More Education Plays

Education reforms in most parts of the country have involved a new emphasis on choice, accountability, and performance. But many school boards and local school districts are too poorly structured to pursue these criteria. They were typically designed to oversee a system of standardized, one-size-fits-all schools. School boards oversee a diverse variety of schools, including traditional schools, public charter schools, and magnet schools, with all schools enjoying operations and facing closure for failure to meet performance agreements. Some schools would be run by the school district and others by independent organizations. Much like financial investors with portfolios of stocks and bonds, school boards would closely manage their portfolio of schools, closing those that fail to produce results and adding promising new ones. The portfolio management system would maintain state and local funding commitments but would link funds to students, not programs, and schools would be funded based on enrollment. Individual schools would have control over spending decisions as well as teacher hiring and placement.

"The principal role of the local school superintendent going forward should be accountability instead of operations." -- Hugh B. Price, President, National Urban League

Another innovative approach to reforming school districts is to create districts in which every public school is a charter school. Charter school districts have the potential to provide more options for unhappy parents, more funding for classrooms, smaller schools, better teachers and principals, and an enhanced ability to meet higher standards. These districts can take two forms: A district can apply for one charter for all schools, or each school in a district can hold individual charters. Either model allows for greater autonomy for schools with regard to curriculum and organization. Like individual charter schools, charter districts use existing public education money on a per-pupil spending basis, with additional funds coming from grants and fundraising.

At this point, districts in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, Oregon, and Texas have the legal option of going "all-charter." Districts like Chicago and Los Angeles are working to create substantial all-charter subdistricts within or alongside the existing district system.

In Florida, school districts may submit charter proposals to the state Board of Education for a three-year charter. The local school board, which remains the governing board, has autonomy over its implementation. Approved as just a three-year trial, the proposal allows up to six all-district charters, and there are provisions to renew the district charter after the three years are up.

Resources for Action

Education Commission of the States, Charter Districts Project
www.ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/issue.asp?issueid=191

Additional Reading

Paul T. Hill, "Put Learning First: A Portfolio Approach to Public Schools," Progressive Policy Institute, February 2006
www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=110
&subsecid=181&contentid=253740

Paul T. Hill, "Charter School Districts," Progressive Policy Institute, May 2001
www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm? contentid=3365&knlgAreaID=110&subsecid=134

Andrew Rotherham, "Charter School Districts: Chester-Upland Model," Progressive Policy Institute, May 2001
www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm? contentid=3364
&knlgareaid=110&subsecid=181

Paul T. Hill, School Boards: Focus on School Performance, Not Money and Patronage, Progressive Policy Institute, January 31, 2003
www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?contentid=251238
&kaid=110&subid=134

"Idea of the Week: Every Public School A Charter Public School," DLC, August 4, 2000
www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=1939&kaid=131&subid=207

Bryan C. Hassel, "How Washington Can Help Reinvent the School District," Education Week, March 7, 2001
http://www.edweek.org/

Contacts

Dr. Paul T. Hill
University of Washington
Center on Reinventing Public Education
2101 N. 34th Street
Suite 195, Box 358774
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 685-2214
(206) 221-7402 (fax)
bicycle@u.washington.edu

Dr. Bryan Hassel
Co-Director
Public Impact
504 Dogwood Drive
Charlotte, NC 27516
(919) 967-5102 bhassel@aol.com

Nelson Smith
President
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
1101 14th Street, NW
Suite 801
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 289-2700
(202) 289-4009 (fax) nelson@publiccharters.org

Andrew J. Rotherham
Co-Founder and Co-Director
Education Sector
1201 Connecticut Ave, NW
Suite 850
Washington, DC 20036
(434) 973-2173
arotherham@educationsector.org