Monday, March 08, 1999
Concept for CPS charter schools takes shape
Proponents say they'd aid reform
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A coalition of community and education leaders is lobbying Cincinnati Public Schools officials to embrace charter schools as a reform that might lure back hundreds of students who drop out or transfer to other schools each year.
Some of those leaders and school board members will meet today to tweak the draft of a policy that the board hopes to approve March 22.
Board members and the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers agree that charter schools are integral to reform.
Charter schools — called community schools in Ohio — are independent, public schools that operate free of many state mandates.
Lawmakers adopted Ohio's charter school law in 1997 to give parents more choices and in the belief that public schools would improve through competition.
Within the Cincinnati school district, they can be chartered by the Ohio Department of Education or the school board. Two state-char tered community schools opened last fall in Cincinnati, and the state is considering chartering seven more aiming to open this fall.
If Cincinnati schools are chartered locally, the 47,400-student district retains control; state-chartered schools are accountable only to the state.
If the policy passes, Cincinnati educators will be freer to reshape failing schools by turning them into charter schools. With that comes greater flexibility and freedom from a variety of local rules and state regulations.
In a recent letter to Superintendent Steven Adamowski, coalition members say Cincinnati support for charter school applicants should include:
• More per-pupil money than Ohio offers.
• Aid in securing a facility.
• Staff development.
• Help in reporting school data to the Ohio Department of Education and payroll and tax information.
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