Alarmed by what he fears will become a flood of high schools seeking to break away from the Los Angeles school district, Superintendent Roy Romer called last week for creating some type of 鈥渃harter district鈥� within the nation鈥檚 second-largest school system.
In a closely watched controversy that has been complicated by racial tensions, Mr. Romer has raised strong objections in recent weeks to plans by three large, relatively high-performing high schools to cut loose from the 750,000- student Los Angeles Unified School District and become autonomous, publicly financed charter schools.
Following the Los Angeles school board鈥檚 vote last week to grant independence to two of those schools, Mr. Romer said he wants to find 鈥渟ome way to develop some kind of charter district of our own鈥� as an alternative to the current process to convert existing public schools to charters.
鈥淚 take this present method as a very serious threat to the whole district; therefore, I have to seriously think of an alternative,鈥� he said in an interview with Education Week. 鈥淲hat I鈥檓 saying is if everybody wants to go this charter route, then let鈥檚 network the charters. I鈥檓 just really worried about the piecemeal thing.鈥�
Mr. Romer鈥檚 comments followed a May 13 meeting at which the district鈥檚 seven-member board voted 5-1, with one abstention, to grant a one-year charter to Granada Hills High School in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles. With more than 3,800 students, it will become the largest existing school in the nation to convert to charter status, and the nation鈥檚 largest single-campus, bricks-and-mortar charter school, experts say.
The school board also agreed to let another relatively high-performing school鈥攖he 2,400-student Palisades Charter High School in the Westside section of the city鈥攕witch its status from an 鈥渁ffiliated鈥� to an independent charter school, thereby freeing it from district personnel, budgetary, and other policies. The vote was identical to that on Granada Hills High, with the board鈥檚 only African-American member voting no and its sole Hispanic member abstaining.
As unhappy as Mr. Romer and other top district officials were to see those schools leave, they hope the conversions will spur the district to address a trend that they see as having major repercussions for the system鈥檚 long-term educational and fiscal viability.
鈥淣obody has worked out what it鈥檚 going to look like if you take this district and checkerboard it with 15 to 35 charter high schools,鈥� Mr. Romer said. 鈥淚 would like to find a way to maintain some coherence about how you operate public schools.鈥�
Break With Past
National interest in the Los Angeles charter landscape has been high in recent years because of the district鈥檚 openness to charter schools as a tool for raising student achievement and easing severe overcrowding.
Since California passed its charter law in 1992, the district has granted more than 50 charters.
Many saw this spring鈥檚 conversion battle as a turning point.
All four of the existing public schools that previously converted to independent charter status in Los Angeles had been low-performing elementary schools with high poverty rates鈥攁 far cry from last week鈥檚 breakaway schools.
Granada Hills High attracted attention in part because鈥攚ith the exception of two magnet schools for gifted students鈥攊t had the highest scores of district high schools over the past two years on the state鈥檚 Academic Performance Index, or API. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very symbolic charter,鈥� said Brian Bauer, the 34-year-old principal of Granada Hills High. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a perception that the district is losing its flagship high school.鈥�
In line behind Granada Hills to go charter is another huge, relatively high-performing San Fernando Valley high school run by Mr. Bauer鈥檚 father. El Camino Real High, with more than 3,600 students, has been working since March to revise its charter petition to make it acceptable to district administrators, said Ronald S. Bauer, the school鈥檚 principal.
Both father and son say a variety of programmatic and fiscal concerns underlie their drives for greater autonomy.
Financially, for example, both believe their schools鈥攚hich have student-poverty rates too low to qualify for aid through the federal Title I program鈥攕tand to gain as independent charters.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about resources; it鈥檚 how resources are fused with creativity and innovation,鈥� Brian Bauer said in an interview. Both principals said that autonomy should help them do better with students whose lackluster performance is masked by the schools鈥� academic high fliers.
鈥淭his charter is a golden opportunity to serve the mid-range and lower-achieving groups of youngsters,鈥� Ronald Bauer said.
Busing Is a Concern
Hundreds of the youngsters he refers to are bused to El Camino Real High from other sections of the district, as they are at Granada Hills High, under programs to ease overcrowding and to comply with districtwide desegregation policies.
To address concerns among district administrators about potentially losing those 鈥渟eats,鈥� the Granada Hills charter guarantees that such transfers would continue at least at present levels.
The busing question is just one of many brought to the fore by this spring鈥檚 conversion drives.
Citing a range of concerns, district leaders opposed Granada Hills鈥� request for a five-year charter and repeatedly sought to delay board action in the weeks leading to last week鈥檚 vote.
Those moves were sharply denounced by outgoing school board President Caprice Young, who represents the Granada Hills High neighborhood. The differences resulted in a high-profile political brouhaha.
Race and ethnicity loomed large in the controversy, as Superintendent Romer and other district administrators pointed out that Granada Hills High enrolls a substantially higher percentage of non-Hispanic white students鈥�43 percent鈥攖han do most district schools, and suggested that it might start attracting more if it went charter.
Palisades Charter High and El Camino Real also enroll far greater proportions of non-Hispanic white students than the district average of 9 percent.
Another bone of contention has been the annual facilities fees that charter schools will now have to pay to use district-owned campuses. The unresolved issues surrounding those payments and others, which the schools suggest are too high, have led to considerable acrimony in recent weeks.
Mr. Romer, who has backed charter schools since his days as Colorado governor, says the district should address such issues before the trickle of departing schools becomes a torrent.
The superintendent brought up the 鈥渃harter district鈥� idea at the May 13 school board meeting, focusing on the prospect of forming such a district for high schools. But he told Education Week later that he would be open to other ideas, including an administrative entity including charter schools that serves all grade levels.
Mr. Romer鈥檚 proposal comes at a time of uncertainty and transition in Los Angeles鈥� education politics as a result of recent school board elections. It is unclear how his ideas will be viewed once several new board members take office in July.
It also comes as other urban school systems show greater interest in charter schools as a complement to their own district-run schools. (鈥淏uffalo Board Votes to Explore Network of Charter 69传媒,鈥� April 16, 2003.)
Bryan C. Hassel, an expert on charter schools who is the president of Public Impact, a research and consulting group based in Chapel Hill, N.C., predicted that the debate in Los Angeles would be watched nationally as more districts seek ways to attract enterprising educators.
But he said it was too soon to assess the value of creating some sort of 鈥渃harter district鈥� there.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a danger that it could be just a move to co-opt enterprising people in a way that doesn鈥檛 really change anything,鈥� Mr. Hassel said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why the devil鈥檚 in the details.鈥�
