‘Charter’ School Idea Gains Ventura Support

Eager to gain more control over their children’s educations, some Ventura parents are considering taking advantage of a new law empowering them to create taxpayer-financed “charter” schools.

The law that took effect this year enables parents, teachers and others to petition local school boards for a charter to establish a new public school within a district. The school would still be fiscally tied to the district, but would function mostly independent of state and local controls.

The goal of the so-called charter schools, state lawmakers said, is to increase innovation and variety in schools.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Bruce Englar, who has two children at Blanche Reynolds Elementary School in Ventura. “I think a charter school system would benefit us greatly.”

Englar is among a small group of parents who said they are considering circulating a charter school petition if Ventura Unified School District officials decide against expanding an alternative education program at Blanche Reynolds.

“Our first choice would be to work within the district to expand the program we have now,” Englar said. “But failing that, we’re prepared to go outside the system and use the charter school petition.”

Parents are wanting to expand Blanche Reynolds’ open-classroom program, which serves about 100 students apart from the rest of the school. The program is different because it does not separate students by age or grade level, but instead groups them together in lower, middle and upper elementary classes.

Parents say that the 16-year-old program has proved very popular--classes are booked up through 1997--and they want to see it expanded to include more classes and also to serve junior high students.

“It’s a very successful program,” said parent Jan Magson, whose 10-year-old son Trevor is a student at the school. “And we feel the district should be behind us 100%.”

But while strongly supportive of the open-classroom program, district administrators said it would be difficult to expand because of limited resources.

“We’re just in the talking phase of expanding,” said Arlene Miro, the district’s director of administrative services. “We’re looking into how much it would cost.”

Miro said Blanche Reynolds has insufficient space to accommodate more classes. She said one option under consideration is reopening the campus of Washington Street Elementary School, which was closed about 10 years ago.

But the building is in serious disrepair and would cost the financially squeezed district a substantial sum of money to bring it in line with current building codes.

“We’re talking about a complete renovation,” Miro said.

She said the district is also taking a cautious stance on the charter school issue because of lingering questions over financing, insurance and loss of autonomy.

“We’re not opposed to a charter school,” she said. “But anytime we can keep students within the district we’d like to do that.”

District administrators met last week with parents to discuss expanding the program at Blanche Reynolds and plan to meet again Friday.

“We obviously would like to work within the district if we can,” said Magson, who attended the previous meeting. “But if we can’t we will proceed with the charter school petition. We’ve written our proposal and we’re ready to go.”

But not all parents are eager to secede from the district or to have elementary schoolchildren mixing with older, junior high-level students. There are about 60 parents whose children attend the special program at Blanche Reynolds.

“To wave the charter school flag right now is not a good idea,” said David DeSantis, who has one child in a kindergarten class. “We don’t want to take over the school district. They’re the professional administrators, not us.”

Mary Blehm, another parent, expressed similar feelings: “My concern is that with the charter school we would be going into unchartered territory. I think it would be a lot easier to have our needs met through the district, rather than to be separate from the district.”

To establish a charter school, a petition must be signed by either 10% of the teachers in the school district or 50% of the teachers at a specific school.

The petition must then be submitted to the school board for consideration. The board has 30 days to act on the request.

If the board refuses to grant the charter, the petitioners may seek a charter from the State Board of Education and the state superintendent of public instruction.

So far, 10 schools in California have been granted charter status. Three other petitions are awaiting final approval from the state board, said David Patterson, a consultant with the California Department of Education.

State law limits the number of schools that can apply for charter status to 100. Vaughan Street School in Pacoima and Fenton Avenue in Lake View Terrace are among seven schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District that have applied for charter status.

The three teachers in the alternative program at Blanche Reynolds said they support the concept of charter schools.

“What is so exciting about a charter school is that it offers endless possibilities,” said Roni Adams, who has taught at Blanche Reynolds for four years and is one of the founding members of the open class program.

“I think it would allow parents to move through the bureaucracy and help create dynamic and innovative programs,” Adams said.

But Adams and her colleagues are concerned about how their tenure, benefits and pay would be affected under a charter school program. They point out that charter schools can hire non-credentialed and non-union teachers.

“I’m concerned about job security, health benefits and other issues,” teacher Janet Cornell said. “Those for me are some of the question marks. All of us have family to support and they depend on us to put food on the table.”

Jock Scott, another teacher, said he has similar reservations: “I’m real supportive of the (charter school) concept until we get down to particulars. The difficulty I see with it is that it is very vague. The more questions you ask, the more questions you have.”

Patterson, the consultant with the Department of Education, said it is possible for the charter petitioners to hire district teachers and for those teachers to retain their benefits and collective bargaining rights.

“There’s a lot of flexibility,” Patterson said. “It’s really up to the petitioners how they want to set it up.”

Despite reservations expressed by her and her colleagues, Adams said the new legislation puts pressure on schools to try new teaching strategies. And the pressure, she said, will only increase.

She pointed out that next year California voters will decide whether to back the so-called voucher initiative. The controversial initiative would enable parents to use taxpayer money to send their children to private schools.

For this reason, Adams said the issues of charter schools and alternative educations programs are not going to go away.

“I really think because of the voucher initiative public education really needs to be responsive and open to parents’ concerns and desires,” Adams said. “Charter schools and magnet schools are a way of giving parents some choice in public education.”

Meanwhile, Magson said a meeting is planned next week for parents of Blanche Reynolds students and those who are on a waiting list for the school’s alternative program to discuss their options. The meeting will be held May 14 at Blanche Reynolds School.