Minnesota charter schools will be pushed to diversify
Rule changes will require charters to develop integration plans.
Minnesota state education officials are considering significant changes to a program intended to end racial segregation in schools and for the first time insisting that charter schools do more to diversify their classrooms.
The state Department of Education is overhauling the rules of its integration program after years of debate and criticism by the Legislature. For the first time, the department is requiring that charter schools create integration plans. The department will also change the criteria for which districts are eligible to receive the integration money, which means some districts could see dramatic shifts in aid.
Education officials say the changes will address criticism that the program has not adequately diversified the public schools, which some data show have gotten more starkly divided between white and minority students in recent years.
“There is flexibility for districts to come up with creative ideas on how they will use the funds,” Assistant Commissioner Daron Korte said.
So far, the biggest opposition to the changes comes from operators of the state’s burgeoning charter school industry, which are luring students away from traditional public schools in increasing numbers.
Charter school officials say their schools were created in order to give parents more choices, and argue the Education Department has no authority to include them in the program. Under the current program, districts must create an integration plan if they have schools with large concentrations of students of color or dramatically more minority students than a neighboring district, typically more than 20 percentage points.
The state doles out about $70 million a year for 134 districts to implement their plans, which included funding magnet programs or special teacher training.
In 2011, the Legislature was ready to scrap the program, saying the state was spending too much money with little results. Ultimately, the Legislature voted to keep the program, but it also allowed districts to use the money to address the achievement gap between white and minority students, a departure from using the funds solely to integrate schools.
“This whole program is confusing,” said Eugene Piccolo, executive director of the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools. “Is this about desegregation, is it about integration or about student achievement? What is the ultimate goal?”
The NAACP of St. Paul sent a letter to the Education Department saying the state’s desegregation efforts should really be defined as achievement gap plans.
“The efforts have shifted almost entirely … to closing the achievement gap, with only lip service or very small amounts of total funding being focuseMinnesota charter schools will be pushed to diversify - StarTribune.com: