Lawmaker: Time to roll back special break for Utah charter schools
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
Draper State Rep. Rich Cunningham is trying to roll back special treatment the state has given to charter schools for nearly a decade that he says has resulted in schools popping up in ill-advised areas and causing clashes with neighbors and endangering students.
But charter school officials say theres nothing wrong with the law and Cunningham is doing the bidding of a wealthy developer, upset with a school that was built next to one of his industrial parks.
At issue is a 2005 law passed by the Legislature that gives charter schools free rein to locate on land zoned for any purpose residential, commercial or industrial and severely limits a citys ability to regulate the schools.
Cunningham said the 2005 law helped a trio of lawmakers with financial interests in building charter schools who used their position in the Legislature to grease the process for their financial gain. The legislators were former Reps. Mike Morley and James Ferrin and Sen. Sheldon Killpack.
Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/57548088-90/schools-charter-cunningham-price.html.csp
valerief
(53,235 posts)Nanjing to Seoul
(2,088 posts)Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Let them sink or swim on their own dime, but only if they can pass an accreditation process and maintain proper standing.
valerief
(53,235 posts)schools. Isn't what makes them "charter" schools the public funding?
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)usually funded by the public and usually exempt from some rules and regulations governing public schools.
valerief
(53,235 posts)Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Some of these "academies" are regular capitalist enterprises focused on making money, not producing citizens.
AnneD
(15,774 posts)have been left scrambling for a school when the charters and their owners have absconded with or misappropriated with state funds. Or when they kick out students when the students don't meet their standards.
At public schools, we have to take what comes through the door and educate them the best we can. Charters can and do cherry pick students.