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Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Editorial: When charter schools fail | Dallas Morning News

Editorial: When charter schools fail | Dallas Morning News:

Editorial: When charter schools fail






 Faith Family Academy of Oak Cliff is a sprawling charter school wedged between the Interstate 35E service road and the Christ for the Nations campus. The school has several metal-clad buildings, a couple of playgrounds, almost no greenery and more than 2,000 students in grades prekindergarten through high school.

All of those students will need to find a new school next fall. Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams warned Faith Family’s leadership in December that it would lose its charter because of poor financial and academic performance. The revocation should become effective this summer.
The school’s impending closure may surprise its students and parents — and leaders of nearby Dallas ISD schools, many of which also struggle with student achievement. According to news reports, Faith Family sent a note home to parents. It also posted an accreditation warning letter on its website, but you have to hunt for it.
There’s no “Going out of Business” banner; in fact, new job openings were posted on its website this month. Parents may not realize they need to start searching now for another, hopefully better school for their kids.
Charter schools are public schools that typically operate independent of traditional districts. They’re intended to encourage innovation and provide parents with more tuition-free educational options for their children.
From 1995, when Texas lawmakers first authorized charter schools, through last month, the state awarded 313 charters and revoked 24. Revocations accelerated after 2013, when legislators made it simpler to shutter underperforming charters. Faith Family is among the groups losing its charter under the new rules. (A sister school, Waxahachie Faith Family Academy, is not affected.)
Faith Family’s situation has received little attention compared with the well-publicized fight over another charter, Prime Prep Academy, just down the freeway; it closed in January. And Faith Family’s revocation process has been quicker than the bitter battle to pull the charter of Honors Academy, which had campuses in Oak Cliff and Wilmer, among others. Honors Academy continued operating even after losing its charter and finally closed in December.
However, the revocation of Faith Family’s charter is more important because its enrollment is larger than that of Prime Prep and Honors Academy combined. Its students are just like kids who attend nearby traditional schools: at high risk of failing because they’re almost all low-income and many are learning English. Because there’s no requirement to track where students from closed charters go, it’s hard to know whether their next school performs better or worse than their old one.
The state should prod charter schools to make their status clearer sooner. That would give community groups and education officials a chance to help parents learn how to find a stable, higher-performing school.
The last thing these children need is to hop from one school to the next, never finding the good education they need and deserve.

By the numbers
313 Charters awarded by the state
since 1995
188 Operating charters
24 Charters revoked
800 Approximate enrollment of Honors Academy at the time of closure Dec. 1
300 Approximate enrollment of Prime Prep Dallas/Fort Worth Uplift at time of closure Jan. 30
2,200 Approximate enrollment of Faith Family Academy of Oak Cliff
SOURCES: Texas Education Agency; Faith Family Academy 2013-14 school report card