According to PVAAS, the Pennsylvania Value Added Assessment System that the state uses to look at growth, we have been in the green, meaning that we are growing above the state average.
And when charter school leaders, educational leaders make the decision to want to climb that mountain in a good way, is it universal across the state that the formula is 80/20?
Are you talking about the allotment? 142 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596
We receive 80 percent and the District receives 7 percent. 8
Is that 9 universal across the state; do you know? 10
How does 13 that stack with other cities that have 14 charter schools; do you know? 15
It varies all 16 across the country, to tell you the 17 truth. I mean, even the ratio of 18 certified to non-certified varies. A lot 19 of us fought for 50 percent certified and 20 50 percent non-certified. We come up with the final law was 75 percent of your teachers had to be certified and 23 percent did not have to be. And there's 24 a real understanding. Those of us who 25 have been around for a long time 143 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 recognize the fact that there are a lot of great teachers who are not certified and who did better in many cases than certified teachers. In simple language, Martin Luther King could not have taught in a public school, nor could Albert Einstein or Albert Schweitzer if they weren't certified. They'd have to go get their certification.
And I'd like to make a clarification. We did not make AYP last year. We made AYP two out of the last four years.
And we didn't make it either. We missed one of the 17 benchmarks. And I think it's important 18 to really get a sense of what AYP is, and 19 I've heard a lot of people mention -- 20
We all 21 know that that formula alone in no way speaks to the performance level of students. I mean, if that be the case -- if I had to rely on my SAT scores only, I would not be sitting here. It takes a 144 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 combination of factors for success. So I clearly get that.
The other thing I want to ask about was the Office of Charter, Partnership and New Schools. Please, Mr. Rayer -- help me out, pronounce your name. I don't want to mispronounce it. Rayer. How old is that office?
So it's one year old. And if the gentleman and professional here could speak to what the involvement has been with that office, what has happened and what do you expect going forward.
Councilman Reynolds, it might be true that the reconfiguration is one year old. However, that Office of Charter Schools has been in operation for much longer 145 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 than one year. And what we're asking for in terms of looking at -- and it's good that Ben is here. We're asking to have some real involvement there, and the involvement has been that they hold meetings, they do the planning and then they tell us what we're going to do with charter schools. And we're saying that there are Boards of Trustees. If you look at that law, there's a Board of Trustees for every charter school. The gentleman here to my left is a member of the Board of Trustees of his charter school, and they are the ones who are legitimately given the responsibility to run a charter school. And so we're saying to pull those Boards of Trustees together and have them give us some direction for where education should go in this city. And that's a simple mandate, you know, and I think that's what they're going to have to do. I heard a lot of talk about involvement, but you didn't hear them 146 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 say, And we pulled the Boards of Trustees together. And those Boards of Trustees are the real backbones that make charter schools run.
I think one of the things that happens is, what I hear from some of the operators -- I'm on the Board at our school. One of the things that happens is that the relationship as described by a lot of operators is that CEOs really are treated like their employees as opposed to being an independent LEA. You have to understand that it all depends on where you are, your world view. Charter schools are created as independent entities, LEAs, which are their own school district. So, in essence, you have 70 school districts, 71 in Philadelphia because the Philadelphia District is one district, but each charter school is its own district. It makes a lot of sense, because what it does is, it really breaks 147 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 down the megalopolis. It just completely distributes it and makes it at ground zero where you really are able to engage the population you serve with the passion and drive that you need to make it a success.
Is this the first opportunity where you've had a chance to put that on the record, the interest of charter school leaderships with the School District?
No. There were two Charter School Task Forces that were convened over the years, and the first Charter School Task Force provided a series of recommendations that spoke about what it is that the charter community in that group of individuals that came together to discuss would want in a Charter School Office, and the original recommendation was that the 148 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Charter School Office would be an autonomous, independent office, external from the District, that would work with charter schools, because there was some concern about the inherent conflicts between authorizer and then technical assistance provider and supporter. There are some inherent intentions in the law between what the authorizers are supposed to do, given the money in order to do that, and then how they relate to charters. So there was some thought on the part of many charters that maybe the best way to do that was to create an external office that the authorizer -- but that has implications relative to budget, et cetera, et cetera, and the idea was to retain that internal to the District through the Philadelphia School District. That's what the SRC decided and that's when they started the CSO Office that now Ben is overseeing.
Thank you for that background. 149 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Thank you all for your testimony.
Thank you very much. Are there any further questions? (No response.)
Thank you very much. Our next panel: Dave Hardy, Boys' Latin of Philadelphia Charter School; Dr. Naomi Johnson-Booker, Global Leadership Academy. And you know her mother is head of Belmont Mansion. Audrey Johnson-Thornton is her mother. Marc Mannella, KIPP Charter School; Joe Proietta, Community Academy of Philadelphia; and Lars Beck, Young Scholars Charter School. While they are coming forward, Panel 3, Jurate Krokys, Independence Charter School; Dr. Vuong G. Thuy, Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School; Debbie Wei, Principal and CEO of Folk 150 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Arts-Cultural Treasures; and my friend, Kim Fuller, you're next. (Witnesses approached witness table.
Thank you so much for your patience. Certainly, Dr. Booker, you didn't mind me giving your mother a plug?
Yes, yes, yes. David Hardy, Boys' Latin of Philadelphia Charter School, will you begin? Dr. Booker second, Marc Mannella third, Joe Proietta. I remember when he started, when charter school movement was young. And Lars Beck, Young Scholars Charter School. Thank you. Thank you for your patience, and your school is beautiful and 151 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 wonderful.
It's in my district too, but that doesn't make it great. It just is.
Okay. I've got people from all over town, so... Councilwoman Blackwell and distinguished members of City Council, good evening. My name is David Hardy. It's my honor to serve as the CEO of Boys' Latin of Philadelphia Charter School. Our school is a special place. It's a place where boys take giant steps on the road to manhood. It's a place where scholarship is expected and personal responsibility is held paramount. Our students labor tirelessly, endure long school days and work within the disciplined framework of our school community. The young men at our school all take Latin, the language of academia. 152 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Philadelphia Magazine recognized Boys' Latin after-school program as the best in the region in its 2009 "Best of Philly Schools" issue. But the most amazing thing about our school is that it's working. With the cooperation of our students and their families, the dedication of our faculty and staff, the support and commitment of our Board and the constant encouragement we receive throughout our great city, our school has created a miracle in our West Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood. We come here this evening not to oppose having a charter school expansion policy, but to oppose the policy as it was originally proposed. The original policy was created in a vacuum and did not account for the 12-year history of the charter movement in Philadelphia. The District, to its credit, recognized the error of this approach and offered compromise language that I believe appears to be acceptable 153 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 to many in the larger charter community. The compromise language is currently being evaluated by the charter community, with the hope that we can agree on a policy. It is a small step, but a significant one nonetheless. The relationship between charters and the District has been contentious at times. The need for charters, as the legislation stipulates, to operate -- and I'm going to quote from the legislation -- "independent from the existing school district structure" is an important factor in charter school success. When the Inquirer reported that charter schools outperformed District schools in making state standards, Superintendent Ackerman was quick to point out that charters -- and I'm going to quote her -- "have a longer day, they are able to select their teachers and they stay very true to a curriculum course of action," and she went on to say that "those are things that I want to 154 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 make sure happen in all of our District schools." However, as public schools funded by public dollars, charter schools understand that we must be held accountable. It is in the spirit of accountability that we have joined together to oppose the originally proposed policy. If we are to be held accountable for the academic performance of our students, our schools should be configured to achieve those results. Those schools who are consistently meeting those goals should be able to replicate their success without waiting five years to do so. These issues have to be addressed -- excuse me. These issues have been addressed in the compromise. We respectfully request that the esteemed members of City Council encourage the School District to continue its efforts to work collaboratively with charter schools to resolve this issue. 155 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 This represents a new working environment, and this cooperation should be encouraged. While it does not represent all the areas in which these two entities disagree, it is a sizable one. We hope that this is the first step towards a better working relationship in the future. The children of our city need us all on the same page in the struggle to reform public education. Thank you very much for taking an interest and a leadership role in this important matter. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. And I neglected to say when we visited your school, Councilwoman Bill Greenlee was there and certainly concurs with me on what we saw. Thank you very much.
