On a bone-chilling morning just before Thanksgiving, fourth-graders from Bronx Charter School for Excellence bundled up and happily sat in Bowling Green under a tent, a "classroom without walls."
The public-school kids were hoping that, through the howling Lower Manhattan winds, state leaders would hear the important message their little voices were sending: Provide fair and equitable funding for all charter schools, particularly when it comes to facilities funding.
These children attend a nationally recognized Blue Ribbon School — one so high-performing that more than 4,000 children are on the waitlist. The school's doing so well that the state chose it to collaborate with and guide a nearby traditional (district) school on how to achieve great results.
But Bronx Excellence is denied any state funding for facilities. It must use money that should go for teachers, books and materials to instead help pay rent and other building costs — all because an omission in state law leaves charter schools in private space out in the cold.
These fourth-graders know exactly why this is important and why the law needs to be changed in the next state budget.
They already know they're treated differently than "regular" public-school, and even some other charter-school, children.
Last March, many charter-school students from "co-located" schools (that is, ones that get "housed" in buildings owned by the city Department of Education) braved Albany's sub-freezing cold — and inspired state leaders to take a step toward funding charter schools more fairly.
They passed a new law giving new or expanding charter schools guaranteed space or funds to help pay for space.
But that law left out half of all charter schools in the state — the ones, like Bronx Excellence, housed in private space.
They already know they're treated differently.
That includes every single charter school outside of New York City in cities like Buffalo and Rochester, and also excludes 40 percent of charter schools in New York City.
Some governments outside New York do provide charters specific support for facilities.
Washington, DC, with one of the nation's very best charter systems, gives $2,940 per pupil. Massachusetts, another state with thriving charters, gives nearly $900 per pupil for facilities. Funding inequities remain in these areas, but every bit helps.
The Bronx Excellence scholars know they were left out in the cold once before. They want to make sure they're not left out again. The children know it's wrong that they're denied funding for their buildings — even though all New York children at district schools get funding for their buildings.
At Bronx Excellence, nearly 650 young scholars are provided an exemplary, world-class K-8 education. Our graduates have gone on to highly selective high schools, including Bronx Science and Ethical Culture Fieldston School.
On the most recent state exams, our students outperformed their host district and the state average by double-digit margins in both math and English. They're on the path to success.
Through the state's Charter School Dissemination Grant program, Bronx Excellence was chosen to work collaboratively with nearby PS 85 to help increase the performance of its students.
Like PS 85, we must make difficult decisions about where our budget dollars are spent — a situation made more challenging by the state's funding laws.
First, we only get about 67 percent per-pupil compared to what district schools receive.
Second, because we are denied state facilities support, we must divert more than 17 percent of our budget away from learning and into facilities.
That means Bronx Excellence has only about half as much money for education as our neighboring city school. Imagine the excellence we could provide if we had this money to use on more teachers, classrooms and materials.
We shouldn't have to pay for our school's buildings at our students' expense when other schools, including many charters, do not.
Charters in New York have proven their worth. If we're serious about breaking "cycles of failure," about funding what works, then all charter students deserve equal access to public funding for their school buildings.
One of the little girls who sat outside on that cold morning said with a smile that she wanted to be an engineer or a fashion designer when she grows up. The boy next to her wanted to be a rocket scientist. I have no doubt that these children and their classmates will become anything they want to be.
Our children are too young to vote, but not too young to have a voice. We hope our state leaders can hear them.
Joyce Frost is vice president of the Board of Trustees of Bronx Charter for Excellence.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Leveling the field for great schools
Dengan url
http://bahayaprostat.blogspot.com/2015/01/leveling-field-for-great-schools.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Leveling the field for great schools
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Leveling the field for great schools
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar