Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

School Board discusses governor's education plan

Gurdon School District Superintendent Bobby Smithson has been attending meetings and working hard to inform Gurdon about Arkansas State Governor Mike Huckabee's new educational plan.

"Since our last school board meeting," said Smithson, "we have researched, to some extent, the rules and regulations applicable to charter schools. A public school district may only apply for a conversion charter school, which is what we would be forced to do  if necessary."

"Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools of choice that operate with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools.

"The "charter" establishing each such school is a performance contract detailing the school's mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success.

"The length of time for which charters are granted varies, but most are granted for 3-5 years. At the end of the term, the entity granting the charter may renew the school's contract," he added.

"Charter schools are accountable to their sponsor  usually a state or local school board  to produce positive academic results and adhere to the charter contract.

"The basic concept of charter schools is that they exercise increased autonomy in return for this accountability," Smithson continued. "They are accountable for both academic results and fiscal practices to several groups: the sponsor that grants them, the parents who choose them, and the public that funds them."

Some of the possible benefits to becoming a charter school include:

(1) Increase opportunities for learning and access to quality education for all students;

(2) Create choice for parents and students within the public school system;

(3) Provide a system of accountability for results in public education;

(4) Encourage innovative teaching practices;

(5) Create new professional opportunities for teachers;

(6) Encourage community and parent involvement in public education; and

(7) Leverage improved public education broadly .

Charter schools are established for a variety of reasons. The founders generally fall into three groups: grassroots organizations of parents, teachers and community members; entrepreneurs; or existing schools converting to charter status.

In Gurdon's case the latter reason would be the reason for converting.

However, Smithson said he looks at the charter school option as a last resort for Gurdon to save the school.

According to information from the Internet, charter schools are becoming more and more popular each year. As of now, 39 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have passed charter school laws.

Charter schools opened for the first time during the 2002-2003 school year in Indiana and Wyoming. Iowa, New Hampshire and Tennessee have charter laws but no charter schools.

The Center for Education Reform states there are about 2,700 charter schools currently in operation (an increase of approximately 14 percent from last year) serving more than 684,000 students.

CER's 2002-2003 National Charter School Directory reports that Arizona leads the nation in number of charters, with 468 schools currently in operation, followed by California (436), Florida (232), Texas (228), and Michigan (186).

Charter schools vary from state to state, not only because the individual charters set out unique mission and goal statements, but also because state charter laws, which significantly influence the development of charter schools, also vary. The laws cover seven basic policy and legal areas:

(1) Charter development: who may propose a charter, how charters are granted, the number of charter schools allowed, and related issues.

(2) School status: how the school is legally defined and related governance, operations, and liability issues.

(3) Fiscal: the level and types of funding provided and the amount of fiscal independence and

(4) autonomy.

(5) Students: how schools are to address admissions, non-discrimination, racial/ethnic balance, discipline, and special

(6) education.

(7) Staffing and Labor Relations: whether the school may act as an employer, which labor relations laws apply, and other staff rights and privileges.

(8) Instruction: the degree of control a charter school has over the development of its instructional goals

(9) and practices.

(10) Accountability: whether the charter serves as a performance-based contract, how assessment methods are selected, and charter revocation and renewal

(11) issues.

Some groups have compared and/or ranked state charter laws according to various criteria. For instance, the Center for Education Reform considers laws "strong" or "weak" depending on how much they foster the development of numerous, independent charter schools.

Although Smithson is looking at the idea of a charter school as a last resort, he is covering all grounds and sent Gurdon High School Prinicpal, Lenoard Gills, Gurdon High School Assistant Principal, Charles Faila, and Gurdon School District Curriculum Coordinator, Bonnie Ross to a Charter School Conference on February 20-21 in Little Rock.

Smithson said he felt he was sending the A-Team to the conference and knew they would report on the subject well.