156 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Dr. Naomi Johnson-Booker. Thank you too for all that you do and thank you for trying to expand and certainly trying to work closely with us. We appreciate all that you do.
Thank you so much. Good evening, everyone, and thank you so much for allowing us to talk to you tonight. I am the CEO, Naomi Johnson-Booker, CEO of Global Leadership Academy Charter School. We have a site in West Philadelphia and we have a site in Northeast Philadelphia. And with me tonight is my presidents of my PTOs from both those locations and my parent liaison and my assistant principal, because these folks really care about what's going on in our schools and in our city. I want to share -- I'm going to try to ad-lib some of my words so we can make up some time. But Global Leadership Academy is a school that I was invited to 157 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 restructure in July of 2006, a charter school that was not making it and a charter school that we have since turned around. And in the last three years, we have made AYP, the last two of the three years that we've been in existence. We are fiscally sound and we have a 97 percent retention rate, as well as over 85 percent of our teachers are certified. You can look at the original stats that I found the school at when we were there and see that in three years, we were able to do that because of what you can do in the charter world, and I believe my colleague next to me quoted the Superintendent as saying that we have the ability to do many different things. So in a three-year span, something that took me almost six, seven years as a principal in the School District of Philadelphia to do, I was able to do it in less than three years, and that is to turn around a school and make it work. And we in the charter world are able to 158 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 do that. What I want to talk about a little bit tonight is school choice, because that's really what this is about, and who has the right to choose for their children and where do they go to school. In the City of Philadelphia, you have to go to your neighborhood school. Whether it's failing or not, whether it's overcrowded, whether it's persistently dangerous, that is the school that you go to. And so our parents don't have the opportunity to make that choice, unless they have the chance to call one of you, call somebody on the SRC and ask them to get them into one of the magnet schools, which we know which ones they are, or by chance try to get into a lottery. They cannot afford to go to private schools, which cost upwards of $20,000 for a year in kindergarten or first grade. So we charters offer that choice. And so by lowering the cap and/or -- putting a cap in, I'm sorry, 159 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 and/or stopping the growth of the charter schools, then we take away choice from a group of people in this city who are supposed to have the choice to be able to choose for their child. I had that opportunity. I chose schools for my children. My mother chose schools for me. So, therefore, I have a doctorate. My children are doctors and whatever else. I want the same for the children in the School District of Philadelphia and the City of Philadelphia. I graduated from Girls High School. It is very different today than when I graduated, but we should be able to offer those opportunities to all of the children in the City of Philadelphia, and that's what we're not doing. We're in a city where we have 73 percent of the charter schools are making adequate yearly progress, while 40 percent of the children in the School District of Philadelphia are making adequate yearly 160 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 progress. If you look at the urban high schools, the average high school, the high school that is near Southwest Boys' Latin, the high school that is near Global Leadership Academy, their graduation rate is not 55 percent. It is 30 percent. I was a former cluster leader in the Gratz cluster. I know what it looked like when 900 ninth graders start in ninth grade, but when you go to graduation, it's 150 of them. So I know what that looks like, failing, failing, failing. It's time for change.
And we right now have a reform that's working. So we in Philadelphia should be proud of that reform. It is something that is working, and the School District and the politicians and everyone should embrace it and open the doors, allow it to grow more and allow the charter schools that are successful and the operators to allow the system to grow. In our city, knowing that where 161 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 we have also a fiscal responsibility, I understand it's going to cost $66 million to build West Philadelphia High School. If I can get what we're getting, we're going to have a state-of-the-art school in your community for $10 million. We know how to do something right. In a recent meeting, the Superintendent was quoted -- and I quote you as what they said -- that we have -- there's data that was shown that said that if the School District continues at the present rate, they will not make AYP until 2131. 2131. So I ask you, who is going to sign your Social Security check? Somebody that can spell your name right? Would you want them to come from that system or a system of schools that are working? And that's where we are at this critical time in the School District and in the City of Philadelphia. So she wants a system of great schools. Here's some stats about our schools, that our high schools have over 162 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 a 95 percent graduation rate, our charter high schools, but there's only or 4 of them in the City; that we have on 5 average 95 percent attendance, average 6 daily attendance rates; that our staff 7 come to work on average on a daily basis; 8 that our discipline and our safety, we 9 don't have to turn in the reports that 10 say that we have a lot of suspensions. 11 We don't have any suspensions at Global 12 Leadership Academy. At this point in 13 time, since September, we haven't suspended anyone. And the graduation rates are the things that tell us what's going to help us in the City, and that's what we need to be looking at. We've got to create this workforce, the workforce that will be able to take care and grow this city. We also have to do something, which is to keep people in the City so they can pay the taxes and that they have the choices that they will need to be able to move forward. 163 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 So Dr. Ackerman wants to create a system of great schools. Well, we're here. We're part of those great schools, and we represent many of them right here in this city and we represent the school reform that is needed for it to work. So let's all be proud of that in Philadelphia. Increase the numbers. And by the way, since 1997, there has been a sharp decrease in the number of charter schools that have opened across the state. There was a large increase in '97 and up until marching into 2000, but looking since that time, the data will tell you that there has been a decrease, particularly in the numbers in Philadelphia. We fight every year. The charters that just opened, I believe they were on the list for over three or four years waiting to open. And in the Northeast school two years ago, we went to a neighborhood school near us where the children were sitting on the 164 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 radiators in an overcrowded school, and we were able to open the doors for just children, because we couldn't go over 5 our number and take more children. So 6 the rest had to remain on the radiators. 7 So here we are in the City. 8 Why the charters, who have continued to 9 improve and the numbers that are opening 10 that are not allowed to open up more. 11 We're continuing to grow and we need to 12 make sure that we do that, and we ask you 13 to have these hearings and listen to us 14 and listen to both sides, and we ask the 15 Charter Office to come together and work 16 in a true collaboration so that we can do 17 this together for the City, but for the 18 children that we have a moral obligation, 19 all of us, to educate. 20 Thank you. )
Thank you very much. That was excellent. Any questions? (No response.) 165 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596
Good evening, Chairwoman Blackwell, Vice-Chairwoman Reynolds Brown, members of the Education Committee and members of City Council. First, I wish to thank City Council and Council staff, as well as District leadership and staff for this hearing on this important topic. My name is Marc Mannella and I'm the CEO of KIPP Philadelphia Schools. KIPP Philadelphia operates two schools here in Philadelphia, KIPP Philadelphia Charter School and KIPP West Philadelphia Preparatory Charter School. KIPP Philadelphia Charter School was founded in 2003, is located in North Philadelphia and currently serves 360 children in grades five through eight. KIPP West Philadelphia Prep opened in West Philadelphia in 2009, currently serves 90 fifth graders, who 166 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 all had a grade of 90 kids per year as our current fifth graders move up until the school is fully constituted with 90 students per grade in grades five through eight. Well before the proposal to change the District's current policy and longstanding practice, our plan for 2010-'11 has been to seek approval to start a high school in North Philadelphia that will provide continuity for KPCS's current eighth graders and to start a K through four elementary school that will feed into KIPP West Philadelphia Prep. Given KIPP's track record of success, its sound and detailed plan for delivered incremental growth and its alignment with all of the District's stated educational objectives, we believe that any change in District policy should keep KIPP's service expansion on track rather than derail it. At KIPP Philadelphia Schools and the other 82 KIPP schools around the 167 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 country, students and our staff prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that demography does not define destiny. We are proving that a child in North Philadelphia or West Philadelphia is just as capable of academic success as a child in any affluent suburb. Although most of our students enter our schools performing two to three grades below grade level and this year only two incoming students scored proficient on a baseline diagnostic in math and zero in reading, on average 78 percent of our eighth graders score proficient and above on the math PSSAs by eighth grade, and 81 percent score proficient and above on eighth grade reading. Already 100 percent of the three eighth-grade classes that have graduated from KIPP Philadelphia have earned acceptance into college preparatory high school programs, programs like Central, Girls and Carver, private schools like St. Joe's Prep, 168 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Friends Select, the Foxcroft School in Virginia and Phillips Exeter in New Hampshire. The wait list for KIPP continues to swell with hundreds of children and families waiting for an opening to occur. This is why we decided to add our second school, and know that we must do more. With the support of the National Kipp Foundation and a strong Board, we have a detailed plan by which we can have a K through 12 continuum in both North and West Philadelphia by 2016, increasing KIPP's enrollment to 4,400 children. Remarkably, this alone would increase by 36 percent the number of children from North and West Philadelphia who enroll in college. While not all the grade challenges of public education in our City has been involved, we should not ignore programs that are known to work. These programs must not only be permitted to grow, they must be encouraged to grow. 169 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 We encourage policymakers to do everything in their power to pave the way for schools that have demonstrated success, whether they be charter schools, successful District initiatives, to serve more of our city's children. Conversely, policymakers should limit, close or replace programs, be they charter or District programs, that are not successful rather than perpetuate failure.
