When Cesar Chavez Academy opened its doors seven years ago, enrollment was 240. Today the number stands at 1,100.
Other things have changed as well. These students – most of whom are Latino kids from low-income neighborhoods – are now some of the highest achievers in the entire state.
Lawrence Hernandez, founder of the school, says 3,000 students are on the waiting list to attend.
That there’s a single kid on that waiting list is a travesty.
The U.S. Department of Education will honor Cesar Chavez Academy for its success in closing the achievement gap among Latino students.
The school was one of six charter schools nationwide to be recognized. It was one of only two picked to be featured in a documentary about successful schools to air nationwide Sept. 18 on PBS.
In Colorado, Cesar Chavez already has a sterling reputation. High marks come from nearly every corner of the educational establishment. Incredibly, this success comes, according to Hernandez, by operating with 40 percent less money per student (after paying for their own building and other expenses) than the typical public school does.
With all this success, one wonders why Cesar Chavez Academy, and similar schools, are constantly struggling to overcome barriers laid in their way by local and state governments.
We can begin with the Colorado legislature. Both the House and Senate education committees have been run by staunch union ideologues, Sen. Sue Windels and Rep. Mike Merrifield. The latter was caught this year asserting, “There must be a special place in hell” for certain “charterizers.” They were scheming to make it harder for Coloradans to follow Hernandez’s lead.
Perhaps, instead of assaulting successful ideas, these naysayers should be asking Hernandez: How do you do it?
“We have a simple formula,” he explains. “A powerful learning program that involves remedial and structural-based studies. Most importantly, we have a highly committed staff working incredibly long hours. I’ve worked in public schools across the country, and I’ve never seen a staff work harder. They all have a can-do philosophy. High expectations followed by action. We believe that Latino kids, like any other children, should have that same quality education that private schools can give.”
In Pueblo, the local education establishment hasn’t asked Hernandez for help, either. Instead, it has worked to limit his progress, going as far as suing Colorado to stop any more of his expansion. (Cesar Chavez does have a new campus in Colorado Springs.)
“What they end up doing is spending all of their energy trying to crush us,” explains Hernandez. “I really think that’s a shame. They should be trying to replicate what we’re doing. Fortunately, I think, especially in communities like ours, the community is becoming far more knowledgeable and savvy. The average parent will no longer tolerate their kids’ getting a sub-par education.”
It’s going to be hard to have a conversation about Colorado education without bringing up Cesar Chavez from now on. Yet, as we all know, fighting legislators like Merrifield and Windels, who are backed by big union dollars and stubbornly cling to failed ideas, will be no easy trick.
“They just don’t get it, and they just never will,” Hernandez says. “What they are not listening to is the voice of the average parent. The everyday parent doesn’t care what the political motives are or for one strategy above another. They have one issue that’s important to them – their children.”
Hernandez says that what most school officials fail to understand is that the average parents care about “reform”; they couldn’t care less whether their kids are in a “public” school or “charter” or “private” schools. They care about quality, not politics.
“It’s all about customer service 101,” Hernandez says. “That’s why we are successful and families have what they want and need.”
Gov. Bill Ritter gave us a lot of talk about supporting charter schools during his campaign. It’s about time he did something meaningful and helped create more schools like Cesar Chavez Academy.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
