NEWSLETTER UPDATE #44

March 12, 2008

Two House Committees--one supports charter school funding; one does not.

The full House will decide next week.

STATUS OF CHARTER SCHOOL & SCHOOL CHOICE BILLS:
We’ve updated our website listing of bills related to charter schools and choice and even created a graveyard of bills that didn't make it.

Senate Bill 343 is alive and well. This allows a school district to apply for facility aid on behalf of a charter school. Current statute allows building aid only if the district “owns” the building and has it under lease to a charter school. SB343 is an improvement, but most charter schools need a rent allowance or stipend to cover monthly facility costs. A stipend provision makes New Hampshire eligible for national charter school facility programs that guarantee mortgages and loans . In the state budget, state programs without public space are provided facility costs. It seems every single program has facility costs except the chartered schools.

Senate Bill 418 has passed the Senate and crosses to the House. SB 418 officially changes the name of charter schools to ‘chartered public schools’—which is intended to help with the ongoing misinformation about what these schools are and how they fit into the system of public schools (district public schools, regional career technical public schools, and chartered public schools). While all public schools are not-for-profit and tax exempt, no public schools are governed by the secretary of state, so perhaps this confusion can get sorted out in 418.

House Bill 1563 is not a charter school bill, but another bill giving more and more public funding access to the public-private schools that charge tuition. While the chartered public schools are strangling and dying, additional public funding options are being afforded to the public-private schools, renamed “public academies.” The charter schools are true public academies but were left out of the new definition of public academies.

HB 1563 gives public-private schools authorization “to receive public funds for renovation and expansion of regional vocational education programs” and to recognize their programs as regional vocational education programs. This provision is what chartered 100% public high schools with no tuition have requested:

The commissioner, department of education, is hereby authorized and directed to designate high schools, and public academies as defined in RSA 194:23, II, offering vocational education programs as vocational education centers

Perhaps the funding solution for charter schools is to let them be defined public academies and let districts tuition in like they tuition in to public academies.

House Bill 1642
HB1642 is the forward-moving bill to fix charter school funding this year. The House Education Committee voted 12:2 (resoundingly) that this should pass, that the schools were important, and that they should be funded. The budget subcommittee voted 5:2 to nix the bill on March 10th. The full budget committee and then the full House will vote March 17th-20th and decide which committee to support.

There were two versions of HB1642—one --the Weyler/Clarke amendment--goes back to district contributions coupled with the state’s aid portion with $$ sent to charter schools directly and painlessly by the state. The second--the Casey/Clarke amendment -- add s an additional amount (like weighted aid) for the charter schools that are independent and regional. The Casey/Clarke amendment would extend the moratorium for one year because this bill extends funding for one year. And then next year there would hopefully be a real funding solution and everyone would spend the year worrying about money once again.

THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION SAYS: FUND THESE SCHOOLS

The State's highest education officials has a message for the New Hampshire legislature--fund the chartered public schools! We need them.

Statement from the NH State Board of Education:

"The members of the State Board of Education at their February 13, 2008 meeting voted unanimously to publicly acknowledge their continuing support for charter schools as an important public school option in New Hampshire. The State Board of Education urges the legislature to move expeditiously to provide sustainable long-term funding for New Hampshire's charter school students.".

To help along the discussion, a new document:
20 GOOD REASONS TO FUND CHARTER SCHOOLS!