We believe accountability must be embraced and student achievement must be held up as the most important measure of a school's success. At KIPP, we have shown we can accomplish the stated goals of most public education reformers. Our students come from the most academically underserved areas of the City, years behind in reading and math, and from school catchment areas that, according to District data, provide very slim odds for success. At KIPP, children not only catch up academically, they go on track 170 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 for college confident and prepared. KIPP students have longer days, longer school years and even a longer school week every other week. For our students, parents, staff and supporters, the issue of the proposed change in policy is as simple as whether the District will use its charter power to enable the substantial impact that KIPP and others like it have shown it can have in the real lives of children in underserved areas of the City. With respect to the specific policy change that has been proposed by the School District initially, we do not support that draft of the policy, and which we have testified previously. We support the principle of distinguishing between high-performing schools and underperforming schools. We believe fairness requires that before new policy limitations are imposed, schools should be given the opportunity to make requests relating to the balance of their charter 171 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 periods, understanding what the new policy would be going forward, and have those requests considered and decided on their merits. KIPP cannot make up for a delay in even one year by simply starting two or three grades a year later. Our model is that we grow our students, staff and parent cultures in schools by phasing in only one new grade at a time at any of our levels - elementary, middle or high school. In closing, we believe we're at a critical juncture for education reform in our city and our country. From the reforms proposed by the District's Superintendent, Dr. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's use of the stimulus package to influence states to embrace his reform agenda, this is the most dynamic landscape we have 172 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 seen in Philadelphia in many years. It is critically important that issues relating to any proposed policy be resolved in time for charter schools to be able to implement changes for the 2010-'11 school year. What encourages me, and I hope encourages all of you, is that we are starting to get real agreement on what works for children. While we do not believe we are the only answer to closing our country's achievement gap, we do believe that KIPP is part of the solution. Creating a pipeline of 4,400 additional students from North and West Philadelphia by 2016 who are bound for and prepared for college is a significant contribution in improving public education for all in Philadelphia. We know what we are doing is working and is worth sharing. So thank you for the opportunity to share this good news with everyone here today. Thank you. 173 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596
Thank you very much. Are there any questions? (No response.)
Chairwoman Blackwell and members of the Committee, I'm going to cut short some of my presentation for the sake of time, particularly my introduction of myself, because I'm Joe Proietta and either you know me or you don't know me. If you know me, you have an opinion about me. If you don't know me, you probably don't read the newspaper or watch the news. So I'll move on from there. I am sort of sad and frustrated and a bit disillusioned to have to be here today testifying and having to repeat the same things I've said from the first days after Act 22 was signed by Governor Ridge on June 19th, 1997. I've 174 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 been a part of this process from the beginning and have seen each new School District administration come in and attempt to destroy not just the independence of charter schools, but charter schools themselves. We have, however, with previous administrations been able to engage in a give and take that has ended with a stalemate, leaving us uncomfortable, but still breathing. However, though this administration is heralded as a new bright morning, and honestly most charters felt the brightness of hope, it has quickly turned into a moonless night. The charter school law states unequivocally in Section 1702-A the legislative intent. It is the intent of the General Assembly, in enacting this article, to provide opportunities for teachers, parents, peoples and community members to establish and maintain schools that operate independently from existing school district structure. Let me repeat 175 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 the last critical part of what the legislation intended, particularly after Senator Williams said that it wasn't what it intended. " That means the administration. This is what your constituents want. This is what over 100,000 Philadelphia family members of charter school kids want. This is what thousands of families on waiting lists want. But this is not what the administration of the School District wants. I've read the memo from Ben Rayer regarding the draft amendment to the Charter School Policy. When I read the first draft amendment, I was stunned, because I didn't know there was a Charter School Policy to be amended. I've been around a long time and it was never shared with me. 3, all to be amended. How far away 176 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 from "operate independently from existing school district structure" have we come? Tom Ferrick of the Inquirer wrote the following about Community Academy and charter schools: "Proietta feels the enemy will come on tiptoes, rules and regulations piled on year after year until charters are smothered or become indistinguishable from public schools. " This was written in 1999. And is this what the administration of the School District wants? This proposed policy mandates aligning charter school activities with initiatives of the District. If charter schools are to be aligned with the District initiatives, then they aren't charter schools anymore. They are District schools. The charter school's law states charter should be aligned with the needs of teachers, parents, pupils 177 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 and community leaders, the very people who this Council represents. However, this is not what the administration of the School District wants. It would be impossible to address all the errors in the policy, so I limited the rest of my remarks to just two. However, I'm going to just limit it to one. I'm going to not talk about AYP. It's been spoken about before. But I'm going to talk about the enrollment caps, which takes two pages out. The most disingenuous section 15 of the policy is the enrollment caps. Mr. Rayer states that there is uncertainty. What more does the School District need? Isn't the Commonwealth Court decision in the Chester-Upland District or the 2008 revision of the charter school law enough? First, it is not clear that existing enrollment caps are valid or ever were valid.
And perhaps it's time that the District were taken to Commonwealth Court to answer for 178 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 the millions of dollars denied to charter schools over the past two years and the thousands of Philadelphia children who are denied enrollment in charter schools because of the arrogance of the School District. " This is backwards. The law states there are no caps. Therefore, charters don't have to request enrollment increases. As usual, the School District confuses their role, believing that charter schools belong to them. Historically, the question of caps has always been a problem. There is no provision for caps in the charter school law. Never has been. That Chester-Upland decision came months before the 2008 revision of the charter school law. Let's be honest. I would have 179 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 never accepted an enrollment cap without a gun being held to my head. There was no good-faith negotiation. It was take it or leave it. I have negotiated contracts with the School District for 30 years and I have never been involved in a good-faith negotiation. This administration in fact has been particularly unfaithful and cruel. Just look what happened recently with the Multiple Pathways contracts. During my time as a charter school CEO, I have gone through four School District CEOs and two interim administrations. I know that it is tempting to my fellow CEOs to look at this policy as something that might benefit them, but what I've seen in that is that School District CEOs come and go, and they each have their favorites. What looks good in this policy may look bad when the next one comes along. There is only one safe road for charter schools 180 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 and the charter school movement, and it is the one we fought for in 1997. It is independence, and it is public school choice for the families of Philadelphia. It is to trust the parents of Philadelphia. They know what they want and they know what they don't want. Independent community-based charter schools are very close to disappearing. We are under attack. City Council is our only hope, because you were the only ones directly elected by the people of Philadelphia who have any authority over the School District and charter schools. We are authorized by our chief competitor for children, money and in philosophy. We are governed by a Board appointed by statewide officials. Legislative majorities who do not understand our unique problems make our laws and regulations. You are the voice of Philadelphia. You are the voice of our parents and our children. Every day I have parents coming to me to get their 181 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 children into my school and I have no 3 room. I'm sure that's the experience of all the charter schools here today. In Philadelphia, there is school choice for those who can afford it. Parochial schools and private schools are part of our city's long tradition, but until 1997, there was no 10 school choice for those who could not afford tuition. The families of Philadelphia have been blessed since then with many choices - neighborhood charters, unique mission charters, safe charters for at risk, charters at all age ranges, whatever a family values. We meet the needs of your constituents. Help us save independent public school choice in Philadelphia. Thank you. )
Thank you very much. We do appreciate your statements. Mr. Lars Beck, Young Scholars 182 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Charter School.
