Remove the Limits on Innovative Schooling : Education: California’s charter schools movement should be expanded beyond the 100 now enjoying autonomy.

The Charter Schools Act of 1992, which established California’s flourishing program of self-governing public schools, must be amended so that the next stage in the charter school movement can be undertaken early this year. The educational autonomy now enjoyed by 100 communities in our state should be extended to hundreds more anxiously awaiting their chance.

The Charter Schools Act allows teachers, parents, students and community members to design and operate their own schools under a “charter” or contract with their locally elected school board. Unlike most public schools, which must abide by the voluminous state education code and the dictates of local school districts, charter schools have substantial independence and flexibility with regard to budget, staffing, curriculum and teaching methods. In return for this freedom, charter schools are required to formulate specific academic goals and regularly assess student progress toward those goals. Beyond this, charter schools are bound only by three fundamental tenets of public schools: They must be nonsectarian, they cannot charge tuition and they cannot discriminate.

It is difficult to measure the academic achievements of charter schools when most of them have been in place for less than 18 months. But using the enthusiasm of parents, teachers and students as a yardstick, the charter schools’ success has already been tremendous. From Vaughn Street School in Pacoima to the Palisades Complex on the Westside, from Washington Charter School in Palm Desert to the O’Farrell Middle School in San Diego, schools are freeing themselves from the web of bureaucratic regulations that stifle innovation and dim the focus on student learning. At these schools, attendance is up, parent participation is up, the focus on student achievement is stronger and parents, teachers and principals all feel empowered.

Two roadblocks exist to the expansion of charter schools. Most obvious is the 100-school cap established in the 1992 legislation. California hit the cap this year, but many more communities want to create charter schools. At a time when enthusiasm for public schools is low, it is irrational to block the growth of a zero-cost program that is reinvigorating schools up and down the state.

The second roadblock is California’s restrictive rules regarding the creation of charter schools. Today, only a local school board may grant charters, yet many refuse even to seriously consider charter schools. Parents should have the leverage to take their business elsewhere if their local board balks at granting them a charter. California should adopt the model offered by other charter states, which permit charters to be granted by other public education agencies such as the state board of education and public university governing boards.

In exchange for their unprecedented freedom of action, charter schools clearly carry a responsibility to be accountable to the public. The Charter Schools Act requires that charter schools administer the state standard student achievement test, allowing for direct comparisons between student achievement at individual schools statewide--an important consumer protection. With the collapse last year of the California Learning Assessment System testing, however, this link to charter schools has been severed. The new state testing program enacted earlier this year does not include charter schools--and further, does not offer them the state funding that other public schools implementing the test can receive. This oversight should be corrected.

California earned a reputation as an innovator by being willing to take chances. We took a chance on charter schools, and evidence is pouring in that they work. With the 1996 legislative session under way, it is time to launch the next stage in the charter schools odyssey.