Charter School Approved For Moscow

The Moscow School Board approved one group’s bid to form a charter school and forwarded another petition without recommendation just in case the statewide limit of 12 is not reached by Oct. 1.

The Moscow Charter School, operated by Mary Lang, was approved outright on Tuesday. Trustees said it seemed to be better organized and more prepared to open this semester as the effort to expand public school options and promote competition gets under way. Classes will start Sept. 15, Lang said. But rather than deny the Renaissance Charter School petition, submitted by Jim and Laurel Tangen-Foster, the board voted to forward it to the state Department of Education without formal approval for possible inclusion in a lottery for charter school slots that go unfilled.

Idaho’s charter school law, which took effect July 1, authorizes only one charter per school district and no more than two for each of the state’s six regions. If 12 charters meeting those restrictions are not approved by Oct. 1 each year, a drawing may be conducted from the remaining applications without concern for the geographic constraint.