State: Some fear exclusion in charter schools

Charter schools in Florida have not turned out to be the elitist enclaves critics feared because lawmakers saw to it that the schools couldn't select only the children they wanted.

By law, the independent public schools had to be open to all.

But now charter schools can be more selective.

New revisions to the state's charter school law allow schools to conduct auditions or entrance tests for prospective students, and to limit enrollment to students within a certain municipality.

Advocates say the changes are meant to encourage the creation of innovative new schools, not to exclude anyone. But some educators say the changes could lead to the kinds of exclusive schools critics warned of all along.

"If you want to have an all-white charter school for rich kids, this is probably the best way to do it," said Jade Moore, executive director of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, speaking of the provision allowing charter schools to limit their population to a specific municipality.

"I can see that argument, but I don't think that's going to happen," said Billy Buzzett, a member of the state's Charter School Review Panel and a founder of one of Florida's original charter schools, the Seaside Neighborhood charter school.

"I can understand someone saying, "Here we go: white, municipally run charter schools -- private schools with public dollars,' " Buzzett said. "But charter schools have always been inclusive."

The changes in the charter school law seem simple enough.

Until now, charter schools had to accept students from anywhere in their school district. In the case of overcrowding, they were to rely on a lottery system. But the law provided a couple of exceptions so that, for instance, an elementary charter school wouldn't have to accept teenagers.

The law said charter schools may "limit the enrollment process only to target" students of certain age groups or grade levels, and to target students at risk of academic failure or of dropping out. Because of those provisions, charter schools sprang up catering to kids who struggled academically -- hardly the elitist, cream-of-the-crop academies that critics feared.

Under a bill recently signed into law by Gov. Jeb Bush, charter schools can limit their enrollment even more. Now a charter school can "limit its enrollment process only to target" students within a municipality. That allows charter school founders to set up a city charter school for city residents.

The goal, according to the lawmaker who proposed the revision, is to encourage fast-growing communities to start up their own schools. In fact, Sen. Durell Peaden Jr. of Crestview wanted to allow housing developments to create their own charter schools as well. That provision didn't survive, but the municipality provision did.

Does that mean that a wealthy, all-white municipality could create its own school and exclude kids outside the city limits? Peaden said he doesn't think so and that was not his intent.

But educators and charter school experts say the law could be interpreted as allowing some exclusion.

Buzzett's reading is that the provision would allow a municipality to enroll only children within the municipality, but then if it has room, it would accept others who might live just outside the city.

"That way, they could target a population, but not exclude kids," Buzzett said.

Even more troubling to some educators is the provision allowing charter schools to target "students who meet reasonable academic, artistic, or other eligibility standards." That enables a charter school to hold tryouts or require an entrance exam.

"That's a big change; they can hold auditions now," said Cathy Wooley-Brown, the state's charter school coordinator.

Wooley-Brown pointed out that this merely enables charter schools to do something that magnet schools have done for years. Performing arts magnet schools hold auditions, and gifted students take tests to get into International Baccalaureate programs.

James Hamilton, deputy superintendent for the Hillsborough County schools, said there is a big difference in the way school districts create magnet schools.

"We're not just doing it to collect a certain group of kids; in our districts, magnets were created to integrate the schools in predominantly African-American communities," Hamilton said. Magnets routinely are placed in minority communities and the theme (performing arts, technology, etc.) is intended to attract white students to voluntarily travel to the predominantly black schools.

Hamilton said he questions whether charter school founders will feel the same sense of responsibility to integrate schools.

Hamilton and others agreed it will be up to local school boards, who approve or reject charter applications, to guard against the creation of elitist charter schools.

Said Buzzett: "People have said for years that charter schools were going to be a tool for segregation. That hasn't happened. And I don't think it's going to happen."

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk