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Busing struggles for Columbus charter students
The story is a recurring one, but it must be told again. Two weeks ago, Columbus City Schools officials announced that they were only 75 percent staffed on bus drivers for the impending new school year and warned all families that there would be disruptions, late buses, and other problems for the first several weeks. Last week, the story changed to “no shortage” and “we’re ready”. What happened in between? At a stroke, the district deemed many students “impractical to transport”, cutting whole bus routes that were intended to serve dozens of families each. Those cuts, as ever, impacted students who were enrolled in charter and private schools the most. Confused, concerned, and overwhelmed, charter school parents (and their school leaders) turned to ABC 6 News to vent their anger over the district’s inability to get their children to and from school as the start of the new year loomed just days away. One Columbus grandfather took time away from his job to explain to NBC 4 News that he had already had to pay to get his grandchildren—attending both charter and private schools—transportation after their routes were cut. While the district is required to pay families whose students were deemed impractical to transport, those payments will only come at the end of the school year, after hundreds or thousands of dollars will have been expended by those families. And the bottom line is still the same: Columbus City Schools manufactured their transportation “readiness” at the expense of these families. Disgraceful.
A better transportation story
While several other high-profile efforts at the state level to hold Ohio districts to account for failing to adequately transport school choice students have fizzled, at least one policy change may be having a positive impact: Allowing charter schools to take control of their own transportation services. Zenith Academy, a small network of charter schools located across Columbus, has not only been able to take on the transportation of its own students, from this school year it will also be able to do so using an electric bus. In fact, Zenith is one of only a handful of schools in central Ohio—and appears to be the only charter school in the entire state—operating an electric yellow bus. Nice!
Exploring and learning
Here’s a nice profile of Explorers Academy of Science and Technology in Toledo. The STEM-focused charter school was founded in 2021 and has grown to over 300 students. In its profile, School Choice Ohio writes that “growth can and should be attributed to a successful school model, a clear understanding of the students and families they serve, staff that truly cares, and parents who recognize what the school is doing to inspire their children.” There’s lots more great details to check out in the piece.
New way of funding; new way of collaborating
Leaders of Hoboken, New Jersey, have proposed a new funding plan for schools in the city that aims to address two issues. The first is local tax funding losses that result from economic development plans which include property tax abatements. To that end, the city will provide $500,000 annually to public schools, including three charters, via a mechanism called School Improvement Trusts. The second issue being addressed is traditional tensions between district and charter schools. Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher, who spent over a year working on this new proposition, said, “The biggest positive takeaway, in addition to providing funding for our public schools, is that we’ve seen the acrimony between our district and charter schools go away.” Here’s hoping the bold new plan succeeds.
Featured guest
Starlee Coleman, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, was a recent guest on the Pioneer Institute’s Learning Curve podcast. She covered a ton of important topics, including charter school growth in Texas and beyond, the complexities of charter school politics, the challenges of maintaining academic quality amid rapid expansion, the role of authorizers, and much more. You can listen to the podcast or read the transcript here.
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