A proposed charter school in Rich Township High School District 227 will “devastate” the district financially, and could lead to an illegal admissions policy, according to an attorney for District 227.
The school board recently voted to oppose the creation of the Southland Charter Prep School, championed by proponents as a college prep-oriented alternative to district high schools plagued by years of failing test scores.
Now, it’s in the hands of the state board of education. Organizers of the proposed charter school have until March 5 to send an appeal to the Illinois State Board of Education for review, according to the state board. The state then has 60 days to uphold or deny the appeal, or to ask for more information.
If the state has more questions in that period, the board will have an additional 60 days to make a decision.
In the history of Illinois charter schools, the state has only twice overturned the recommendation of a local school board, according to the state.
A major issue is funding for the new school, District 227 attorney John Fester said. Under charter school law, organizers of the school can request anywhere from 75 percent to 125 percent of the current money the state allocates per student in that district.
Rich Township collects more than $13,000 annually per student. The charter school has asked for the full 125 percent, which would amount to more than $16,000 per student.
The high percentage was requested to offset start-up costs, such as construction of the school building, and likely would be reduced in later school years, said lead charter school proponent Blondean Davis, superintendent of Matteson School District 162.
With a targeted enrollment of 1,000 students in four years, the charter school will result in $34 million in lost revenue for District 227, according to projections by the school district.
“They went for the whole enchilada,” Fester said of the charter school organizers. “Then we’re out a significant revenue stream and you cannot cut enough staff to offset that.”
Advocates for the school say the funding gap can be closed by state money budgeted specifically for districts adding a charter school. But no money has been budgeted this year to offset revenue District 227 would potentially lose. In fact, the state has not set aside money for that in the last five years, according to Mary Fergus, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education.
One point of conflict is a contract parents of charter school students would sign, requiring them to schedule weekly reading and physical fitness for their children and review their homework nightly. Students also would sign a contract requiring them to work to beautify the school grounds and participate in extracurricular activities until 5 p.m., such as tennis, chess or a writer’s workshop.
Such a contract is akin to an admissions policy, which is not permitted in public schools, Fester said.
“You can’t say ‘I’ll only take your child if he spends 30 minutes a week sprucing up the school grounds,’ ” Fester said.
But similar agreements are common in existing charter schools and traditional public schools, according to Davis.
Either way, the state’s decision won’t come soon enough for parents who say they are frustrated at the prospect of sending high-performing eighth graders to poorly performing high schools. Despite recent gains in test scores within the district, only 40 percent of juniors who took the state Prairie State Achievement Exam met the state’s minimum standard for reading and math. The state average is 53 percent.
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services