Hi, Councilwoman Blackwell, members of the Council. Good evening. My name is Lars Beck. I'm the CEO of Young Scholars Charter School, which is a middle school serving grades six to eight in North Philadelphia. Quite simply, Young Scholars exists to close the achievement gap in Philadelphia and to reframe student expectations to include college. Fortunately, we've had significant success doing so. We use a very targeted, rigorous school model that is specifically designed to drive student achievement. The results achieved by last year's graduates are a testament to this model. Ninety-eight percent of them went to what we consider college prep high schools, 71 percent of them were accepted to a selective public school of some sort, 20 percent of them were accepted to private independent schools, including Haverford School, Friends Select, Sacred Heart, St. Joe's Prep, to 183 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 name a few. Our students' eighth grade PSSA proficiency results placed them at or near the state average, not the District average, the state average, despite many entering at least one grade level, if not more, many two to three grade levels behind, and the rate of growth in the number of students proficient or above from sixth grade to eighth grade is nearly triple that of District middle schools. What Young Scholars is doing is working at outrageous levels and significantly outperforming District schools serving similar student populations. Because of that, our leadership team and Board have crafted an expansion plan which in the short term calls for Young Scholars to serve 1,200 students by adding a minimum of two schools in the next three years. Importantly, a significant piece of the Young Scholars expansion plan was 184 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 designed to align with the unprecedented national focus on school turnaround. Just yesterday, Young Scholars is one of two Philadelphia area schools that participated in a highly selective full-day school turnaround gathering in Washington, DC where we heard United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan urge everybody to get in the game of turning around our country's lower-performing schools. Then we participated in conversations with states, districts and the federal Department of Education on how to successfully do this work. Of course, representatives from the School District of Philadelphia were present as well, because their Imagine 2014 strategic plan, just like the Young Scholars expansion plan, aligns with the national focus. A recent comprehensive national study performed by Stanford University's Center for Research on Education looked 185 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 at more than 70 percent of the nation's charter schools and showed that only 4 percent of them were outperforming 5 traditional school counterparts, with an 6 additional 46 percent showing no 7 significant statistical difference. " 13 Results here in Philadelphia 14 suggest that our charter schools may be 15 performing at a higher level than around 16 the country, and we're lucky for that, 17 but I'm not here tonight to argue that point. I am here tonight to urge anyone with a voice in the future of our city's education system to demand great accountability for charter schools and all schools so that charter authorizers in Philadelphia's case, which is the School District, as you know, can create a system that provides for the growth of 186 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 the highest-performing charter schools. Those are the ones that I think are in that percent I mentioned earlier. 5 Note that I didn't say growth of all 6 charters. I said the highest-performing 7 charters. I think Young Scholars falls 8 into that group, but where I differ a bit 9 from some of my fellow operators here is 10 that if it doesn't, I don't think we 11 deserve to grow. I think we need to 12 focus on growing the highest-performing 13 schools and only those.
14 To that end, I would add that I 15 believe that the conversations that were 16 had yesterday in Washington, DC are the 17 ones that need to be happening amongst educators here in Philadelphia. Those conversations center around creating and growing schools where students achieve at high, high levels regardless of their ethnicity or their socioeconomic background. The kinds of levels we're talking about there are levels where they are performing at levels that are 187 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 comparable -- not just outperforming the District schools, but at levels comparable to suburban student counterparts and more wealthy students. It doesn't happen all that often here in Philadelphia or around the country, unfortunately, but it's possible, and in my view, that's what we need to be shooting for. Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't comment on the School District's draft amendment to the charter policy, which many of my fellow operators are commenting on tonight. I have attached the testimony I gave to the School Reform Commission on October 20th and would add that while I too didn't support the initial policy, I currently do support the quick approval -- and I think it's important that it's moved quickly, and hopefully you can help with that -- of the compromise policy which Superintendent Ackerman recently submitted and described tonight as part 188 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 of a meeting with State Representative Evans and State Senator Williams. Thank you very much for your commitment to our city's public education and to making sure that all of our kids have the opportunity to go to college.
Thank you very much. I believe that Councilwoman Reynolds Brown had a question.
Yes. Let me thank all of you for your testimony. I am learning a lot while I sit here. I do want to go on the record to say that I too have been to Latin Charter School. I'm a product of single-sex education, so I have a special proclivity to those institutions that are single sex. So let me be sure I heard the testimony correctly, Mr. Hardy. Clarify for me the first sentence of your second paragraph, "We come here this evening not to oppose having a charter expansion 189 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 policy, but to oppose the policy as it was originally proposed." Does that mean there's an issue with process, or what? Help me out. Clarify.
Well, like I said a little further down, I think that the original policy was created in a vacuum. There are a lot of charter operators that are willing and have always been willing to work with the District to try and craft these types of things. They didn't use that option. I think what happened is with the hue and cry against the way the policy was proposed, they came back to the table and there was a compromise. Like any compromise, it wasn't perfect, didn't serve everybody, but I think it can serve the large majority of schools, and I think that the District should be willing to kind of work with the schools who got caught in the middle of one regime to the next. Because what happened was, like you've heard earlier, 190 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 people made promises to people and then they left, and then the new people sitting in the chair act like they never heard of the promises, and the people who made the promises were acting as officials of the School District. So if you have a conversation with somebody who is an official in the School District and you think you've got some kind of understanding and that person leaves, that doesn't mean that you didn't have that understanding with the District. That means that somebody new is in the seat. But now the new people act like they didn't know what happened. And that goes -- that's gone on every time they changed leadership. So I think this is a time to kind of fix that. We've got a policy. We tried to agreed on a policy for growth, because there needs to be policy. We just can't have haphazard growth. But on the other hand, we have to be able to address the needs of people who are 191 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 already in place, who opened up a school with a certain understanding and then find out later that they didn't have an understanding.
Surely. Thank you for the clarity. Thank you, Councilwoman.
To that point, I guess my question is again -- and I say this in the hat of a former founder -- do you think this policy is legal, and if in fact we got legal opinions to say otherwise, would you still feel that way?
The policy that I would most want to see is, let us do it. I mean, I think what happens is, the scary thing about charter schools, charter schools are market driven, and nobody wants to deal with that point. The point is, you want to open up a 192 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 school, you're free to, but if nobody goes to that school, you're not going to get paid. That's the market making the decision. I'm very comfortable with that, and I think some of my colleagues are very comfortable with that, but I don't think the District is comfortable with that, because imagine what it would be like if you had your choices between one of their failing schools and a whole lot of high-performing charter schools. They'd be out of business. So the whole thing about being market driven is not our issue. That's their issue. But to answer your question directly, if they didn't have -- if this was illegal and we could go to a market-driven kind of situation, I'd be more than comfortable with that. In fact, that's what I prefer, but I don't think that's going to happen.
Well, I'm a freshman, so I still believe. I guess my question becomes a concern. I don't think that the concern from the operators around this independence -- when they submit a charter application, it's based on a premise. You're given some overarching kind of parameters around you're an independent and you should be allowed to create your unique curriculum to serve these children. My concern is that when you start talking about caps and even some of the restrictions around performance -- and we're all for some standards, but when you want -- when you're saying you're okay with losing the ability for -- since No Child Left Behind, we've gone from Corrective Action Schools 1, and and we've gone to empowerment schools, now we've gone to renaissance schools, and the School District has this freedom to do what it needs to do to serve children. So that's 194 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 what operators are saying. They want to be able to have the freedom to do what they signed up for.
I don't disagree with that. Where I might disagree with some of my colleagues on is, I don't want to participate in a study with the School District of Philadelphia. I mean, that could go on forever. I mean, we've seen these studies, and they always end up with a whole bunch of paper and nothing gets done. So for us to go study this for six months, eight months, it's going to turn into two years or three years. That's more like handcuffing us, and nothing will get done in that time. Here's an agreement that we can make that will kind of get us off the dime. Is it going to take care of all of our problems? No, and I think there should be continuing dialogue.
But can't we make an agreement on the stuff that has nothing to do with the violation 195 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 of the law? I think we're all for some policy standards and procedures. The issue is, I think charter schools and those of you who are doing a good job want to be measured and you want to be able to flaunt that, but we can create a policy that allows some predictability. I don't know of a charter school operator that decides in June that in September they want to add 500 kids. That doesn't happen.
So if we know that, that there is planning, why can't we come up with a policy that doesn't violate the spirit of the law around that independence?
I would agree with that. The only thing that I worry about here is time. I mean, you're sitting in a room full of people --
But you've been doing this for 20 years. Charter schools have been around since 196 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 '97. I think that if I said to you, It's going to take us three months or six months more to do something right, I think the kids deserve that. We're talking about multi-million-dollar operations here.
