The State Board of Education today granted initial certificates to five new state charter schools with proposed locations in Ansonia, New Haven, Stamford, and Waterbury. Although the Board has given initial approval, whether the schools eventually open depends on if the state legislature provides the necessary funding.
Board members clarified that their approval of the charters merely indicated that the schools’ applications met the criteria to operate a successful charter school per state statute.
CEA has opposed the creation of new charter schools on three grounds.
- Connecticut must sufficiently fund its existing public schools before expanding a parallel system of charter schools.
- The process for approving these charter school applications included poorly announced hearings, delayed public access to applications, and insufficient community engagement and input.
- The way charter schools selectively enroll students results in inequity, diminished diversity, and concentrations of the students with the greatest resource needs in the host school district.
CEA Educational Issues Special Elizabeth Sked told the Board this morning that public hearings for these charter schools were not well publicized, resulting in very low turnout—almost exclusively by those with a direct relationship to the charter schools seeking approval.
“In some cases, public comment came primarily, if not exclusively, from proponents who do not live in the affected communities,” Sked said. “Hearings were held with very little advance notice and, in the case of the schools before you today, the first hearings were held on applications that the department refused to release publicly.”
“I was present at the most recent public hearing and noticed that no parents of students currently enrolled in the Stamford Public Schools were present to speak either for or against having Big Picture Learning Academy and/or OLAM Public Charter School open in Stamford,” Stamford Education Association President John Corcoran (pictured above) told the Board. “In a city that has approximately 16,000 students, it is suspicious that there was such low turnout for public comment on an issue such as this.”
Corcoran also pointed out that no verification exists to ensure that BPLA will be operated independently from the Stamford Board of Education, which could threaten a diversion of staff and resources. Three Stamford Public Schools administrators are BPLA founders.
“The BPLA would only serve 400 of the 5,000 students currently enrolled in Stamford’s public high schools. Instead of investing in new charter schools, I urge you to prioritize funding and resources for strengthening our public school system, which serves the vast majority of our children,” Corcoran said.
Sked shared with the Board that in recent years, the share of students enrolled in charter schools in some urban districts has grown from around 3% to over 15%. For a city with 10,000 students, this would equate to 1,500 of its higher-performing students leaving the district, resulting in a concentration of students with the most intense service needs in regular public schools.
“All students benefit from the diversity and community of their peers,” she said. “The selective pattern of charter school enrollment makes for less equitable learning environments for every child. We urge board members to question whether continuing down this path is in the best interests of all students.”
The initial certificates approved today went to the following schools.
- OLAM Public Charter School, Stamford
- PROUD Academy, Ansonia
- Stamford Big Picture Learning Academy, Stamford
- Taino CoLab – New Haven Charter School, New Haven
- Taino CoLab – Waterbury Charter School, Waterbury
The State Board of Education will now submit copies of the approval documents and summaries of the comments made at local public hearings to the legislature’s Education and Appropriations Committees. The General Assembly will then decide whether to appropriate funds to the Connecticut State Department of Education to provide operating grants to the proposed charter schools.