Portland Public Schools’ board of education voted 6-1 on Monday night to deny LEP High’s charter application at a meeting packed with students, teachers and parents. All those folks had been hoping for a different outcome for their school.
The background on why those community members are supporting LEP is in the above link. Suffice it to say, PPS was threatening to close LEP because of “financial difficulties” at the school. According to a summer audit, LEP High had a $143,000 deficit. But administrators from the charter school have said that figure was outdated; last week they put the deficit closer to $60,000 and said they were about to finish paying it off through massive fundraising that’s included ads on TV. (In operation since 2006, LEP had to go before the board on Monday for its three-year review process, as mandated by state law.)
Martín González, who’s up for re-election in May, was the only board member to vote against killing the school’s charter. The rest of the board voted to kill the charter, with some members urging LEP High to appeal the board’s decision when it could demonstrate its finances were in order. LEP High may do that as soon as this week.
A number of items came before the board Monday night that caused LEP supporters to grumble. Let’s take those issues, board member by board member:
Bobbie Regan said the way PPS shares anti-poverty dollars with charter schools “does seem inherently unfair.” Let’s use LEP as an example. The school says more than 60 percent of its students qualify as low-income. The district-wide average for PPS is 17 percent. Yet LEP gets anti-poverty funding as if it, too, had 17 percent — not 60 percent of students in poverty. “That’s not a Portland Public Schools issue, that’s a state issue,” Regan claimed.
Sonja Henning was on the verge of recognizing the holes in Regan’s claim, for a moment appearing poised to ask the right question: Does PPS keep the money that poor kids at LEP bring to the district? It took Superintendent Carole Smith to frame the question. But once she did, she acted as though she regretted it. “It’s a state issue,” Smith said. “So is that a no?” Henning asked. “I’m not asking to raise flares. The facts are what they are.”
That’s when Trudy Sargent, who’s running unopposed in her May re-election, chimed in. State law doesn’t let the district do anything different with anti-poverty dollars, she claimed.
Ruth Adkins then made a doozy of a statement. She said making sure charter schools and other public schools had equal funding would have “ramifications.” Like, maybe, equity?! I thought “equity” was PPS’s favorite word, after “green,” “sustainable” and “stable.” Sheesh.
David Wynde let it be known he didn’t appreciate LEP High supporters’ email blast denouncing PPS’s decision as if the district were the villain in this scenario. “There’s a need and a lot of evidence to show this school is a success,” he said. But, the business side of the school hasn’t been working, he added. And, “it’s not either or.” Both the educational program and the business component of a charter school must be viable. LEP, Wynde said, didn’t meet numerous deadlines to support its charter school re-application. And for that reason he was voting no.
Henning spoke again at this point. And while some people thought she might have been a dissenting vote in this decision, she said she was supporting the resolution. “This is purely a management issue,” she said. “We shouldn’t be at this point.” Unfortunately, Henning was also responsible for the most awkward moment of the night. When she indicated again she would be supporting the resolution, students in the audience clapped loudly, momentarily confused about what “supporting” the resolution meant. Ack.
Dilafruz Williams voted against LEP High in 2006 when it first went before the board. She praised the students from LEP that she’s met over the years. Then she voted to close their school.
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So, Willamette Week, will you follow the money and find out the answer to where are those poverty dollars?
It appears that board members said to LEP they’re not meeting district criteria, but when they do have their finances in order then they should appeal. If a banker told you to reapply for a loan when your finances were in order, would you say the banker had shot down and killed your application? LEP seems like a fine school from what I can tell, but your increasingly sharp slant in favor of everything that has to do with charter schools makes me suspicious. PPS really is not the Evil Empire. Obama likes charter schools fine, but I’ll bet that he also has an appreciation for objective reporting.
So, Beth, going to look into the foster kids money? PPS gets it, then keeps it and does not pass it on to charters. Lets see some digging and good reporting…you know there was a lot of BS spouted last night. Get to the bottom of it!
It is very important to know that the way the state distributes money for poverty is not intuitive. Free and reduced statistics include kids whose parents make up to 185% of the federal poverty level. But the poverty level for additional funding is based on census figures for poverty at the 100% threshold. Thus a school district with 42% of the kids getting free and reduced lunches wouldn’t mean that the school funding formula proportionally increases that much overall.
Title 1 funding for PPS high schools is based on meeting a threshold of 75% F&R lunches. The threshold is much lower for elementary schools (40 to 43%). Why? Well, one reason has to do with NCLB. High schools fail to meet adequate yearly progress. What large school district would want to get slapped with the sanctions of Title 1 funding being yanked? Thus, the additional revenue primarily goes to elementary school aged kids and well… the kids in secondary schools have to sink or swim. Not good in traditional high schools. Not good in charter high schools.
With our economic bust, more kids will take the hits of short-sighted underfunding of education.
From LIFE magazine, August 29, 1907
Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It’s like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won’t fatten the dog.
- Mark Twain- Speech 11/23/1900
In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made school boards.
- Mark Twain- Following the Equator, Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar
I hate this quote about school boards. School boards work hard and are unpaid volunteers. I have served on a school board (not in a public district but in a charter). It is hard work and anyone who thinks they can do better please try!
So, are we going to the State, or what?