I wouldn't disagree with that, but that's if we're going to do it. If the District is involved in it, you know it and I know it, there's no 12 three-month window in the District. It just ain't going to happen.
That's not true. I think the Superintendent was very committed to trying to get this completed in a way with all the stakeholders at the table, which is why she agreed to this process even after they had their charter school process. So I'm just saying that a charter school policy has to be one where stakeholders feel just as invested, and I agree with you there. I think this is too an important issue for us to say 197 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 there's not enough time. I guess that's where I'm disagreeing with you.
Thank you very much. Any further questions? (No response.)
Thank you very much. Jurate Krokys, Independence Charter School; Kim Fuller; Dr. Vuong Thuy, Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School; Debbie Wei, Principal and CEO, Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures. Lawrence Jones will be next, Richard Allen Prep Charter; Kelly Davenport, Doctor of Education, Freire Charter School; Alfredo Calderon, ASPIRA Charter. After that will be our last group, Barry Cohen, Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools; Shaharazed Ali, parent; Frederick Whiten, Mathematics, Civics and Science Charter 198 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 School representing our friend, Veronica Joyner. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Thank you very much. Thanks for your patience. Please feel free to begin. Dr. Thuy, every time I see you, I think of the late Lucien Blackwell. He was a great friend to you and you were a great friend to him. Thank you. Jurate Krokys, Independence Charter School, you're first.
Good evening. I am the founding Principal and CEO of Independence Charter School, which is now located at 16th and Lombard Street. And I had a prepared speech, but it was more like a sermon and so I'll try to just say a few things since the evening is quite long, and I really appreciate how much time you're spending on this. I guess I do about four tours a month to parents who are prospective 199 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 parents, and they come looking for placement anywhere from K through 8. And probably I see anywhere between 100 to 150 parents a month, and this has been going on for about nine years. And each time I try to give them both a quantitative and qualitative feel for the school, because they're eventually going to be the ones deciding. And some of the quantitative stuff I tell them is that our average attendance this year has been somewhere between 97 percent to 98 percent. This is pretty amazing considering our kids come from 45 zip codes in the City of Philadelphia. And the reason our parents come from 45 zip codes in the City of Philadelphia I think is because back in 2001 when we opened, the sixth day of my principalship 9/11 happened, and I think a lot of parents decided then that they wanted to be not too far from where their kids were. We are located at 7th and Sansom. And they searched for -- so we've drawn parents 200 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 who come into the City from outlying zip code areas in Philadelphia as well as who live in Philadelphia. But I think we wouldn't have been able to keep those 45 zip code representative parents if our school wasn't strong and wasn't kind of fulfilling their promises. 3 percent of our parents stay with us from year to year, and which also explains why our waiting list is this year over 700 for just this existing school year, because very few people leave us. And we also give sibling preference so that once one family member is in, that others can join us. And we think that's important, because we realize that our parents coming from all over the City want to keep their families together. I also tell them that our AYP scores, we've made AYP for six years in a 201 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 row. These are all of the six years that we have taken PSSA tests. We also -- our last year's graduating eighth-grade class, whose poverty rate was over 80 percent, scored 86 percent advanced and proficient in mathematics and 88 percent advanced and proficient in reading, and this is through a blind lottery. Our children come to us from all walks of life. We are 79 percent minority. We are 54 percent poverty rate. So that's who we are, and when I think about on a daily basis what makes things work in our school, I think about, first and foremost, the fact that we are able to attract teachers who want to work in an urban setting with the kinds of goals that we have for our children, with the achievement levels that we expect of our children, because all children in fact can achieve and achieve in very impressive ways. Because we are a K through 8 school, we also expect that we -- our responsibility is to prepare 202 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 children for college and other meaningful occupations. And people look at me strangely when I say that because we are a K through school, but we consider 6 ourselves people who prepare kids as a 7 gateway to great high schools, and this 8 is another way in which we give back to Philadelphia, because 95 percent of our students who are graduating eighth grade are being placed in Philadelphia high schools and magnet schools and great charter schools and in private institutions as well. So teachers are number one. The second is our ability to make decisions about our own curriculum and also to decide on how we spend our money.
And so although we receive approximately 75 percent of the per pupil allotment that a Philadelphia kid gets, we get to manage and decide how we spend that money, and we think that's really, really important. I think also the kind of 203 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 decision-making loop is also a very small kind of loop, in that our parents when they speak to our Board of Trustees -- that's a monthly meeting, and that is not a huge meeting -- I think they feel a kind of commitment and a kind of ability to receive feedback both from the administration and from the Board of Trustees. When speaking about what I would like to see or what I would suggest that are changes that are necessary, first and foremost I would ask for greater transparency on the part of the School District and the Charter School Office, or at least to develop that transparency. It's really been pretty hit and miss for the last nine years that I've been involved. It's been unclear year to year whether or not there would be applications for new schools. It's been unclear how one asks for, for example, a high school, if Independence Charter wanted to open a high school. 204 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 The latest kind of resolution that has been the new version gives somewhat more clarity and it's more welcomed than what was previously certainly, but, for example, the fact that we are now up for renewal this year, this is our second renewal, our first being in 2005, it's a bit of a surprise to us that it's this year that we need to put in a request if we wanted to expand to a high school or if we wanted to have a second campus. That's kind of pretty short notice. So I'd like to also just say that -- so it's transparency is one. The second being that the authorizers or the people who oversee the evaluation of charter schools perhaps should be independent authorizers, as the first Task Force suggested, that the Charter School Office be more greatly independent of the School District. These authorizing agencies can be tied to universities, for example. I would also like to suggest 205 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 that the caps be abolished. I certainly think that there needs to be policy and procedure for how schools can grow, because you still have to make some sense. Yet I would argue with the wonderful Senator Hardy Williams, whose work I very much respect, that although this would have a fiscal impact, I would also suggest that if we continue not graduating children from high school, that that would also have a fiscal impact farther down the line in terms of how much it will cost to maintain kids in jail, how much it will cost for ruined families and for people unable to enter the workforce. And, finally, at this late hour, I would suggest that although fiscal impact is important, it is much more important to give choice to families and to say to a parent of a five-year-old, Wait for five years for reform to happen or wait for a number of years for such-and-such to happen in the 206 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Philadelphia School District, when you have high-performing charter schools working, is a travesty and it cannot be used as an excuse, although it is certainly a very serious piece of the decision-making process. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We'll now hear from Dr. Vuong G. Thuy. Always a pleasure, Dr. Thuy.
It's my pleasure again, too. I have been asked to prepare a written statement to be distributed to members of Council. Can we do that? (Testimony distributed.)
Councilman Blackwell, we have known each other for many years and we've been working together for many, many years, and it's an honor to speak in front of you and the other members of the Philadelphia City Council today. 207 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 I'm not here to brag about our successes and our achievements, because I think all of you are getting tired and it's getting late in the evening, but I'm here to address a very sensitive and controversial issue that may severely affect not only the school choice of parents and their children, but also the success of the charter school movement in Philadelphia. For those who do not know me, for the past 11 years -- as a matter of fact, we are one of the first charter schools that came into existence during the second year of the law in 1998. I have spoken up on various issues related to charter schools at the Philadelphia School District public meetings, particularly at the SRC meeting. Here again, today I appear in front of you, the members of the respected Philadelphia City Council, I have to confess that I am very emotional indeed to address the Philadelphia School District's attempt to 208 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 control charter schools and limit school choice. Permit me to humbly mention some of our achievements to support my argument against any attempt to violate charter school law and court precedent, as well as to control charter schools and to limit parents' choice. For the past nine years, 100 percent of our seniors have graduated, have been accepted to and have gone to colleges and universities. We are high school from 9 to 12. Our school achieved AYP five times within the past seven years, despite the fact that on the average more than 75 percent of our freshmen enter our school with reading levels below the fifth grade and with math levels below the fourth grade. In 2004, our school was the first and the only charter high school in the State of Pennsylvania to receive the Keystone Achievement Award from the 209 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Pennsylvania Secretary of Education. As a matter of fact, two weeks ago I won again to receive the third Keystone Achievement Award from the Secretary of Education. In 2004, we were the only charter school in the State of Pennsylvania to receive a $50,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to share our best practices with public and charter schools in the United States. In 2007, I had the honor to be invited to Beijing University in China to share our best practices with more than 50 Chinese high school principals. The above are just a few highlights of some of our many irrefutable achievements and successes of which we are, understandably, very proud. Mind you, we are not the only charter school in Philadelphia that is considered a successful charter school. The fact is that 73 percent of charter 210 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 schools in Philadelphia meet AYP in the last year. That clearly and indisputably indicates that charter schools are highly successful public schools in Philadelphia. In addition, many charter schools certainly outperform Philadelphia public schools not only on the PSSA test, but also on providing a safe environment for teachers and students alike. In fact, charter schools have been providing a much-needed quality education to the children of Philadelphia. And now, ladies and gentlemen, the School District which has had a long history of failing and for so long has been trying to control and restrict, to their liking, charter school educational services that Philadelphia children and their parents rightly deserve. By doing this, the School District in fact is limiting school choice for students and their parents and they're trying to exercise an unreasonable control over charter schools. 211 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Ladies and gentlemen, this is not the first time that the School District of Philadelphia has tried to control charter schools.
