Marcy Kingsbury has written a thoughtful letter outlining her objections to the opening of another charter in town: Dear Indiana Charter School Board: I would like to express my deep concern and strong opposition to the approval of the Green School application as a proposed Charter school for Monroe County. I believe it is irresponsible to authorize any new charters for Monroe County at the current time. Following the recession, the state of Indiana cut operational funds for public schools and then failed to restore these funds as the economy improved. Here is what these funding cuts have meant for our community: Currently, our public schools are being funded at 2009 levels, perhaps as low as 2007; in 2010 alone, MCCSC lost at total of $2,900,000 and eliminated 70 positions; since 2009, MCCSC has lost $331 from its “for per pupil rate per year” which has never been restored by the state. To restore these lost positions and maintain valued programs in MCCSC, such as librarians, Bradford Woods, Science Olympiad, marching band, foreign languages in middle school, and art and music programs, our community ran and passed a referendum in 2010 to maintain these programs through 2016. Importantly, we knew at the time that the public charter school, The Project School (TPS), existed and so the referendum dollars were fixed to accommodate “this choice” in our community. If the board approves The Green School charter application, our community public schools in MCCSC are projected to lose $541,500/year of operational funding for 100 students enrolling in The Green School and $1,083,000/year for 200 students. This is based on the $5,415 per-pupil funding that follows each child. It is extremely important to note that this exodus of per pupil funding from MCCSC schools to charters is not tidy. Because the proposed 165 children for first year enrollment in The Green School will likely not all exit a single school or whole classes in MCCSC, it is not as simple as eliminating 18 teachers and their classrooms. Instead, because of the loss of a single child here and there from various schools across the district, essential salaried teachers teaching subjects mandated by state tests will remain and personnel providing art, music, gym, librarians, and foreign languages will be cut, the exact programs promised by the referendum. If these programs are eliminated, it will be INCREDIBLY HARD to get community support for another referendum. Defaulting on the current referendum promises and the failure to pass a future one will have unfortunate consequences for programs and curriculum in all our public schools, including public charters. It is also important to note that Ball State did not approve the present charter application in 2013 when it applied as Green Meadows. We know that Ball State had not previously had a charter proposal for a referendum community. Additionally, if we examine the 20 charters schools sponsored by Ball State that were up for renewal in 2013, only 20% percent of these charters were renewed for another 5 years without performance conditions. Furthermore, 45% were declined renewal by Ball State (35%) or chose not to renew (10%). What does it mean for the stability and cohesiveness of communities if almost half of approved charters are not renewed after 5 years? Are these charter school experiments worth the cost of taxpayer money? In August of 2013, $91.2 million dollars in loans to charter schools were forgiven by a provision added to a budget bill approved by Indianas General Assembly. This $92 million in loans, now called “grants”, will never go back to the states Common School Fund. Importantly, traditional public schools are not forgiven such loans but rather have to pay them back to the Common School Fund. Finally, I would like to emphasize that schools in MCCSC have classrooms that offer programs and projects that are being espoused in The Green School charter application. Here are the types of projects that my children have conducted within MCCSC public school classrooms (multi-age and looping) over the past three years that teach environmental responsibility and stewardship, civic responsibility and global awareness and focus on the whole child: -Class garden, school wide recycling, nature walks every Wednesday and written entries and artistic drawings in nature journals -Yearly field trip to Sycamore Land Trust for a day “in nature” with environmental education provided by Carroll Ritter -Class business project where students designed and sold coasters to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House and a conservation program for endangered tigers -Hatching of monarch butterflies in collaboration with The Academy of Science and Entrepreneurship -Field trip to Monroe County Library for children to research a foreign country, culminating in an international celebration with food and a display of research journals for families -Global world project in which children learned which world countries have access to clean and running water, adequate food, schools, sufficient housing, etc. Project culminated in the filming of a class video with the children singing “We can change the world with our own two hands” to Jack Johnson’s song. -Kiva program in which money from classroom projects is used to provide business loans to people in need. My daughter’s class has provided loans to individuals to support grocery stores, cafes, and pharmacies in the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Mongolia and Iraq. -Participation in The Great Backyard Bird Count with two other MCCSC elementary classes in collaboration with the local Audubon society; children counted the number of backyard birds spotted at baited feeders on school grounds for two days to help scientists track bird populations worldwide. My daughter’s class spotted the most species and won the “Adopt an Atlantic Puffin” reward whereby her class will receive updates on a puffin that they helped to support in the wild. Children made paintings of their favorite backyard birds in art class for display in the school. -Martin Luther King food drive-“backpack buddies” where children donate food items to be filled in backpacks and provided to children in need -Insect research project with a field trip to Monroe County Library culminating in a family invitation to view research projects/journals and an associated art project of the child’s insect made out of paper Mache There are wonderful programs in our community public schools. Please consider the needs of 10,000 children served by approximately 20 MCCSC schools over the needs of 200 students for the proposed charter school. Sincerely, Marcy Kingsbury (Parent and resident in Monroe County)
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 17:30:24 +0000
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