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Charter schools in Ohio have long had difficulty accessing purpose-built school facilities—purchasing unused district buildings, retrofitting other spaces, or building new spaces from scratch—despite many years of effort. Several other states are way ahead of Ohio in providing affordable financing options for supporting charter facility creation and expansion. Fordham’s Aaron Churchill looks at five of these states—Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Texas, and Utah—and distills some lessons Ohio should take from their successful approaches.
Going to court in California
The California Charter Schools Association this week filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), challenging the district’s new policy aiming to limit charter co-locations within hundreds of district buildings. “Families choose to send their children to LAUSD charter public schools because they have found programs uniquely tailored to their needs,” said Myrna Castrejón, president and CEO of the Association. “This policy limits options for those parents among the most vulnerable” all across the city.
Business as usual in Michigan
West Bloomfield Public Schools’ Roosevelt Elementary in suburban Detroit is 104 years old, unused for the last two years, and in dire need of repair. No schools want to buy it, but the elected school board voted last month to demolish it rather than sell it to anyone else because, as the district treasurer told a state legislative committee, “there is a chance” that developers “could flip it to a parochial school, to a private school, Montessori or a charter.” She concluded that “we simply cannot afford to have it become a competing school.” Very familiar rhetoric to Ohioans—the quiet part out loud. Preservationists immediately filed an injunction to stop the demo, but that was lifted by a judge yesterday. Demolition will likely begin soon.
Editors speak
The Editorial Board of The Detroit News include the Roosevelt situation among their long list of “anti-charter” activities happening at the local and state level across the Wolverine State. They note the enduring—and growing—popularity of charters among Michigan families and all around the country and that “anti-charter bias is in conflict with [Gov.] Whitmer’s stated goal of attracting more families” to the state. “Parents of school aged children,” they conclude starkly, “won’t come to a state where the only choice they have for educating their children is a poorly performing public school system.” Wowza!
Lawsuit settled in Florida
As we discussed last week, Florida’s Palm Beach County school board voted this week to approve a settlement ending a lengthy legal fight over money raised by a 2018 property tax increase that was not shared with charter schools as required. The settlement will distribute $54 million, divided among 45 charters, after five long years.
In the Oklahoma Supreme Court
This week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court heard arguments for and against the constitutionality of a proposed virtual charter school created by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa—what would likely become the nation’s first religious charter school. St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School is scheduled to open its electronic doors to students in August and supporters hope the court will render its decision very soon so that progress toward that opening won’t be slowed.
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