In 2004, the CEO of the School District publicly threatened not only to shut down our very successful charter school, but also to put me in jail simply because I did not obey his order to surrender a cellular phone which was brought to our school illegally. Charter schools are certainly not the School District's subordinates, and like the School District of Philadelphia, we are independent LEAs by law. Our relationship with the School District of Philadelphia should not be employer-employee, but should be that of partners. Also, despite our many recognized successes and for four years, from 2004 to 2008, while we tried to acquire a dilapidated school building from the School District, we repeatedly ran into one obstacle after another 212 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 artificially and intentionally created by this very School District in order not to allow us to have a decent facility for the children we serve. Finally, with pressure from parents, students and community leaders, the School District of Philadelphia gave in by agreeing to sell it to us not at an appraised fair market, but at a profit. Imagine that, the School District of Philadelphia trying to make a profit from a charter school. Ladies and gentlemen, the School District of Philadelphia wanted to make money from the students that it failed to educate instead of supporting their education. Mind you, without a penny from the School District, we turned an old school building ready for demolition into a state-of-the-art school building for students considered by the School District of Philadelphia as second-class students, despite the fact Councilman Greenlee did come to visit our school. As always, you are cordially 213 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. us. The School District of Philadelphia has been trying to manipulate and to misinterpret Act No. 61 that was signed into law by the Governor of Pennsylvania on July the 9th, 2008. This Act forbids a charter school enrollment cap. Also, on January 18th, 2008, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth affirmed a trial court's order that declared illegal and unenforceable the Chester-Upland School District attempt to impose enrollment caps on charter schools in the School District. Despite these two legal actions, the Philadelphia School District has been trying to manipulate and misinterpret the law in clear violation of the law in order to restrict parents' choice and tighten the control of charter schools. The law and court precedents clearly stipulate that no school district has the authority to impose caps on 214 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 charter school enrollment. Why try to manipulate the law? I believe that any attempt to manipulate or intentionally misinterpret the charter school law in order to control charter schools and limit school choice, for me, is not only illegal and punitive, but also unconscionable and certainly a disservice to the children of Philadelphia and their parents, the taxpayers. I believe that in order to be fair, workable and acceptable, any policy change must be based on mutual respect, mutual agreement or understanding, and certainly on parents' ultimate wishes. A forum was hosted by the School District of Philadelphia on October the 20th, 2009 and presided over by four of the five members of the School Reform Commission. The huge auditorium was packed with charter school operators, students, parents, representatives of community and professional organizations, 215 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 lawyers and others.
During more than two hours of testimonies from 30 speakers, including charter school operators, students, 6 parents, non-profit and professional 7 organizations' representatives and 8 others, the message is unanimous, clear 9 and loud: The School District of 10 Philadelphia's attempt to manipulate and 11 misinterpret the charter school law and 12 court precedents to unreasonably put 13 tighter control on charter schools and to 14 limit school choice is clearly illegal, 15 self-serving and objectionable. During this emotional hearing, I did not hear even one single speaker supporting the unpopular and unconscionable amendment to Charter School Policy proposed by the School District of Philadelphia. Ignoring this message is not only politically incorrect, but also is an act of betrayal to the wishes of the parents, students and all of us who really care about the 216 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 education of the children of Philadelphia. From what I heard, it is obvious that although we, supporters of charter school education, have not won this battle yet, we have certainly won the hearts and the minds of parents and their children. This is important. Ladies and gentlemen, the bottom line is not you or me. The bottom line is the children that we are entrusted to serve. Finally, please do not forget that if public schools had been successful, there would have been no need for charter schools. Thank you for listening.
Thank you, Dr. Thuy. I think we'll go in order. Thank you very much. Kim Fuller, would you go next. Thank you and welcome, and belated happy birthday again.
Oh, wow. Thank 217 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 you so very much, and thank you for being a part of that celebration that meant so much to me. Good evening, Madam Chairman and to all of City Council. It is indeed a pleasure to be here today. I tell you, sitting here this evening I've started to rewrite what I had to say about three or four different times, but I'm going to read to you or say to you what I've come here to say. I'm here today to share my views on the issuing and the oversight of charter schools in Philadelphia. After reading Act 22, the document, it is clear to me that there was no language indicating the number of students that a charter school would be limited to or the number of schools any city in the state would be limited to. So I'm baffled as to why the SRC or the School District of Philadelphia is trying to cap either one. I'm also baffled why a district that is literally drowning would try to 218 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 throw a life jacket to a successful swimming entity. If the School District is drowning, how can they save charter schools, which are not drowning? Only the Philadelphia School District magnet schools are succeeding. But your inner city schools are failing and have been failing for more years than even I want to admit. The reason why charter schools came into existence is to save children and parents that were not succeeding in the School District of Philadelphia. Charter schools are not drowning, and they have the lifeline to throw. The School District of Philadelphia should be trying to take a look at the very successful charter schools and trying to emulate them rather than bog them down with bureaucracy and red tape. With one hand tied behind the charter schools' backs, they are still doing a better job, with 73 percent of their schools that have made AYP, with only 40 percent of the School District's 219 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 schools, of their top-ranking schools, having made AYP, with the fact that the School District of Philadelphia is keeping percent of the charter 6 schools' allotted money per student, with 7 no allocation of where the money is going 8 and how it's being spent. Remember, the 9 Philadelphia charter schools' hands are 10 tied, but yet the Philadelphia charter 11 schools are dancing to the crazy demands, 12 yet keeping the main focus of their 13 students at all times. 14 Enough is enough. We need a 15 governing body that will not try to 16 hinder the progress of charter school 17 movement. We need a governing body that 18 will not try to change Act 22 just to 19 suit itself. We need a governing body 20 that will not take any part of the school operating budget money. We need a governing body that has the best interest of the charter school movement on the table. We need a governing body that is not our competition, and we need a 220 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 governing body that will understand that parents have the right to choose. We need to -- it is really amazing to me, because I think that a lot of this is just absolute common sense. And that's the one thing I like about our current President, that he uses common sense. I think a lot of what is on the table here is just simple, everyday common sense. The law states that there is no caps on the numbers, and we're spending a lot of time and a lot of money arguing what has already been put in place. The charter schools are succeeding. Our inner city schools are failing. Our children are dropping out by great numbers. I know because I've had two children go through the Philadelphia public school and I have a child that's going through the charter school, and the difference is remarkable. I ask you to please bring this to a quick resolve. 221 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Thank you.
Thank you very much, Ms. Fuller. Thank you very, very much. Ms. Debbie Wei.
I want to thank Council for giving us the opportunity to testify today and I especially want to thank those of you that are still here, my colleagues as well. (Applause.)
