By Amy Bounds
Camera Staff Writer

New charter schools won't be opening in Boulder Valley anytime soon.

The Boulder Valley school board voted 5-2 Tuesday to ban applications for more charter schools, despite criticism from charter school supporters. The ban doesn't include a time limit.

"We've reached the point where we have enough charter schools," said school board member Stan Garnett. "The number of kids we have in charter schools is impacting the services we can provide to other students."

District officials suggested a cap because they said charter schools are a drain on district resources. Boulder Valley needs to make about $2.5 million in cuts to balance next year's budget, in part because charter school enrollment is growing while enrollment at other schools is shrinking.

Because state per-pupil funding goes directly to charter schools, that means less money in Boulder Valleys general operating fund. A recent study by Augenblick & Myers found that the district would have $3.5 million more, or an additional $135 per student, this year if there were no charter schools. Part of that amount comes from staff time spent supervising, evaluating and negotiating with charter schools.

Charter school supporters have countered that the study was flawed and a cap is too drastic.

"To have a total ban on charter school applications ... is not reasonable," said Kevin Drummond, president of Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette.

Another reason for limiting charter schools, district officials said, is that charter and focus schools result in more racial and socioeconomic segregation in district schools.

"All the choice is good — segregation is not," said school board member Teresa Steele. "We need to get a handle on that before we think about any other applications."

Boulder Valley legal counsel Darci Mohr could not find another school board in Colorado that had imposed a cap on charter schools, but she said state law allows districts to limit them.

The district's five charter schools currently enroll about 5 percent of all students and are expected to enroll 7 percent in two years. There's high demand evidenced by long waiting lists for three of the four charters that depend on open enrollment to fill their classrooms.

"Restricting the demand does not work," said school board member Janusz Okolowicz, who voted against the cap along with board President Bill de la Cruz. He said each application should be judged based on its merits.

Jim Griffin, director of the Colorado League of Charter Schools, said the district should embrace — not fight — charter schools.

"The number of charter schools in the district should be dictated by the demand," he said. "The school district should change the way they do business, not put their heads in the sand."

There are no applications for new charter schools pending, but the school district earlier this year won a state Board of Education appeal by a private school that wanted to convert to a charter school. The district spent about $15,000 on legal fees to appeal that application.

District officials said the moratorium should discourage applications.

"It will be fair to potential applicants, who will know where we stand before going through the time and effort of putting together an application," board member Garnett said.

But a group wanting to start a charter school in Boulder Valley still could challenge the limit on charter schools by appealing to the state Board of Education, which would decide whether to hear the appeal. The appeal could be based on whether the limit is reasonable or on the merits of a charter school application.

Contact Amy Bounds at boundsa@thedailycamera.com or (303) 473-1341.

May 29, 2002

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