Charting New Paths To Learning Educators In Cda, Moscow, Nampa And Boise Are Brainstorming Plans For Charter Schools

Bill Proser admits some of his colleagues think he’s crazy. And sometimes he agrees with them.

Proser, a Coeur d’Alene teacher for more than two decades, wants to start his own public high school.

Right now, he has no school building, no money, no teachers and no students - just a bunch of ideas about what would make a school work.

But with the approval of charter school legislation by the Idaho Legislature last month, Proser’s folder full of ideas soon could become a high school.

“It’s going out on a limb, but that’s what makes it exciting,” said Proser, who coordinates advanced placement and honors courses for the Coeur d’Alene School District.

About 30 states across the country have laws allowing charter schools, with about 800 such schools in operation. In Washington state, efforts to allow charter schools failed this spring - the fourth such failure in as many years.

The measure was passed by the state House but was defeated in the Senate by an unlikely coalition of Democrats and conservative Republicans.

Although charter school legislation varies from state to state, the basic concept remains the same.

A group develops a plan for a school and devises a charter, or contract, with the local school board. Those plans can be as innovative or as back-to-basics as the group desires.

Once the contract is agreed upon, the district and the school’s founders must come up with a set of goals. If those goals aren’t met in five years, the charter can be revoked.

It is up to the school’s founders to find and finance a school building, although some states provide money for start-up costs.

Under Idaho’s legislation, charter schools receive 25 percent of their state enrollment money upfront. The state paid an average of $5,719 per student in the 1996-97 school year, according to the most recent figures from the state Department of Education. So if a charter school had 100 students, the school’s founders would receive approximately one quarter of $571,900 for start-up costs - about $143,000.

Approving and policing a charter school becomes tricky, though, because the school board - which is in direct competition with the charter school for money - also must approve the school’s proposal.

Wanda Quinn, chairwoman of the Coeur d’Alene School Board, said the board will not approve any proposals until it fully reviews the charter school legislation.

“We do have alternatives now,” Quinn said, citing programs throughout the district for both advanced and struggling students. “The success of charter schools just depends on how much people are pleased with the current system. I want to do it right the first time because we’ll be setting a precedent.”

The first charter school in the country opened in Minnesota in 1992, and that state is one of the program’s success stories.

Joe Nathan, director of the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota, helped mold the proposal for that first charter school and says there now are 30 charter schools operating successfully around Minnesota.

Since the early 1990s, Nathan - who literally wrote the book on charter schools - has worked with 22 other states to create charter school legislation.

He said Idaho’s charter law ranks with other states but is not the very best. The strongest laws allow groups to petition the state directly to start up charter schools, and they allow a large number of such schools to open each year, he said.

Idaho’s charter school legislation, which will take effect July 1, allows 12 charter schools to be created each year around the state, with two schools permitted in each of six regions.

“The Legislature deserves credit for looking in a thoughtful, conservative way,” Nathan said. “For three years of arguing back and forth, Idaho did something very wise.”

He said prospective charter school founders must develop clear, measurable goals.

Nathan also said they should expect to spend one or two years planning, find someone to take care of bookkeeping and make sure they filter sufficient information about the school to families.

Charter school proponents say those schools will improve the education system through competition.

“When people have options, the folks who have the power tend to rethink what they’re doing because they know people can leave,” Nathan said.

But Post Falls School District Superintendent Dick Harris said the advent of charter schools will have little impact on his district’s operations.

“Just because there are charter schools out there, we’re not going to work harder,” Harris said. “We’re always striving to do better. Everything we’re doing is aimed at improving the service and the product.”

It’s doubtful 12 charter schools will be opening in Idaho this year. But that doesn’t worry legislators who supported the bill.

“It will not be easy to create a charter,” Sen. Jack Riggs, R-Coeur d’Alene, said. “It will be a lot of work. It shouldn’t be easy, but it should be possible to be done.”

In addition to Proser, groups of educators in Moscow, Nampa and Boise are cooking up charter school proposals.

The Boise group, which calls itself ANSER - Latin for “geese” - proposes a school of kindergarten through eighth grade with students of different ages mixed in each classroom. The students would study academic subjects through a variety of ways including art, music, dance and writing, said Darrel Burbank, an elementary school principal for 23 years in Boise and Meridian who is heading the group.

“Geese work together to fly farther,” Burbank said. “They honk at each other to keep them going. If one bird goes down, two others go down to help. We want to build that concept of community between adults and children.”

ANSER has shopped its proposal to three school boards but hasn’t had any takers. Burbank said the Boise School Board has agreed to meet with the group this summer after the law takes effect.

“We hope to be going this fall,” he said. “But the biggest obstacle would be district authorization.”

Proser hasn’t gotten to that step yet. His group of parents, business people and educators began work last month once the legislation had been approved.

“It’s worth looking into,” said Gail Thompson, a parent who has been helping Proser research the charter school proposal.

Proser proposes a college preparatory high school that would recruit the best educators to teach a rigorous curriculum. As for details, they’re still being worked out.

He said his charter high school would not dilute the honors programs he currently oversees.

“They kind of sharpen the edges of each other, he said. “I’m trying to help those kids who are on their way somewhere.

“Our real mission is to prepare people to compete at any campus in the country. What I hope to do is attract the very best possible staff in the Northwest and let them go nuts.”