Now that DPS is $590,000 poorer I'm wondering if Sharon can do a little more digging.

It's my understanding that after the 20th day of school charter schools conduct their student counts and get their financial allotments.

What happens when a child (say one who needs specials services or transportation to school that isn't provided at the charters) transfers back into a DPS school? Let's say this child transfers back in January. Does the charter then get less money for the rest of the year? Does the money follow-that child BACK into the DPS system? Does anyone know the answer?

Seems like that could be a lot of money.

"What happens when a child (say one who needs specials services or transportation to school that isn't provided at the charters) transfers back into a DPS school?"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think funding is pegged to each individual student which then follows that student accordingly. That would seem to be incredibly difficult to do and a substantial waste of resources. Schools are funded, I would imagine, based on population estimates. Durham Charter schools admit students through a lottery process until their population limit is met. After that, students are placed on a waiting list. If a student transfers out of a charter school into a public school, presumably a student on the waiting list would take their place. And most likely that student would come from a DPS school, making it an even trade off. Any special needs which may add to cost are irrelevant. My guess is that it is already part of the equation when determining per student funding. Obviously parents of special needs students do not pay higher taxes or fees for their children to attend public schools. I would imagine that funding is calculated through estimates of special needs children in a given district and distributed amongst all students in the district, not a customized funding of actual individual students. To put it another way, you don't see schools in the DPS system writing checks to each other when a student moves from one school to another. Regardless of your opinion of charter schools (and I personally don't think they address the systemic problems of eduation in this country), the children who attend them do deserve to receive the same funding as other children in the district.

@Rodrigo: a superficial ideological analysis fails to illuminate this discussion. Even though some may think of charter schools as "private", they are funded by the public, are open to all students, and in many ways operate in a more open, democratic way than do traditional public schools.

One key advantage of a well-run charter school (emphasis on well-run) is that the locus of control regarding curriculum, teaching methods, and budget allocation decisions is local. Here is a specific example from Central Park School for Children (I have two kids there). This year, the school administrators, in consultation with the democratically elected school council, implemented a new physical education program. Quoting from a communication sent home to parents, the goals are "to engage in professional development to connect the cognitive principles and strategies of aikido, yoga and dance to everyday problem solving and critical thinking situations. These strategies will assist our students develop empathy while avoiding aggression, one of the goals of our Peaceful Schools program. As the year progresses, every student will have one quarter of dance, yoga and aikido." This innovative program would have been difficult, if not impossible, to initiate within the institutional confines of DPS.

As these types of programs are proven in the charter school setting, I hope that traditional public schools will take the opportunity to incorporate new ideas into their thinking.

Don't forget lunch. If a charter school does not offer lunch to any student, then they do not have to offer it to those who qualify for free and reduced status. This is an easy way to cater to a specific demographic.

No transportation and no free/reduced lunch...I wonder who will attend that school.

I am a firm supporter of reform in public education and charter schools when ran effectively. Unfortunately these are the exception not the rule.

I support charter schools in general and have a child attending one of the schools on this list. I have been very pleased my experience. For one thing, a parent in a charter school actually seems to have a voice and can access the administration if necessary. School strategies for the year are at least disclosed/discussed with parents and feedback is encouraged, unlike "invitation-only" closed sessions for VIPs. (hint, hint)

Also, our traditional public schools have a serious lack of time spent for physical activity, to the severe detriment of our children. This is the result of a systematic approach of a teaching to the test, EOG / metrics-driven environment where children have no time to run. Its a shame that the people who design traditional public school curriculumns do not seem to keep up with research in neurological & physical development in children. Play and recess are absolutley necessary in healthy child development. Our trad. public schools place the highest priority on metrics and "results" (i.e. test scores) and as such do not seem to design curriculumns that are based in research.

Charter schools give parents a choice. They are not limited to only certain demographics, either, enrollment are done by random lottery. Any parent can enroll in the lottery if they choose.

So yeah, go charter schools.

@ Ann, gaylib, JCV: State funding is allocated on a per student basis, and can be re-allocated up to 60 days into the school year if a student transfers to/from a charter. Local funding per student is provided by student's home district.

