Charter schools' rolls eyed

With school districts buckling under fiscal pressures, a growing movement is underway to bring back some public money that is now being funneled to charter schools. Local districts such as Maynard's want regional charter schools to tell them the names and addresses of students filling their rosters, so more accurate accounting can be done.

Charter school proponents decry the proposal, saying that annual reporting to the Department of Education is already done and districts are simply interested in getting contact information to pressure families to stay within the district.

Charter schools -- independently run, publicly funded schools -- were authorized in the Commonwealth in 1993 as a way to provide alternatives to traditional public education. When a student chooses to attend a charter school, state aid is funneled from a district to the charter program to cover tuition.

School Committee chairman Bill Kohlman said Maynard, a district of only 1,366 students, can no longer afford to take those numbers at face value. The Maynard School Committee has been the latest to endorse a plan to review just who is filling the seats at charter schools.

"Part of school choice is accountability and fairness," said Kohlman. "Maybe larger systems can absorb when a few students leave, but in a district like ours, we have a harder time adjusting. We want to ensure that the students that they say are leaving are actually leaving."

Maynard's School Committee voted unanimously to support the Everett School Committee's calls for a quarterly audit of charter schools. In Everett, a resolution was passed after the district became aware that it was paying charter school tuition for a student who remained in the district for three years. Because individualized information was given only to the state and not the district, the oversight was made year after year, costing Everett thousands of dollars.

The Everett proposal requests that charter schools provide districts with student information three times a year -- on Oct. 1, March 1, and the last day of school -- so districts can compare. Kohlman and others say that sometimes, students transfer back to districts from charter schools, but the state dollars lag.

"They get the money and there is no accountability," said Everett Superintendent Frederick Foresteire. "We, as school districts, get hit with the bill, but there is no beef to back it up. It is time for the numbers to be reviewed a bit more closely before money is taken away from a district."

According to information on file at the state Department of Education, Maynard will send nine students to charter schools in fiscal 2008. The projected local payment the district will pay charter schools is just over $95,000. In Everett, $3.1 million is projected for educating 333 students at charter schools in fiscal 2008.

In the 37 communities that make up the Globe West coverage area, a projected 1,164 students will attend charter schools in fiscal 2008. The largest sending districts are Franklin, at 362; Framingham, at 171; and Marlborough, at 150.

Marc Kenen, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Charter School Association, said charter schools have the same educational expenses as traditional districts. Kenen defended charter programs, saying they already report specific student information annually to the DOE and that charter schools do not intentionally misrepresent students. Like all communities, rosters change due to families moving, he said.

"I do not believe that the real purpose behind the resolution is to find out if charter school students are enrolled in school. School districts across the state want to contact families to persuade them to return to the district, which is entirely inappropriate," said Kenen. "The state should protect the privacy of families and ask the districts to refrain from contacting charter school families."

Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, said charter schools are worried about the additional scrutiny.

"The incentive to commit fraud far outweighs the likelihood of being caught," said Koocher. "The [Department of Education] has had no reason to suspect fraud. The simple fact is that phantom students have become a big enough issue that school committees are calling for oversight."

The Massachusetts Association of School Committees will be taking a vote of its delegate association on Nov. 14 to support the Everett resolution. Melrose and Somerville have cosponsored the resolution, and more schools across the state are expected to follow suit.

Maynard, for one, will be out in front on the issue.

"This has had a real impact on how we do business," said School Committee member Ann Pratt at a recent meeting. "It's a simple question -- not only how many of our students have gone to charter schools, but how many have returned."