Learning from Defeat?
Posted by BKisida | Education, Fayetteville, AR, Politics | September 22, 2009
The Fayetteville School Board will discuss the election results of the failed millage increase during the board’s meeting this Thursday at 5 p.m. in the Adams Leadership Center at 1000 W. Stone Street. Also on the agenda is a scheduled vote on a proposal from the Prism Education Center to open a new public charter school in Fayetteville. A show of support from the board could signal how much the board has learned in the aftermath of the millage defeat. Financially, the proposed charter school would save the district money. Yet the Northwest Arkansas Times is reporting that Associate Superintendents Ginny Wiseman and John Colbert are looking this gift-horse in the mouth and have recommended that the board vote against authorizing the charter school.
In the immediate sense, the public charter school would save the district money because charter schools in Arkansas operate solely on state funding. This is in turn leaves more revenue from local property taxes available for other projects, like, say, constructing a new high school.
You may hear opponents of charter schools argue that because the district won’t receive the state allotted per pupil funding, the net result of local students being lost to charter schools represents a net financial loss to the district. Not so. While it is true that the district will not receive the money attached to the students who opt to attend the charter school, they also won’t have to pay for teachers and facilities to educate those students. It comes down to a difference between levels and ratios. While the level of dollars received and spent could be less due to the presence of an additional charter school in the area, the fact that the district won’t have to commit any local revenue to the charter school means that the ratio of dollars to students in the district will actually increase.
In the broader sense, Arkansas’ stance on charter schools could have million-dollar implications. President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have called for states like Arkansas to lift their arbitrary caps on the number of charter schools that are authorized. Currently Arkansas caps the number at 24. And the President and Secretary Duncan are doing more than just nudging states to fall in line. They have indicated that states with charter school caps will be at a “competitive disadvantage” for $4.35 billion that is to be handed out under the “Race to the Top” program.
Ultimately, the vote by the Fayetteville School Board on Thursday is little more than a statement. The Arkansas State Board of Education actually has the power to approve new charter school applications, and it is up to the state to lift the cap. But Thursday’s vote will give citizens of Fayetteville a chance to see if the board has learned any valuable lessons in the aftermath of defeat. An overwheling majority of voters indicated that they have reservations when it comes to the district’s ability to manage money. Are they listening?
Whether the Fayetteville school district is behaving irrationally here depends on whether we think districts behave as “profit” maximizers or revenue maximizers.
If they should behave as profit maximizers, then refusing charter applications is irrational because charters would allow them to have more “profit” (or more money to spend per student).
But if schools should behave as revenue maximizers, then the rational things for them to do is to turn down requests from charters because it would take revenue away from them.
I suspect most public school districts act like revenue maximizers, not profit maximizers.
It’s interesting that the district officials have recommended against authorizing a school promoting an innovative learning environment that seeks to prepare children for the 21st century…
Perhaps the district officials believe they are the only people who can provide this service?
The only other public charter high school in the Fayetteville School District, Haas Hall Academy, was oversubscribed 5-to-1 in their entry grade this year and subsequently had to implement a low-probability admission lottery. Clearly there is unsatisfied demand for alternatives to FHS.
Prism did not propose a charter high school.
Startup request was K-4 to extend to K-8 later.
Thanks for stopping by Susan, and right you are. I didn’t focus on the grade levels to be offered by Prism because the substance of my argument was simply that the charter school would save the district money, and, even though the millage was for the high school, the central issue here is funding. Saving money in one area would free up money for other areas.
That said, while I don’t know the current status, there has been recent talk about another charter school that is planning on opening in Fayetteville–The Dove School of Excellence–that I believe would serve high school students. If successful, this school could both save the district money and help to alleviate some of the space concerns at the current high school.
Susan — Do you think the district would be more supportive if the application were for a charter high school?
I don’t believe that the district has ever supported a request from Haas Hall.
Emmett-The district evaluates each request on the merits of the specific request. Susan
What would those merits be? Does Haas Hall lack merit?