From the NC General Statutes:

§ 115C‑238.29H. State and local funds for a charter school.

(a) The State Board of Education shall allocate to each charter school:
(1) An amount equal to the average per pupil allocation for average daily membership from the local school administrative unit allotments in which the charter school is located for each child attending the charter school except for the allocation for children with disabilities and for the allocation for children with limited English proficiency;
(2) An additional amount for each child attending the charter school who is a child with disabilities; and
(3) An additional amount for children with limited English proficiency attending the charter school, based on a formula adopted by the State Board.

In accordance with G.S. 115C‑238.29D(d), the State Board shall allow for annual adjustments to the amount allocated to a charter school based on its enrollment growth in school years subsequent to the initial year of operation.

In the event a child with disabilities leaves the charter school and enrolls in a public school during the first 60 school days in the school year, the charter school shall return a pro rata amount of funds allocated for that child to the State Board, and the State Board shall reallocate those funds to the local school administrative unit in which the public school is located. In the event a child with disabilities enrolls in a charter school during the first 60 school days in the school year, the State Board shall allocate to the charter school the pro rata amount of additional funds for children with disabilities.

(b) If a student attends a charter school, the local school administrative unit in which the child resides shall transfer to the charter school an amount equal to the per pupil local current expense appropriation to the local school administrative unit for the fiscal year. The amount transferred under this subsection that consists of revenue derived from supplemental taxes shall be transferred only to a charter school located in the tax district for which these taxes are levied and in which the student resides. (1995 (Reg. Sess., 1996), c. 731, s. 2; 1997‑430, s. 7; 1998‑212, s. 9.20(f); 2003‑423, s. 3.1; 2006‑69, s. 3(f).)

With lawsuits by such as those fomented by Ms. Stagner and Mr. Vinroot, is it any wonder that public education in Durham County lags behind?
When either of these two contribute a single idea or solution to the public discourse or when they don't cash an enormous check from the public trough, only then will I respect their standing in the education forum.
Until then, they're simply sharks and charlatans who don't chase ambulances but private school buses.

Question for the critics: Do you also consider public magnet schools that are done by lottery as exclusive?

As long as the public magnet schools done via lottery offer transportation and free/reduced lunch, then I would not consider them exclusive, if there are some that don't, then yes, I would also consider them exclusive.

It has been suggested that charter schools don't have to provide special education services.

We have a special needs child at Central Park. He was suspended from Kindergarten at Hope Valley because they got all authoritarian with him when what he needed was a little time-out and quiet space to sort his thoughts out and communicate his needs. Their too-large classrooms and regimented way of teaching were totally incompatible with his learning style.

(I don't understand how any kid can learn productively in that kind of environment; it's a testament to the resiliency of children that, apparently, many of them do.)

CPS's smaller class size and more flexible teaching methods made an immediate difference.

At CPS, they have gone above and beyond the call of duty to help him be a productive student and an active learner. Unlike the regular public schools, which always seemed to think of him as a "problem", CPS has always responded to his issues as challenges that it is their job to help him overcome so he can become a happy and productive member of society.

I can't speak highly enough about them. We would have been in very bad shape otherwise.

Mr. Chapman,

Will you please clarify the proportion of English Language Learning and Economically Disadvantaged 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders that scored at or above grade level in math and/or reading at Central Park last year.

Thank you,

Kirsten Kainz

@I heart Durham: I can assure you that magnet schools in Durham offer both free/reduced price lunches and bus transportation.

The Race To Nowhere gives a voice to what I witness daily as a public school teacher. I have 20 years of experience.

GREAT teachers will have no choice but to leave their honorable profession if the current trend continues. How many hours have been spent on assessment the past few weeks, rather than teaching project based units for your kids? I am ashamed to note the percentage of time I have been forced to complete one-on-one assessment. I teach 6 and 7 year olds. Given the new "assessments", the percentage of time testing, has increased.

I have a strong commitment to public education. While I ponder how long I can survive the inane trends, I know I will NEVER teach at a charter or private school.

@Bob,

1)Answer Ms. Kainz's question.

