Since 1993, Colorado has been a national leader in supporting innovation and choice within the public school system through charter schools. Today, nearly 150 charter schools in Colorado serve over 60,000 public school students.
As self-governing public schools, it’s no surprise that a number of charters have struggled or even closed. Yet a majority of these schools are thriving in spite of the challenges they face.
Earlier this month at a press conference about CSAP results, the Colorado Department of Education recognized nine public schools in Colorado for their remarkable academic growth – four of them were charter schools.
Since passage of the Charter School Act in 1993, facility challenges have been the largest problem faced by the state’s charter schools. In Colorado, the average per pupil operating revenue (PPOR) is $6369 annually.
Charters that are unable to obtain a building through district sources, including bond elections, are forced to pay an average of $650 per pupil in debt service – over 10% of their PPOR.
The legislature responded in 2002, by passing the Charter School Capital Facilities Financing Act. This created a simple process whereby local school districts notify their charter schools of upcoming bond elections, and invite these schools to submit a proposal for inclusion in the bond.
At that point, school districts have the right to say “no” to the charter school funding request – and six years later they appear to be doing that with regularity.
Seven Denver/Metro school districts are placing bond questions on this November’s ballot. Collectively, they may be seeking a combined total of $1.9 billion dollars from voters.
Yet only a handful of the 56 charter schools in those districts will ever see any support for their facility needs should these ballot questions pass.
While charter schools educate approximately 5.8% of students (nearly 21,000 children) across these seven districts, less than one-half of one percent of total bond proceeds is slated to benefit charter schools.
At the present time, three districts (Adams 12 Five Star Schools, Douglas County School District, and St. Vrain Valley Schools) plan to provide zero dollars in bond proceeds to their 14 charter schools (serving 6,670 kids).
Aurora Public Schools is proposing minimal support for its charter schools” technology needs (with zero dollars going towards facilities needs).
Denver Public Schools increased its “New Schools” pool of money and expanded it to include existing charter schools. Unfortunately, access to those funds appears limited to charters occupying underutilized district facilities, meaning a majority of the 20 charter schools in this district will not benefit from the DPS bond question, should it pass.
Cherry Creek Schools is making a good faith effort to support its sole charter school, by providing it with facilities funding from outside of its bond election.
Among metro districts, only Jefferson County School District has made an up-front commitment to include its 13 charter schools in this fall’s bond election.
In 2001, as legislators debated providing direct financial assistance to the State’s charter schools, various representatives of the public school system argued that such aid was inappropriate, stating “local school districts received capital funding from bond elections and charter schools should have to do the same.”
The 2002 legislation was passed to encourage a collaborative and proactive approach to including charter school capital needs on district bond questions.
We are disappointed to see how little it has accomplished in this current bond election cycle.
We know every district involved has their reasons and explanations for why charters do not figure more prominently in their ballot question, but the bottom line remains the same.
Charter schools are a part of our public education system, and we in the legislature can not accept second-class treatment for any group of public school students in our State.
We sincerely hope all of Colorado’s school districts going to the voters this fall with come up with a fair and equitable way to benefit their charter schools.
Rep. Bob Hagedorn (D-Aurora) and Rep. Frank McNulty (R-Highlands Ranch) also contributed to this article.
