ACLU Weighs In On Newark Charter School

Education is heating up in Delaware

March 13, 2012

The Honorable Dr. Lillian Lowery
Delaware Department of Education
John G. Townsend Building
401 Federal Street
Dover, DE 19901

Dear Secretary Lowery,

The UCLA Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles has been tracking
educational trends as they relate to civil rights for over 14 years. They have clearly
established that in communities across the United States schools are becoming
more and more re-segregated and that the charter school movement is exacerbating
this problem.

Members of the board of directors and the staff of the American Civil Liberties
Union of Delaware share these concerns about re-segregation of Delaware schools,
especially in New Castle County. This is why we are writing to oppose the
expansion of the Newark Charter School (NCS).

Department of Education statistics shown that Christina School District students
are 41% African American, 18% Hispanic and 61% low-income. Yet, Newark
Charter School’s student body is 11% African American, 4% Hispanic and 15%
low-income. Even when compared to the census tracks that make up the five mile
radius from which the school draws, African American and Hispanic students are
underrepresented. The population of those census tracks is approximately 23%
African American and 12% Hispanic.

It is our understanding that there are many factors that contribute to the school’s
high proportion of white and higher income students. However, certainly one of the
factors, that is in violation of state and federal law, is the lack of provision of free
and reduced cost lunches to children who are eligible for those lunches. In all
likelihood, this failure discourages low-income families from entering their
children in the Newark Charter School lottery. It may also result in a family
deciding to turn down a place at the school when they learn that they must forgo
free or reduced cost lunches for their children in exchange for the classroom seat.

The state administrative code required that Newark Charter School’s original
application show how the school would comply with the legal requirement of
providing free and reduced lunch to students eligible under the applicable state and
federal laws. (14 Del. Admin. C. § 275 – 4.5.2.5) In response, NCS’s original
application said the school would meet that requirement through a professional
food service vendor, such as ARAMARK, that established it met all federal and
state requirements and was reimbursable under the free and reduced lunch program.

However, when it submitted its first renewal application, in 2004, NCS said that
keeping the program “was no longer viable.” The renewal application told the
Department of Education “it does not receive the federal subsidy for food services,
but students who would have qualified for free and reduced lunches are annually
identified and offered the same discounts on lunches provided by outside vendors
such as McDonald’s.”However, unless McDonald’s is giving away its food, the
McDonald’s meals would not meet the free lunch requirement, and there is no
indication that the discounted McDonald’s price does not exceed the price charged
for federally subsidized reduced price lunches.

In its next renewal application, submitted in 2008, NCS said it was not proposing
any changes in the provision of meals. Presumably that is still the case for the
school’s application to expand its grades K-6 enrollment. According to the Charter
School Accountability Committee’s February 1, 2012 Preliminary Report and
Recommendations on the NCS application to modify its charter, Mr. Meece of
NCS told the Committee that NCS intended to offer a formal school lunch program
in junior high/high school. Nowhere in its application to modify does it address the
need to provide lunches in the lower grades. Nor is there any indication that there is
a cafeteria for grades K-6. The 2004 renewal application said the school did not
have a cafeteria in its modular buildings during its first two years of operations, and
did not have a cafeteria in its new permanent building. Nothing in the filings show
that has changed.

This violation of law cannot be permitted to continue. It appears to directly impact
the make-up of the student body and contribute to the under-enrollment of children
of color and low-income students in the existing school.

Research has established that integrated schools provide academic, social and
psychological benefits for all students. African American and Latino students
perform better in integrated schools and student achievement is higher when the
average socio-economic status of the student body is higher, which means that a
balanced mix of low-income with middle and upper income students is optimal.
Over the long-term, racially integrated schools are associated with a reduction in
racial stereotyping and greater cross-racial understanding among students.

We believe that approving the Newark Charter School expansion is a disservice to
all the students and families in the Christina School District and will further
complicate the challenges that the district and its schools are facing. We encourage
you to reject the expansion application and require that free and reduced costs
lunches be provided to qualified students at all grade levels in the current schools.
Thank you for your careful consideration of this matter.

Sincerely yours,

Helen K. Foss
President

Kathleen M. MacRae
Executive Director

Cc:   The Honorable Jack Markell
Ms. Donna Johnson, Delaware State Board of Education

In the past I’ve been on the fence with Charter Schools, but my opinion is changing – mainly due to their admission policies, the way they can disinvite students, and, in the case of NCS, the way they can shape their population by not having a cafeteria, thereby eliminating a Free and Reduced Lunch program.

Which leads me to ask… Are Charter Schools really public schools?  Other than public funding and having to provide their own space (for now), how are Charter Schools comparable to public schools.  The more I learn the more I think that Charters have more in common with Private Schools.  Are Charter Schools really publicly funded private schools?