2) You can't be serious? You haven't had the time or interest to look at the data pulled out by ethnicity or SES?

Here it is again:
1) Central Park does not provide transportation.
2) Central Park does not provide lunch.
3) Central Park has almost no ESL students.

This prevents many, many of Durham's neediest students from enrolling. Oh, I get it... they should go to a separate school charter school or maybe even the public school... but it will be an equally funded school... yeah... for those students who can't provide transportation, whose parents don't have enough money to provide them an organic lunch, or for those students who can't even read enough English to even know how to enter the lottery... yeah, Bob, those kids go to "Separate But Equal" schools.

Charter schools have been around since the '80s, Bob. They were nothing special, UNTIL, upper middle class people, mostly white, started moving back into the cities. Then, and only then, did this movement gain traction, because as we all know, upper middle class kids should be able to go to school without having to be around poor people... cue Stephen Colbert. At least in the 80s charters trotted out a well respected academic to make their argument... not a developer like you, Bob. Seriously, what are your credentials? If I were cynical, I'd begin to question why business people who own property near the school are some of the FIRST people to start defending it. If I wanted to be constructive, I might ask you to get involved in changing DPS curriculum and instruction strategies to the strategies you've so carefully developed, modeled and tested at CPS? Do you have the aswers Bob? How do we stop drop outs? How do we retain teachers? How do we feed healthy meals? How do we lobby the state legislature to maintain funding?

@For those of you who don't understand my vilification of such a wonderful school,

You can't be serious? Can you point me in the direction of that program that is being tested at Central Park that if implemented by DPS would radically transform that school? (And simply lumping all the well off kids and those kids who have parents motivated well enough to enter them in a lottery doesn't count.)

I taught in Chapel Hill. My kids scored 95% on the state tests. The entire school average was above 90%. According to Bob's in depth analysis, Chapel Hill must have better teachers and strategies and more charters than Durham. We all know why CHCC scores are so high and Durham's aren't. It is called poverty. What charter schools do is suck attempt to suck the last remaining life out of the public school system so that middle class parents, no matter where they live, can send their kids to school with as few poor kids as possible.

Finally, I strongly believe that DPS should have a diversity policy much like the one that Wake had. (I mean, I can't tell you how surreal it seems to here all these Durham parents laughing at Wake's troubles when we have the exact system of neighborhood schools, magnets, and charters that Wake wants.)

I believe in the ability of each child to go to a quality school, no matter where they live. It is a shame that due to a court case in the 70s that school systems have shied away from integration across district lines. I mean seriously. Aren't the Chapel Hill Carrboro Schools essentially private? If you can't afford to buy a house in Chapel Hill, you can't go to school there? If you live closer to East Chapel Hill HS than Jordan, isn't East really your neighborhood school? Why should where you live determine where you go to school?

Pre integration, no one in Durham went to their neighborhood school. You went to the Black School or the White School. It didn't matter which one was closest. In fact, people made an argument much like the charter advocates make today... as long as schools are funded equal it is okay for the races to go to school separately.

Luckily, today, things aren't as grim as they were in the Jim Crow South. Unfortunately, today, because so many people are ignorant of history, we are once again institutionalizing a two tier system that will be equally funded, but forever unequal.

Tina,

I hear you about your concerns with DPS. I went to the unvieling of the DPS 4 year plan, and I was extremely underwhelmed. However, charters are not the solution. At best, they do no harm, Kestrel, MJ, etc., but worst case scenario, CPSC, they cater to urban dwellers who feel entitled to a suburban education free of poor people.

Michael

Michael -
Do your kids go to Eastway Elementary school? If not, want to use my address so they can have that experience and be the beacon of middle class hope in an impoverished school?

You don't get to have it both ways , critising the administration of DPS, being underwhelmed by their plans, stating that they don't listen to teachers or have nimble educational strats and then demonize anyone who looks for a better opportunity for their child or enrolls them in a school that is trying to be the solution to the problems you so readily point to in DPS.

