State Tightens Rules For Charter Schools

In the wake of recent controversies, the state announced plans to start requiring that charter schools operate more like other public schools — ​“transparently,” with clear standards to meet.

That was the upshot of new policies announced Monday afternoon by the state Department of Education. That agency — not local school boards — oversees charter schools, which receive public money but can operate under different rules from those followed by traditional public schools.

The department announced the new regulations on the heels of a scandal involving a Hartford charter organization and the last-minute approval of a controversial charter for New Haven’s new Booker T. Washington Academy. (Read about that here.)

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration has come under criticism by charter skeptics for allegedly being too close to the charter movement without properly regulating it. His handling of charter controversies has become an election-year issue; the governor recently said in a New Haven visit that he wants his education department to ​“do a better job.” Click here and on the video to read about his response to that.

One of the state’s most outspoken charter critics, gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Pelto, dismissed Monday’s announcement as ​“an election-year gimmick to deflect Malloy’s inappropriate support for the charter school industry over the past four years.” Charter advocates characterized them as creating pointless new bureaucracy.

The new regulations require charter boards to set ​“clear[er] expectations for student performance and equity,” follow open-meetings laws, and do background checks on its members and employees and to adopt anti-conflict-of-interest policies.

The rules also require charters to ​“develop clearer rules governing the fees charged by” charter management organizations. The most recent hearing involved Booker T. Washington Academy revealed that another New Haven-based charter organization, Achievement First, is subletting space to house the school temporarily.

On another contentious topic — whether charters accept enough special-needs students — the department announced the ​“convening” of ​“a workgroup to examine ways to improve special education services delivery.”

Click here to read a department fact sheet on the new regulations.

Pelto, a former state representative who is seeking a petition spot on the gubernatorial ballot, described Monday’s “‘new’ oversight policies are nothing but a sad commentary on the Malloy administration’s on-going effort to cover up their mistakes and their utter failure to manage taxpayer’s funds correctly. Lest we forget, it was [Education Commissioner] Stefan Pryor’s Achievement First, Inc. charter school chain that pushed the legislation that allows 30 percent of charter school administrators and teachers to be uncertified and therefore go without background checks. Now he wants us to believe he and Malloy are concerned about the lack of background checks?

“And the Malloy administration’s suggestion that they will be ordering charter schools to adopt policies preventing conflicts of interest and nepotism is particularly insulting since it was just last week the Pryor and the State Department of Education re-approved the Booker T. Washington Charter School plan in New Haven with all of its accompanying conflicts of interest and nepotism.”

Charter advocates, on the other hand, depicted the rules as unnecessary.

“People who know the facts know that the vast majority Connecticut’s charters are playing by the rules, providing good schools, giving parents choice and strengthening their communities. These schools don’t need any more red tape, but they will comply just as they comply with hundreds of other state accountability, transparency and equity laws,” the head of the Northeast Charter Schools Network, Jeremiah Grace, was quoted as saying in a release issued Monday afternoon.

“Let’s hope that the Department of Education’s new policies will serve as a crucial starting point for equitable and long-term regulations that ensure all kids have the opportunity to achieve their goals. We look forward to learning more details and working with state leaders to define
specifics so every child has access to great teachers, principals, and public schools,” Jennifer Alexander, the head of another charter-advocacy group, ConnCAN, was quoted as saying in a release.