State wants new charter schools to serve low income

That's expected to give an edge to charter schools that serve primarily urban students.

But a meaty discussion about which of the seven pending charter school applications would pass muster under the new system won't happen until 2 p.m. on May 8, when the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education takes up the matter at the Shepard Building, 255 Westminster St. A second meeting has been scheduled for 2 p.m. May 29, when a final decision is expected.

Governor Carcieri's proposed budget sets aside just $1.5 million for new charter schools in the 2009-10 school year. Charters are paid for by taxpayers, but are allowed to operate free of many rules and restrictions that govern regular public schools.

Even if the General Assembly preserves the allocation, the money will likely be enough to finance only two of the seven proposals. In addition, an existing charter school, Paul Cuffee in Providence, wants $800,000 to expand to ninth grade.

Cuffee, and a proposal by Cumberland Mayor Daniel J. McKee to receive $700,000 for a "mayoral academy" charter school, carry considerable political clout. Both were originally earmarked in Carcieri's spending plan. The governor later removed the earmark, saying the Regents should decide which requests are most worthy of approval.

Because current state law allows just 20 charter schools and Rhode Island already has 11, the 9 remaining slots are precious, said Regent Angus Davis. Davis chairs the committee that oversees charter and state-operated schools.

In addition to proving they have developed an innovative, high-quality academic program and have enough families interested in sending their children, charter applicants must explain how school leaders will close the achievement gap between low-income and middle-income students.

In the past, charter school applications were processed in the order in which they were received. However a four-year moratorium on charters that was lifted in 2008 caused a backlog of applications, said Keith Oliveira, coordinator of charter schools for the state Department of Education.

"We are not bound by chronological order," Oliveira said. "We will apply this new criteria to all the applications and see which rise to the top, based on merit."

Two of the applicants attended the meeting Wednesday, and said they remained hopeful, even though their charter schools would be located in suburban communities.

"We are requesting a statewide charter, so we can bring environmental education to students throughout the state," said Amy K. Pratt, president of The Greene School, which seeks to open a charter high school on the W. Alton Jones Campus of the University of Rhode Island in West Greenwich.

Laura Wilkinson, one of the parents proposing the Nathanael Greene/Potowomut School, a preK-6 school in Warwick that would be open to students statewide, says charters are needed everywhere, not just in urban communities.

"I just hope the Regents will keep in mind there are students in the middle of the state who have need and deserve a choice," Wilkinson said.

The full Board of Regents is expected to vote to approve the new criteria at a 4 p.m. meeting May 13.

The 8 charter school applicants

Here are the eight applications for charter schools in the pipeline - seven for new schools and one for an existing school to expand:

•Two proposals have already received "preliminary approval" from the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education: the Segue Institute, a middle school in Central Falls; and the Urban League Middle College in East Providence. Segue still hopes to open this fall but the Urban League is unlikely to be ready then.

•The Paul Cuffee School in Providence hopes to receive $800,000 that would allow it to expand into ninth grade this fall. The K-8 school's plan is to expand to a full high school.

•Two proposals - the Greene School, an environmental high school serving 210 students in Exeter and West Greenwich, and the Nathanael Greene/Potowomut Charter School in Warwick - have been "recommended" by the state Department of Education, but have not been granted preliminary approval.

•Three other groups have recently submitted proposals to the state Department of Education and public hearings were held earlier in April and are waiting for preliminary approval from the department. They are: a "mayoral academy" elementary school in Cumberland that would be run by Democracy Prep, a New York-based charter school operator; Enki Community School, a K-8 school serving 198 students, and Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts, a 7-12 performing arts school for 204 students, both in Providence.

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