HB 165 Passes House – Time To Contact Your Senators
Unfortunately, I don’t have time to write a detailed post on what happened tonight. (Family responsibilities. Sheesh) Please read the comment section on this post for details.
Now, start contacting senators. Here’s the list. Just click on their name for contact info.
Name |
Leadership Position |
District |
|---|---|---|
| Patricia M. Blevins | President Pro Tempore | 7 |
| Colin R. J. Bonini | 16 | |
| Brian J. Bushweller | 17 | |
| Catherine Cloutier | 5 | |
| Bruce C. Ennis | 14 | |
| Bethany A. Hall-Long | 10 | |
| Margaret Rose Henry | Senate Majority Whip | 2 |
| Gerald W. Hocker | 20 | |
| Gregory F. Lavelle | Senate Minority Whip | 4 |
| David G. Lawson | 15 | |
| Ernesto B. Lopez | 6 | |
| Robert I. Marshall | 3 | |
| David B. McBride | Senate Majority Leader | 13 |
| Harris B. McDowell III | 1 | |
| Karen E. Peterson | 9 | |
| Brian Pettyjohn | 19 | |
| Nicole Poore | 12 | |
| F. Gary Simpson | Senate Minority Leader | 18 |
| David P. Sokola | 8 | |
| Bryan Townsend | 11 | |
| Robert L. Venables Sr. | 21 |
Tags: Charter Schools, Education, HB 165
Chiefs waffle after a backroom beat down I’m sure. Cowards.
The fix is in. Can’t beat this one.
> From: Thomas Michael
> Date: June 11, 2013, 3:51:08 PM EDT
> To: McDowell Harris , Henry Margaret Rose , Marshall Robert , Lavelle Greg , Cloutier Catherine , Lopez Ernesto B , Blevins Patricia , Sokola David , Peterson Karen , Hall-Long Bethany , Townsend Bryan , Poore Nicole , McBride David , Ennis Bruce , “Lawson Dave” , “senator-colin@prodigy.net” , Bushweller Brian , “gsimpson@udel.edu” , Pettyjohn Brian , Hocker Gerald , Venables Robert
> Subject: HB 165 Charter Legislation
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> Dear Legislator:
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> I forwarded to you earlier today concerns and subsequent position of the School Chiefs regarding House Bill 165. This bill possesses some components which address concerns regarding the current legislation and regulation of charter schools. Some of these components will serve to produce better clarity and accountability for the development and operation of charter schools. The particular issues that were defined in my earlier email were:
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> 1. The $2 million performance fund
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> 2. DOE authority to transfer funds from public school districts to charter schools
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> 3. The extension of a renewal term for a charter school for ten years
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> In voicing these concerns, this was not to assert that the bill is without merit, but was to emphasize the concern of the School Chiefs on the matters cited above. Certainly we believe parts of the bill are a step forward and hopefully can be a platform for subsequent changes in the future. Further, we believe the establishment of the proposed task force can address not only concerns with admission preferences, but also a number of other critical items that deserve consideration. There has been a commitment provided and reinforced in conversation today that the matters cited above will be looked at in a critical analysis along with the impact on a community and its public schools for future charter approvals. Therefore, based on these conversations and commitments, the School Chiefs Association will support the charter legislation and work diligently with appropriate agency designees for continued improvements and refinements.
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> Respectfully submitted,
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> Michael D. Thomas, Ed. D.
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> President, Delaware Chief School Officers Association
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I posted a sample letter to the wrong thread–apologies for the redundancy here–make use of any of this if it suits you:
“Dear Senator:
HB 165, soon to reach the senate, has several flaws that should be remedied in order to ensure equitable public school opportunities for all Delaware children.
1. The amended language about nutritional assistance remains inadequate (HA 3). It is unclear what would legally constitute “breakfast” or “lunch” provision, also whether this must be available every school day. However, the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program clearly stipulate daily nutritional requirements for each meal, and costs for the “reduced” price.
Please amend lines 24-26 to specify that charter schools must comply with the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program’s nutritional standards and other requirements. This will ensure that low-income children are equally well served by charter and other public schools.
2. Line 117 should be amended so that the required impact study can be sufficient grounds for disapproving an application to establish or expand a charter school. Without this change, the impact study is of little value. Conducting an impact study should be at the discretion of the district in which the charter will be located; and once conducted, the study must be considered regardless of the percent increase or timeline of expansion (lines 105 & 110). Note that Newark Charter used lines 105 & 110 to avoid an impact study, by proposing annual growth of 14.5% over four years.
3. The new provision of minor capital funding for charter schools amounts to taxpayer support of a private investment. This is poor policy and irresponsible governance. It should be eliminated. Alternately, amend it to ensure repayment to taxpayers if a charter school leaves its renovated facility (e.g. via a lien on the property).
4. Line 82: at a minimum, the Performance Fund should be available only to “high-quality” charters that ALSO serve low-income, ELL and special needs students in proportion to the presence of such students within the charter school’s enrollment area. Without this stipulation, the state will reward charter schools that have enrolled only low-risk students, due to the weaknesses of Delaware’s current charter code.
However, the Performance Fund appears to offer special state provisions to charter school students at a time when district students are increasingly underserved as a result of budget cuts; this is very hard to justify.
5. Line 326: the ten-year renewal option for “high-performing” charters is ill-advised. There is well-documented evidence that some Delaware charters achieve strong results by underenrolling low-scoring students, particularly low-income children (see the attached analysis). Public charter schools need to be closely overseen by their authorizing authority to guard against this—once every ten years is too little oversight.
The goal of the above changes is to make Delaware’s charter schools an asset to the state’s landscape of public education choices, and to prevent charters from weakening district schools—which the vast majority of Delaware students attend.”
Charter schools to become the refuge of embattled white folk?
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/06/lets_not_mince_words_its.php
John…. there is a lot of truth in that sentiment, but in Delaware it is mostly true for the showcase charters, which are what most people think charters are all about. But there are smaller charters with diverse populations that do not necessarily perform any better than similar public schools with the same demographic profile. And there is Kuumba with its very high population of low-income, but with good performance. That bears some looking into. And while it remains to be seen how it plays out, CEB’s stated mission is to reduce the achievement gap.