unified School District board and staff handled the two applications for charter schools remarkably well ("School board rejects charter proposal," Thursday). Superficially, the issue appeared as "charter schools: to be or not to be." However, the real concerns were how many millions of dollars could be taken away from our district's students and were the people making the proposals appropriate to lead the charters.
The money issue is messy, but without understanding it, taxpayers may judge the school board incorrectly. Newport-Mesa receives money from the state on what is called a "Basic Aid" basis. This is good for the 50 districts financed this way, but it has a weakness: If the district starts a charter, then Newport-Mesa will partially subsidize out-of-district students, which hurts us. As taxpayers, we need to congratulate board members and staff when they ask, "Is there a need or a real local desire for the specific charter?" If they didn't do this, they would be squandering our money, potentially millions of dollars. Yes, the question stifles, but the board is fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities.
However, state law says that monetary concerns alone cannot stop the approval of a charter school. This forces the board and staff to strongly critique a proposal, which while looking like bureaucracy run amok, is really protecting local taxpayers and our students. The school board and staff did their job like a lawyer in cross examination. Our district is looking for charter schools that will be filled by a large majority of district students. Isn't this reasonable?
Newport-Mesa treated the two charter applications similarly. After finding mistakes in the science charter proposal, the science organization withdrew it and said it would fix its problems. Supt. Robert Barbot publicly asked them to resubmit their proposal.
The only real criticism of this charter goes to the money question above: With Measure F funding better science labs, will there be a real desire for the science charter or will it be filled by non-Newport-Mesa students on our nickel? We can't truly afford a duplicate of Fullerton's Troy High School, which pulls students from many areas of Southern California. I wish we could.
The second charter proposal for the home-schooling-support academy is an issue that needs substantial public debate since it will be divisive. However, the discussion on the organization proposing the concept raised red flags that could not be ignored.
First, the group listed Newport-Mesa children as standing fourth in priority in being admitted. This is not a confidence builder. It is similar to buying a new car, but having the dealer say his or her employees have first rights each day to drive it. Not a good deal.
Second, of the 150 signatures on the petition, maybe seven were from Newport-Mesa. The group from Escondido and Lake Forest didn't respond to this stunning statement at the board meeting. To infer that they simply wanted a private school paid for out of public funds seemed reasonable.
The school board and staff treated the group respectfully. I'm glad I'm not on the board. I would have said within moments, "Leave and don't let the door hit your fanny on the way out."
Support of home schooling is politically charged. By law, by court rulings and by votes, we have limited parental choices such as the use of vouchers. We have choked the intertwining of religion and public education.
Let's be honest, the proposed charter indirectly supports religious education. The board would have erred by approving a charter for a private education support program hastily.
I may want the charter, but I don't want Newport-Mesa to be the leader on this. The lawsuits will drain and distract.
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