Give you a shout-out. My name is Debbie Wei and I am the founding Principal and CEO of the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School in Chinatown. I didn't come here to speak today about, and therefore I will not mention, my absolute opposition to the placement of a casino in my community. I am speaking to you as a charter school operator, and I actually want to address something that nobody else has mentioned today, and, that is, something around the role of all of us in 222 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 advocacy for children. As an educator with close to 30 years' experience in education both within the District and in a charter school, I feel there's a lot to learn about what's possible in education by looking at many of the charter schools that have been built in the City over the years. FACTS opened in 2005 with a commitment, among other things, to servicing immigrant communities. Quality education for English language learners has long been a challenge in this city. To provide quality educational access to this population requires commitment and expertise. After years of advocating for change within the District in order to serve students and families of this population, we decided instead to put our money where our mouth was and build the kind of school we thought was possible for these marginalized communities. And FACTS has done just that. We've become a 223 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 model of what is possible for what schools can do effectively in this area. And even though we are only in our fifth year of operation and existence as a school, we've been featured in two national books, nationally released books. We are the site for four post-doctoral research studies, including studies of our ESO program by Dr. Sheree Mishow (ph) at the University of Pennsylvania, a study of our science program by Dr. Sonya Martin at Drexel University, a study of our Chinese language program by Dr. Aubrey Wang from St. Joseph's University and a study of linguistically and culturally competent service provision by Dr. Stacey Lee of the University of Wisconsin. So why are so many people interested in our school? It's because we've demonstrated excellence in the field of services to immigrant children and families, excellence in an area that has baffled and stymied urban districts 224 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 across the country, including Philadelphia. But what does that mean? It means dedicating resources, lots of them. We translate every document that goes home into four languages - Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Spanish. We employ five full-time ESO teachers, three part-time ESO tutors. We employ a full-time bilingual community outreach coordinator. We subscribe to telephonic translation services so our teachers can call parents. We employ translators, and we pay for them for every parent meeting, Board meeting and report card conference. I highlight these services in our school for two reasons. First of all, our school proves that charter schools can serve as demonstration models of best practices from which the District can learn. My second point, however, is that charter schools like ours that serve immigrant students don't get financial support to serve these students. In 225 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 other words, what I mean is that a charter school that serves no ESO students receives the exact same amount of funding that we do. Providing services and doing them well costs money, and advocating for funding formulas which allow schools to meet legal obligations under federal mandates, funding for immigrant children and families never gets the attention it deserves. The District has far more leverage than a small charter school such as ours. Our representatives here in Council and at the state level have far more leverage than a little school like ours. We're proud of what we accomplish. We believe we have a lot that we can teach the District.
We believe that the education we provide the immigrant community in the City is a service not just to the families we serve, but to this city as a whole, to the future of the City. But we need 226 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 support in the form of advocacy from people who have a lot more voice and power than we have. If we see our schools as sites of excellence, sites where other districts in the country will look to us as models of how to do things right, and if we see charter schools as part of that formula, those of us who are struggling to define and exemplify best practices need support for what we do. We need more than kind words. We need more than a daunt or a nice visit. We need advocacy from those with power who believe as much in the power of education and the rights of all children in this city, who believe that as much as we do. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight. I hope you'll remember the needs of the small charter schools who now make up so much of what is best in public education in Philadelphia.
Thank you very much. 227 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Are there any questions? (No response.)
Thank you very much. We appreciate your coming. Next we'll call on Lawrence Jones. Are you here?
Alfredo Calderon. And then our last panel will be Barry Cohen. Is Barry Cohen here?
Is Shaharazed Ali, a parent, here? (No response.)
Is Frederick L. Whiten or Whiten here? 228 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 (No response.)
All right. Then, Mr. Cohen, you might as well come up with this panel. Is there anyone else here to testify? (No response.)
All right. This will be then our last opportunity. Are you sure? Is there anyone here to testify whose name has not been called? (No response.)
Thank you very much. I thank you all for your patience. Mr. Jones, would you begin.
Certainly. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, members of Council. Thank you for this opportunity. 229 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 I thank you also for your endurance. It means a lot.
There's no place else I'd rather be. I am going to put aside a lot of what I've written and I'm also going to not be as witty as I would like to be, because I want to just get down to some basic facts. I am CEO of the Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School, and Madam Chair, thank you for the support that you have always shown our school. I'm very proud to be a founding CEO, but I'm not going to talk about Richard Allen today, because that's not the issue here. I'm here also as the President of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools, and in the past four years in that role, I've had the opportunity to go across the state and to see the battles that have been waged for school choice, 230 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 and we're in the midst of a battle right now. So before I go into the three basic tenets that I have that are at issue here, I want to do some clarification. Clarification No. 1, there was a question about the funding of the law, the 80 percent. It is across the entire state and it's based on each district's expenditure of funds, and there are certain things that a district can take out of the formula. For example, debt service. For example, adult basic education. One thing that many people don't understand or don't know is that a district can be up to five percent inaccurate in their calculations and not have to change the calculation. And sometimes some districts -- and I won't say which one or which ones -- often average around a four percent miscalculation, which if you're always four percent off, maybe it's not a miscalculation. I don't know. So that's where the 80 percent comes into play. 231 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Point No. 2, I've heard a lot of people talking about the Charter School Office, and historically the way the Charter School Office came into play was, there was another policy about two and a half years ago that was sprung on the charter school community. Some 30 charter schools got together and said that we weren't going to go for it, and they identified a group of people to go and speak on their behalf. I was one of those individuals, and from that came the Charter School Task Force. I served on the Charter School Task Force, and in open, public meetings, parents, School District employees, charter school supporters, charter school parents, even members from the Education Law Center agreed on one thing, that the Charter School Office being part of the administration of the School District of Philadelphia was a conflict of interest. I don't know if Dr. Ackerman would do it, but if I'm the CEO of the School District 232 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 and I say I don't like charter schools, you best believe that the expectation is that the Charter School Office is going to carry that out. It's the setup for the Charter School Office. What the Task Force said is that there should be a direct reporting to the SRC, that the Charter School Office should be taken out of the administrative hierarchy of the School District. So when Dr. Ackerman testifies that the Charter School Office reports directly to her, that to me would appear to be a direct contradiction. I think it put handcuffs on the Charter School Office, and when we talk about accountability, it hampers that and it creates a lot of problems. So we're here today and we're hearing a lot of people talk about some things, and they boil down to, for me, three things. Number one is charter school growth, and that talks about this proposal. So let's deal with that. 233 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 Number one, enrollment caps. They're illegal. It is very simply put. There shall be no charter school enrollment caps by any school district or any other governing entity, which includes the School District and the SRC. We have asked the Coalition multiple times for an open records to have the School District's legal opinion shared with us so that if we are wrong, we can tell our members and move forward.
We were told that it was not going to be shared with us, that they were their work documents. So if you guys get it and get that information, if you want to share it with us, great. If not --
She's on the record saying that that would be made public.
Fantastic. So the enrollment caps are something that I don't even think we need to talk about. That's like if you came to my house and said, Hey, let's talk 234 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 about how you can kill somebody, well, that's illegal, I'm not going to have that conversation. The next piece of the proposal is AYP as an academic indicator, and we've heard conversation about that, but let's look at the reality of how that makes out. And I will use my school in this example. My school has made AYP for five of the past six years. However, there are several charter schools that may have higher test scores. So somebody would say if I have higher test scores but didn't make AYP, Larry's school could get a grade configuration, but my school can't. Well, either one of those indicators is flawed, because the one story that I can't tell or that the District won't see is that when my fifth-grade students came into me four years ago, between that time and now, we have reduced the number of below basic students by, I think it's, 48 percent in reading and about 24 percent in math and 235 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 increased the number of proficient and advanced students by about the same measures. That's phenomenal, and I can point in every year to the indicators and the interventions that we used to get that, but you won't hear that. So what I'm saying is that if you want an academic indicator for charter schools, you cannot use a School District Report Card or a School District methodology. It's like when we study African American history and we start with slavery, the best thing you can hope to be is a good slave. So I don't want to be a good School District school because I want to be a great charter school, is something different. And we need to get a group of people, as Dr. Ryder said, together, businesspeople, higher education, and say, Let's come up with a real measure of what makes a good, efficient charter school and then let's hold everybody to that high standard. And I'll go on, and I mention 236 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 that quickly and what happens. The next piece is accountability. The elephant in the room 5 that we haven't talked about is a lot of the newspaper articles that we've heard about unfortunately some of the things that have happened in charter schools, and we now hear that there's a charter school problem. Well, with 130 charter schools in Pennsylvania, if we had a charter school problem, you'd see fraud and arrest taking place in other parts except for Philadelphia. So maybe there's a Philadelphia oversight problem that needs to be addressed. Maybe part of the problem is that there was a favorite and preferred nation status that has been talked about here that a lot of people won't talk about. And our recommendation with that, again, is if you have a Charter School Office that is politically independent and it's independent from the hierarchy of the School District, they can take care of 237 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 accountability without fearing for their jobs or how their office is going to be continued. So our recommendation here is that there be a separate Charter School Office. It can be staffed by the same people, but they need to report directly to the SRC. And then, finally, fiscal stability and funding. I think this is important to all of us, but I'll just skip to what I think are the poignant parts. Let's look at what charter schools can do. We've heard people talk about their buildings. You've had over charter schools in the last few years 18 do well over $100 million of 19 construction, buildings that often times 20 sat vacant, buildings that often times were abandoned. Our school is in a former laundry facility. It's a $6 million renovation. It's now a state-of-the-art facility. We have community meetings and other things that 238 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 are going on there.
