Crusade For Charter Schools Enters An Education Phase House Education Leader Hopes Hearings Will Overcome Opposition, Including Funding Worries

State legislator Fred Tilman thinks that if people know what charter schools are all about, they will like them better.

For five years the chairman of the House Education Committee has been trying to get the Legislature to allow charter schools. Advocates say the schools, operated under a special agreement, are free of many of the constraints that stifle innovation in the public schools.

Tilman hasn’t gotten far, but this summer he is co-chairman of a special committee that could make recommendations on the issue to the next Legislature.

In any event, Idaho residents are likely to hear a great deal about charter schools in coming months. The committee plans public hearings around the state. Tilman says the primary goal is educating people on what charter schools do.

The Legislature almost allowed charter schools in 1996. Tilman got the House to approve a bill, but it didn’t get out of the Senate Education Committee. The Senate floated a more restrictive measure, but it died in late-session maneuvering.

This past winter, Senate Education Chairman Gary Schroeder let it be known he wasn’t receptive to the idea, fearing charter schools might siphon off badly needed funding for the regular public school system.

Tilman, a strong supporter of home schooling, feels much of the problem stems from people equating charter schools with private schools. He stressed repeatedly at a Statehouse meeting this past week that what he is talking about is “public charter schools,” a part of the regular public school system.

Many details must be ironed out, such as whether charter schools have to negotiate with teacher unions.

A big hangup in recent discussions of charter schools has been who will decide when a group of parents or an organization should be granted a special charter to operate a school. Some wanted local school boards to decide; others thought it should be left up to the state Board of Education, state Department of Education or even the education departments at the state universities.

Money is a major problem and could be the biggest hurdle charter schools must clear. Tilman and others have talked of giving state school funding to students enrolled in charter schools on the same basis as perstudent spending in public schools.

Opponents say that if a child or two left each classroom, taking several thousand dollars in state funding with them, school operating expense wouldn’t drop noticeably but the loss of cash would be significant.

After the last session gave only a minimal increase to public schools, that’s likely to be a major argument against charter schools.

Tilman and Schroeder want committee members to review the rules governing charter schools in 25 other states before making any decisions. But a proposal could emerge in a couple of months so that the public has something concrete to discuss. Committee members believe that will be more productive than a debate over nebulous concepts.

And even if all the problems can be overcome, the best that charter advocates can expect is legislative consideration of some kind of pilot program or experiment next year.