Michael O,

You need to take a deep breath and calm down with all your judgements and high-horse nonsense. I'm assuming that you yourself live in an ED section of Durham and have your kids in an high % ED school, otherwise you really have no business calling out other people for sending their own kids somewhere else. Really, don't pat yourself on the back for your social-conscious. As several others have stated, there are some valid reasons to enroll in Charters that have nothing to do with classism.
Instead of actually acknowledging any of those valid reasons, you're just playing Durham race and class politics to make emotionally-charged points at people you don't like.

@Bob Chapman-
You mentioned lobbying for a one-mile walk zone for CPSC. Don't you own a lot of property in that one-mile walk zone, and aren't you looking to develop it?

What effect would the walk zone have on the property you own in the Central Park district?

If the problem with Charters is reduced accessibility for underprivileged kids due to the lack of (1) transportation, (2) free/reduced lunches, (3) ESL, why not argue for a requirement that charter schools also provide these things, rather than arguing against charter schools in general?

My take is that there should be more smaller schools in the DPS system, with more flexibility to set their own rules -- as opposed to the small number of increasingly gi-normous schools we have now.

Charter schools are a step in that direction, so they seem to me like a good idea and I'd like to see DPS offloading more kids onto a larger number of charter schools. Are the accessibility problems really so insurmountable?

@Natalie and justadurhamite,

Michael Oehler can surely speak for himself, but he doesn't need to be the only one leading the charge on this issue. My child attends school with Micheal's children, so I can attest that he does, in fact, have 2 lovely children enrolled in a Title 1, low income, traditionally underperforming school in Durham. I can also attest that he is an active parent who is in the trenches on nearly every initiative to improve his neighborhood school, regardless of whether his children directly benefit from his efforts. Hats off to him for doing so.

Despite the belief of parents who send their children to charter schools without any direct experience of DPS schools, a core group of motivated parents can make a public school "nimble" and engaging for students. In just the past two years, Michael's school has managed to fund an afterschool tutoring and enrichment program for underperforming students, a Responsive Classroom initiative, a salad bar for the lunchroom, new garden spaces with composting, and a burgeoning exercise program. That spans a pretty diverse range of interests, and those are just a few examples.

So, I just don't get this idea that you can't get the change you want from a public school. What it takes is commitment of a small group parents at the grassroots level to enact the changes they believe in. This is where the frustration comes in for an invested DPS parent. We find ourselves asking why parents are willing to invest themselves so fully in a charter school, but not in their neighborhood school? We don't understand why there a belief that your children will somehow lose every advantage you've presumably imparted to him or her and fail to thrive in a school where some of the kids are impoverished. What exactly makes some of you fear the public school?

It is not hard to understand why charter schools are frustrating to those of us in traditional DPS schools. We know what a few additional hours of parental investment and a few additional dollars can do to support an initiative to improve a school, but we see the potential of that financial and human capital leave our neighborhood for a charter school. We know that our children are happy and in school, but we are also disappointed that they don't get to be classmates with their buddies who live next door or down the block who go to charter or private school (or frankly, to a DPS magnet). We know our children are doing well in school, and we don't care to have them labor under the stigma that their school is somehow inferior due to test scores that do not effectively account for the individual demographics of each school (such as inclusion of EC scores for schools that take EC children from across the district).

I might have a little bit less disdain for charter schools that Michael. I have visited them, have gotten into them, and ultimately our family decided that our neighborhood school was a better fit overall. For the most part, I favor a traditional classroom education supplemented with fresh approaches where they fit best. Although I understand the valid reasons to enroll in charters, I also find it difficult to ignore the class-based elements in the system. It is not cheap, or easy, or unproductive to question where the charter system might lead, and what effect it will have on Durham's children. Will it be a tiered system where largely white affluent northern Durham dominates a few charter schools, and less affluent children dominate others? I can't predict the future, but the possibility certainly exists in the make-up of the current charters, so what would happen if the system expands at the expense of traditional DPS?

For my money, DPS is the most democratic and socially just option for education in Durham, flaws and all. In addition to neighborhood schools, there are magnets, year-round program, and other schools of choice. Sometimes it takes work, no doubt about it. It is just too bad more people in Durham are not committed to making it work.