Charter School Consensus Sought Committee Wants Prototype To Present In Public Hearings

Members of a legislative committee on charter schools say they’d like to see a specific proposal before soliciting public comment on the concept.

“Idaho schools are not going to improve until you change them,” said Sen. Darrel Deide, R-Caldwell, a retired school superintendent. “The idea of charter schools will facilitate the possibility of improvement.”

The panel held its first meeting at the Statehouse on Wednesday. Chairmen Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, and Rep. Fred Tilman, R-Boise, said they want public hearings around the state before deciding what recommendations to make to the 1998 Legislature.

Rather than just asking people what they think about charter schools, Deide said the committee will get more public involvement if it comes up with a prototype and then collects public reaction.

Tilman for years has been an advocate of allowing a school to operate under a special charter, which he says would allow for innovation and experimentation in better ways to deliver education. The controversy has been whether that would drain badly needed funding from the conventional public school system.

In the 1996 session, the House approved a charter school bill, but it died in the Senate. Schroeder’s Senate Education Committee came up with a much more restrictive bill. The House amended it, the Senate refused to accept the changes and nothing was approved.

Any changes, Schroeder said, should “enhance and make better the public school system, not come up with alternatives.”

Tilman said many people feel that when charter schools are mentioned, they are talking about private schools.

“We need to make it clear they are public chartered schools,” Tilman said.

He said whatever action the Legislature takes will not mandate charter schools. “It creates an opportunity for people who have different ideas,” he said.

Rep. Pat Bieter, D-Boise, said allowing charter schools might allow experimentation at a local level that would not be possible on a statewide basis.

“I can see a charter school on foreign language, on teaching approach, on school environment,” he said.

“Competition makes a lot of difference,” said Rep. Wayne Meyer, R-Coeur d’Alene. “I feel our school system needs to be challenged.”