Thanks to Jim Ruebsam for compiling this report:Senator Jeff Smith Sponsors Senate Bill 564
Oversight for Charter Schools?
SB 564 was introduced referred to Senate Education Committee on 03/04/09. SB 564 allows the State Board of Education to revoke the charter of charter schools that have decreasing student assessment scores.
I feel of Senator Smith’s sponsored bills in 2009, this one deserves further analysis due to Senator Smith’s advocacy for charter schools as well as his involvement with Confluence Academy, which operates three charter schools in St. Louis. He is also a Board Member of the Missouri Charter Public School Association. Below is a copy of the bill’s summary:
“This act requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to compare student assessment scores of students at charter schools that use the MAP test to measure student performance.* The Department will compare the average of the scores from the school’s first and second years of operation with the average of the scores from the sixth and seventh years of operation. If the later scores are worse, the Department must conduct a public hearing within sixty days, at which time the charter school may provide the Department with a compelling reason as to why it should remain open. The State Board of Education may monitor the charter school for the next two years. If student scores do not improve after two years, the State Board of Education must revoke the school’s charter and close the school. In addition, the sponsor will not be able to sponsor any new charter schools.”
Editorial by Jim Ruebsam
First, I am not an expert on public education policy, but as a soon-to-be Dad who plans on raising his kids in the City, I am studying the issue closely. I’ve heard many sides to the Charter school vs. district public school argument, and there are valid points for promoting charter schools just as there are for limiting tax dollars only to fixing public schools. That said, I feel Senator Smith’s and other, similar legislation deserves further examination.
*I emphasized the section on MAP tests because it’s not clear which charter schools actually use MAP testing, and I can’t find evidence that they’re required to do so. What about charter schools that don’t use MAP testing? Reader clarification on this matter is welcome.
While this bill may be attractive to many public school supporters in the St. Louis area since it creates oversight for charter schools, Senator Smith’s involvement in the Confluence Academies and Missouri Charter Public School Association’s Board of Directors makes his sponsorship of SB 564 interesting. Senator Smith is willing to submit to increased oversight, but this bill could also serve to further legitimize and perhaps expand charter schools-an action that many district public school proponents may oppose.
More importantly, Senator Joan Bray (D-24) introduced SB 51, which appears to provide much stronger oversight for charter schools. Unlike Senator Smith’s bill, SB 51 requires “the state board of education to classify as unaccredited any charter school that attains an annual [emphasis added] performance review score consistent with the classification of “unaccredited” within sixty days of the publication of the annual performance review data.” After two successive years of unaccredited status, the charter would be revoked.
Senator Bray originally introduced this bill in 2008, but it stalled in committee. It would be interesting to know if Senator Smith introduced SB 564 in response to the much stronger language in Bray’s bill-as it appears to this public education policy novice-or if it was an honest attempt to ensure charter schools are held to the same standards at district public schools.
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