Nearly a decade after they started, new charter schools are opening in Northwest Indiana each year.
The Indiana General Assembly is considering several bills that would have an impact on the growth of charter schools, in particular House Bill 1002.
If passed, it would allow mayors of certain cities to establish charter schools, as well as private colleges and a state charter board. Currently, all public universities can become charter school authorizers, but only Ball State University serves as a gateway. The mayor of Indianapolis is also an authorizer.
Initially, charter schools were aimed at communities with fewer options and where academic achievement was low, said former Ball State Office of Charter Schools official Marty Dezelan.
“The majority of schools opened in Gary and Indianapolis,” Dezelan said.
Dezelan said that he sees more charters opening up in high poverty areas as well as more suburban communities.
Indiana Department of Education spokeswoman Lauren Auld said the department views charters as an alternative learning environment.
“We’re not saying that public schools are broken,” Auld said. “What we’re saying is that we want to offer more options. We’re not saying this is a silver bullet and it’s not going to solve all of the problems in education.
“Not all students learn the same way, so we want to offer kids the options of a charter, private, or virtual charter. We want to see what are their needs and where we can best help them.”
A bill that would offer vouchers for low-income students to attend private schools is also likely to pass the General Assembly.
But offering more options in a time of fewer resources will likely lead to more schools fighting for an increasingly diminishing budget pie, according to local education officials.
“On one hand the governor says he wants to consolidate schools, and on the other hand, let’s open up a whole lot of more buildings,” said Merrillville Community Schools Assistant Superintendent Mark Sperling said. “Those monies come from the public sector, and they come out of public school monies. In my opinion, it adds expense because one, you have more schools that require more resources and not all charter schools accept all kids.”
The charter bill creates additional expense for public schools by requiring them to share some of their transportation funds with charter schools that draw students from their districts, unless the district decides to transport them.
In the debate of these bills, many traditional public school teachers have argued that charters aren’t showing the academic results that they promised.
“There’s no good research anywhere that says charter schools outperform public schools,” Sperling said.
Auld said that HB 1002 does make charter schools more accountable to the state under a new letter grade system that debuts this spring.
“Right now, there isn’t a way for us to intervene; it’s up to the authorizers,” Auld said. “But under the bill, if a school receives three consecutive Ds or Fs in its first five years, then its sponsor must appear at a state hearing to determine a course of action.”
Charter school scores lagging
The Post-Tribune analyzed the most recent (Spring 2010) ISTEP+ data available on all schools in Lake and Porter counties. Schools were ranked based on the percentage of students in grades 3-8 passing both English/Language Arts and Math portions of the test.
Traditional public schools are still leading the way, and some charter schools aren’t doing much better than some of the lowest performing public schools in Gary.
Among third-grade students, four of the top five scoring schools were traditional public schools in Porter County. More than 30 public schools ranked higher than the top charter school — the East Chicago Urban Enterprise Academy at 83 percent. Those schools were in the East Porter, Valparaiso, Crown Point, Portage, Highland, Munster, Merrillville, Lake Central, Union Township, Griffith and Tri-Creek districts. Three of the lowest five scoring schools were charter schools — Charter School of the Dunes, East Chicago Lighthouse Charter School, and Aspire Charter Academy — along with Gary’s Glen Park Academy and Bailly Elementary.
In the fourth grade, six schools tied for the top score — two each in Lake Central and Crown Point along with Banneker Elementary in Gary and Memorial Elementary in Valparaiso. Sixty traditional public schools appeared before first charter — 21st Century Charter School at 68 percent. Schools from East Porter, Portage, Munster, Union Township, Merrillville, Hobart, Gary, East Chicago, Griffith, and Tri-Creek ranked higher.
In the fifth grade, Parkview Elementary in Valparaiso took the top spot at 94 percent, closely followed by schools in Munster, East Porter and Crown Point. East Chicago Urban Enterprise Academy was the top scoring charter school at 69 percent.
Only one charter — West Gary Lighthouse Charter School — appeared in the bottom 5 along with three Gary elementary schools and one East Chicago school.
As students move to middle school, clearing the 90 percent bar seems to get more difficult.
In sixth grade, Highland schools took three of the top spots along with Beiriger Elementary in Griffith and Franklin Middle School in Valparaiso. No school had more than 89 percent of students pass both sections of the test.
East Chicago Urban Enterprise Academy was the highest achieving charter school with 76 percent passing both sections. All of the lowest achieving schools were in Gary — three charters and two traditional publics.
In seventh grade, schools in East Porter, Valparaiso, Porter Township, Crown Point and Gary were in the top five. Thea Bowman Leadership Academy in Gary was only a few spots below the top five, with 75 percent of students passing English/LA and math.
Passing rates from West Side, Lew Wallace and Roosevelt high schools in Gary, along with the Charter School of the Dunes and East Chicago’s West Side Junior High, made up the bottom five.
Bannker Elementary School in Gary outpaced all eighth-grade students with 95 percent passing both sections, followed by Morgan Township Middle School, Highland Middle School, Franklin Middle School in Valparaiso and Taft Middle School in Crown Point.
Thea Bowman Leadership Academy ranked 17th among all schools. Passing rates from West Side, Lew Wallace and Roosevelt high schools in Gary and two charters, Charter School of the Dunes and Gary Lighthouse Charter School, made up the bottom five.