Panel won’t increase charter school cap

The Senate Education Committee rejected Tuesday a bill from its North Idaho chairman that would have increased the cap on charter schools from six to 12.

Senate Bill 1378, sponsored by Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, was rejected 5-4 after nearly two hours of testimony.

Charter school proponents argue that the schools are a much more efficient use of state money than regular public schools, but opponents say there is no accountability at the charter school level, and money would be better spent improving existing public schools.

Former Sen. Rod Beck, R-Boise, who served on the Senate Education Committee, spoke in favor of the bill, saying it was a small but needed step.

“The more choices we can offer our parents the better off education will be in the long run,” Beck said.

Bridget Barrus, executive director of the Coalition for Charter School Families, testified in favor of the bill and said there is a system in place to ensure accountability in charter schools, and the system works.

“We agree that charter schools need accountability, and we would argue that we’re pretty accountable,” Barrus said.

But Sen. Tom Gannon, R-Buhl, said he needs to see more measures to ensure accountability from the schools before he can agree to add more.

Gannon wants the charter school commission to have paid positions that could spend more time monitoring existing charter schools. Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, cited the same concern before he voted against the bill.

Both Gannon and Schroeder said they would support the bill if the positions were in place.

Committee Vice Chairman Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, voted for the bill.

Goedde said he won’t give up on raising the charter school cap.

When asked if he thought he could make the changes that members asked for, Goedde said their concerns were merely “smoke and mirrors.”