This is community redevelopment for the City of Philadelphia, and guess how much it costs the City of Philadelphia? It's being used with state education dollars. So not only are we creating educational entities, but we're creating community redevelopment, and we're doing it in a way that is productive and we're doing it quicker and we're doing it cheaper and we're making sure that every child is able to walk into his or her school. I used to teach at Sulzberger Middle School, and when President Bill 16 Clinton came to visit us, my kids were smart enough, they said, Man, they never painted the school before he came. We paint our school every year, because my kids deserve that. So when we see some of the funding and equities, no 22 construction or funding reimbursement, the facilities funding is limited to a nominal rental reimbursement. Charter schools don't have access to the state 239 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 municipal bond pool. Charter schools are not part of the state's intercept provision law, which would increase our credit rating and automatically reduce our interest payments. Charter schools do not have access to many block grants and accountability grants. We need to move forward collaboratively, as many have said. We are a partner. Tonight you've heard a lot of things. You have an expertise base that nowhere in the state or, I would say, this country can be found, and when we have policies and other things by the School District, we don't even get asked. It's ridiculous. We've got to do this for our children and we've got to do this for the charter school movement, or five years from now you're not going to have charter schools, and you definitely won't have a world-class city. Thank you. I apologize for speaking too much.
You 240 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 didn't at all. It was invaluable. Thank you very much. Kelly Davenport.
Good evening. It's a pleasure to be here, and let me just say the amount of time I've been waiting to speak I think symbolically represents the amount of time I've been waiting to open a middle school. I am part of the founding team of the Freire Charter School, ninth through twelfth grade, and I could sing praises. Our kids are brilliant and beautiful. We've made AYP five out of six years. After all this time, I guess I just have two really big points I want to make. I heard Senator Williams sort of speak with fire under his pants and fear about what we're going to do to balance the budget, how we can't raise taxes in this economic system that we have, but remember, if you look at the per capita amount that kids in the City -- well, 241 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 that school districts get, this School District gets to educate its kids, if you include the amount for buildings, facilities, the National Center for Education Statistics in '06-'07 says that we spent $15,000 for Philadelphia students, and yet we spent 7,000 and change in '06 and '07 for our charter school students, and that includes their buildings. And so actually in the economics of things, charter schools are a much cheaper option. And while I want certainly to receive more money, I think that it's important to remember that I think that we can do better with less if we need to, because charter schools are proving that over and over and over again. The last point that I just want to make is that having sat here and waited for these years for the opportunity to expand our sphere of influence, we're not going to get it perfectly. It's just not going to be 242 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 perfect. I've heard the same conversations being rehashed and rehashed year after year, and it's a privilege to get to now have those conversations with you. But while we're making it perfect, can those of us who have been waiting, who have been promising, who have been preparing, who have been wanting to grow, could we find a way to grow? And perhaps the policy that's on the table now, while not perfect, could do that in a pragmatic way and continue us on this path so that we can find better and more ways to include kids at all levels here. But I think some of us are going to just sort of wither on the vine if we don't find a way to continue the momentum that we've built. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much. That was excellent. Thank you. Mr. Alfredo Calderon, ASPIRA.
Good evening. 243 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 My name is Alfredo Calderon from ASPIRA, and we work with two charter schools, Eugenio Maria de Hostos and Antonia Pantoja. By the way, Eugenio Maria de Hostos is one of the ones that Councilwoman Quinones is the founder of.
And also we have a pre-school. And I guess I'm here to say we're here in part because of a lot of the empty and broken promises of the previous administration. Like many people have here said, they were promised this, they were promised that, and nothing happened, and in turn led to the Board, some of the current SRC members and some of the past SRC members, to say, Well, how do we determine who is successful and who is not and who gets charter and who doesn't. So that's where the idea of a policy came from, was actually from the SRC to in turn be fair, supposedly be fair, to everybody and 244 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 approve successful charter operators. And in that process, this policy has come up. And my point is, while I agree that it may not be perfect, the policy as amended allows us to move forward. It allows us to show some measurement of success and also be able to achieve what we want. Some of us want grade configurations rearranged, some of us want increase in enrollment. One of the things that I know about the Office of Charter School, I agree with Mr. Lawrence, it should be an independent body and I do agree that it should be staffed with the current staff. I don't -- on behalf -- I want to speak on behalf of Mr. Ben Rayer. Previous administrators at the Office of Charter School to me were terrible, were awful, were totally anti-charter. He comes from a charter school. He understands some of the pain that we're suffering, but he has to deal within the parameters of what he 245 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 has. But he has been somebody that when I disagree, I can call his office and let him know I disagree, and we can have a strong disagreement, friendly disagreement, and respect each other. I didn't get that in the past. The Office of Charter School was very anti-charter in previous years. So I have to make that point. Once again, I say we need to look at a policy, and while the one we have may not be perfect, there's some things that we can work on to move forward. And the issue of the cap, I guess that's one that the state is dancing around it, in the fact that if they make the law and we say or anybody else says that law -- that the District is doing illegally, because they're violating the law, then the state should intervene. The state should be then saying to the District, This is illegal, you cannot do that. They're not doing 246 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 it. So that's something that needs to be addressed directly with the state, and we need to put the pressure on our state legislators so they can address that issue. I wanted to apologize for not having anything written, but I was in Puerto Rico due to the death of an uncle, so I didn't have -- and just arrived. So that's why I don't have anything in writing for you. So I apologize for that, but I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you.
Thank you. No, we thank you, and we're sorry about your loss. Thank you for coming and for your testimony. Thank you. Mr. Barry Cohen, Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools. So, shall we say, the last shall be first. I don't know how it applies, but thank you for staying.
Thank you very much, and I too want to join my 247 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 colleagues in thanking you for listening to us, listening to the many, many speakers, and thank you for your endurance and for being with us on this very important issue. As the last speaker, I have an opportunity to bring some things together, and what I'd like to do -- and I don't want to make a promise -- I will be very brief. My comments are less than one side of one paper. The hour is late and I think we all have reached the point that we'd like to go home. What I want to do is just for a moment put the charter school experience in a national context. Charter schools are recent. Before 1991, there were no 19 charter schools. Today, 40 states have charter school legislation. Also, in 1998, there were more than 1,100 charter schools nationally. That grew from zero seven years earlier. Today, 2009, there are close to 4,000 charter schools nationally, serving over one million 248 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 students and their families. Approximately 130 of them are here in Pennsylvania, and 67 are in the City of Philadelphia. Each of the million students nationally has made a voluntary choice with his or her parents to enroll in a charter school. This exponential growth of charter schools on a voluntary basis could not have occurred unless charter schools were meeting basic educational needs. Traditional public schools are one of the few remaining monopolies in the country. Charter schools bring competition, bring best practices and bring choice to the educational marketplace. That is why they have been so successful. In Philadelphia, as we speak, there are tens of thousands of students on waiting lists for charter schools. Families are voting with their feet to enroll in charter schools which they believe provide the best educational 249 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 opportunity for their children. When artificial restrictions such as caps or limits on new schools are imposed, the families' right to choose is taken away. Charter schools which have the capacity or could easily grow the capacity are prevented from serving the very students they're created to serve. So I want to conclude, there is an explosive demand for charter schools from Philadelphia families. We want to ask you as the City Council, we want to ask you to work collaboratively with the SRC and with us to ensure that charter schools are able to respond to that explosive demand which is here today and which will be growing tomorrow. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions? (No response.)
Is there anyone else here who would like to 250 11/17/09 - EDUCATION - RES. 080596 testify? (No response.)
Again, we thank you all. We thank members of the Committee. We thank Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez for introducing the resolution, and this hearing will be recessed subject to the call of the Chair. Thank you all, God bless and good night. (Committee on Education recessed at 9:15 p.m.) - - - 251 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on November 17, 2009, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)