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In this edition: SUCCESS!! NORTH COUNTRY CHARTER ACADEMY “I get letters and calls from parents...some are so overwhelmed they are in tears thanking us.” When North Country Charter Academy opened in Littleton and Lancaster, Director Lisa LaVoie didn’t anticipate the school’s impact. Five (5) students have already graduated and by June another 14 students will have earned high school diplomas. North Country Charter Academy is a drop-out prevention and drop-out recovery charter school serving 45 students ages 14-21 from over 9 school districts. Students come from towns covering over 4,000 rural square miles--where few quality options exist for completing high school, and even fewer options exist if you drop out. “I am just unbelievably happy that this charter school has been such a success. The need is so great our charter school is becoming successful on its own!” “By end of first semester (January 14th) we had a 90% attendance rate at the Lancaster and 89% attendance rate at Littleton. These students never had this motivation to attend and actively engage in school. And we have an 84% retention rate. Students WANT to be here. Out of the 19 students graduating, 9 were high school drop-outs going back to 2001. “Students are here for 3 hours. It’s very intense with a low student-teacher ratio. Our kids are loving being on computers, being actively engaged at all times. They are not bored or just sitting and listening: they are actively engaged and the time flies. “Our biggest issue is future funding of charter schools. But with the success we are seeing right now, after half a year, it’s obvious this school has to continue. I am still receiving an overwhelming amount of calls. I’ve had over 150 calls from parents and students. Even organizations and businesses now want to know more about us. “As for academic performance, our assessments show average gain in math performance at 2.2 grade levels (that’s in one half a year). Vocabulary scores have risen 1.02 grade levels and writing skills are up 1.4 grade levels. Student self-esteem and self-confidence are going up. I’ve had 3 students go with me to Rotary and state conferences for presentations. They want to speak on behalf of our Charter Academy. To me, this means our students are thankful for the new education opportunity they’ve been given. Our students want to help make sure this charter school is continued. Lisa will be on School Talk, Wednesday at 1:00 p.m., March 9th, WKXL 1450 AM. Listen in from our web site. For more information, contact Lisa LaVoie. SEACOAST CHARTER SCHOOL: THRIVING IN STRATHAM A Portsmouth Herald article brings little Seacoast Charter School to life. Emily Hamilton (Director) & Patrice Baker (Board Chair) will discuss this unique elementary (grade 3-6) charter school this Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. on SCHOOL TALK. Listen in. And check out everything In The News on new charter schools. Got a charter school idea you’d like to explore? April 4th is your last chance to submit a planning grant. Grants of $5,000-$10,000 give parents, communities, teachers, and/or non-profit organizations up to 6 months to consider whether or not a charter school might fill a need, address overcrowding, bring a village school back to a village, or offer a unique school. You can even propose converting an existing school or creating an independent school within a school. Check out our website’s HOW TO BEGIN. These “pre-charter planning” grants bring people together to think and share ideas. Confused about charter schools? A Josiah Bartlett Center mini-grant program ($500 per mini) allows for get-togethers to learn about charter schools. Please know that NH Center for School Reform provides free technical assistance with grants & charters. Contact us. HB76 (voting results below) sets in stone that money for charter schools flows “through” school districts. This requires all districts to show the pass-through funding as an expense, which can create havoc with a bottom line budget. Almost all people involved with charter schools suggest the money path flow “directly” from the state to the charter school. The Department of Education has opined that adequacy payments are real time and there is no two-year delay. This year’s adequacy formula is based on the last available complete enrollment data, which is a prior year. HB76, revising the process of charter school approval by the state board of education. MAJORITY: OUGHT TO PASS. MINORITY: INEXPEDIENT TO LEGISLATE. Rep. Stephen R. L'Heureux for the Majority of Education: This bill makes two clarifications in the charter school funding law. The first clarification addresses the payment to be made for the student’s fiscal year of attendance. The second clarification eliminates the reference to the Department of Education regarding payment of tuition to the charter school. The committee voted ought to pass 11-8. Vote 11-8. Rep. Claire D. Clarke for the Minority of Education: Although public charter schools for specific education exist, the funding procedure in this bill is flawed. The state funds charter schools with adequacy money. There is a two year delay in adequacy aid and this bill requires the school district to immediately give the charter school an adequacy amount for students who may not have been in the school district’s count. Some students may have been home schooled or in a private school and now choose to enroll in a charter school, thus the district never received state funds for these students. The minority therefore believes that public schools should not have to use their adequacy money to pay charter schools in advance. Children in certain chartered public schools have not received one cent of the state’s education funding--their only school operational funds. Why? The pass-through of state funds through school districts (what HB76 is not fixing). Some charter schools have received $0.00 operational funds to pay their teachers. It’s almost March! The $3340 of state adequacy funds is ½ to 1/3 the amount of public funding other community children receive. Still, some school boards are refusing to turn over the state’s adequacy funding for these children. HB76 is not fixing the problem. New charter schools have zero reserves and no accumulated assets with which to borrow. So the state’s money is not reaching the children in certain charter schools who have no other source of operational funding. SCHOOL FACILITIES: NEWEST IDEA—BRING OLD TOWN BUILDINGS BACK TO LIFE In Pennsylvania, an historic campground originally rich in history, with rare Victorian public buildings designated a historical district by the National Register of Historic Places was converted to a charter school. The grounds and buildings had fallen into disrepair. A 1999 "Master Plan" suggested bringing the property back to life. Read on about this win-win school proposal. In Denver, Colorado, the community came together to obtain a school charter and save an 1887 historic building considered “a blight on the urban landscape. Funding was achieved quickly through generous gifts from private citizens and grants. Read about it here. In Georgia, the state charter school association had meetings with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation about developing a programs with available historic school buildings in the area. Charter schools have had a new outcome—saving historic buildings from sprawl. In a new video “The Future of Schools: Inside and Out” ($19.95) experts in acoustics, energy, education and building design review creative school construction alternatives, showing projects in New York, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. Restoring old community buildings and turning them into 21st century schools has great benefits, according to a report from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Smart Growth Schools (local schools) bring communities together, schools become the flagship of the town again, and student achievement and student health improve (from walking to school). According to the National Trust, Smart Growth school efforts are cost-effective, with renovation costs often supported by grants and gifts. A key issue toward using older state and local buildings for schools is Eliminating Bias About Renovation of Older Schools. Dozens of states are offering tax incentives to encourage better public policy regarding utilization of existing buildings for schools, reducing sprawl, and bringing education back to Main Street. Do you know where New Hampshire stands on a state-by-state comparison? Check Here. Have you visited the NH Center for School Reform web site? It’s chock full of information. This newsletter was designed by Riverbank Communications, LLC Copyright © 2005 New Hampshire Center for School Reform;
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