SURVEY OF CHARTER SCHOOLS 1998-1999

Charter Schools' Challenges: Selected Responses

Alaska

  • Academy Charter School, Palmer, AK: Politics: teachers in the district are jealous and fearful of a charter school; Facilities: there is a lack of useable space and lease funding is non-existent.
  • Chinook Charter School, Ft. Wainwright, AK: Maintaining all the roles involved in keeping the school going with out an administrator.
  • Ketchikan Charter School, Ketchikan, AK: District stipulations on hiring within the district; sharing a principal; split grade classes.
  • New Beginnings Charter School, Fairbanks, AK: Funding for day-to-day operations is inadequate. As a result we do not have enough staff.

Arizona

  • Academy of Excellence, Phoenix, AZ: Student absenteeism, gang issues, vandalism, graffiti (building, bathrooms, grounds, textbooks, etc). Need for better transportation. Need to improve low academic levels, and parenting skills and attitude.
  • Alternative Computerized Education (ACE) Charter High School, Tucson, AZ: Student achievement: majority of youth coming to us with very low basic skills, and many have been out of school for a while.
  • American Heritage Academy, Clarkdale, AZ: Too much state paperwork. Educating the community.
  • Arizona Agribusiness & Equine, Phoenix, AZ: Maintaining consistent student attendance; parent communication; keeping informed of the rules for charter school operations.
  • Arizona Career Academy - Mesa, Mesa, AZ: Special education: no certified staff available.
  • Arizona Montessori Charter School - Prescott Valley, Prescott Valley, AZ: Special needs children. Attendance policy: local schools consider an absence excused if the parent calls in!
  • Arizona School for the Arts, Phoenix, AZ: Maintaining mission.
  • ATOP Academy - Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ: Getting additional funding outside of state funds.
  • Bennett Academy, The, Phoenix, AZ: Special education students' parents' demands and complaints, and IDEA's insistence that every child having trouble is a potential special education student. Money hasn't been a key issue though we don't have much.
  • Blackwater Community School, Coolidge, AZ: Maintaining charter status within the political structure of the state and the Native American Community Structure.
  • Challenge Charter School, Glendale, AZ: Providing quality to the overwhelming request.
  • Children's Academy of Arizona - Tucson, Tucson, AZ: Financing; retaining students and staff, given that our population comes from a large geographic area.
  • Crittenton Youth Academy, Phoenix, AZ: Individualized education plans for all children.
  • Dragonfleye Charter School, Phoenix, AZ: As with ATOP Academy, intentional libelous damage to reputation and attempted theft of the school by an employee who thought it would be easier to steal someone else's school than to do the work himself.
  • Educational Opportunity Center, Yuma, AZ: Continuous enrollment and withdrawal of students due to the population served. We serve a Special Education population that consists of between 22 and 26 percent of our population.
  • EduPreneurship Student Center (ESC) Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ: Finding suitable facility; advertising for students.
  • EduPreneurship Student Center (ESC) Scottsdale, Scottsdale, AZ: Bureaucratic reporting requirements that consume the time and energy of limited administrative staff.
  • Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy, Flagstaff, AZ: Keeping up with enrollment growth: in 99-00 we will expand to 160. Finding private funding to build permanent facility on private grounds.
  • Foothills Academy, Cave Creek, AZ: Funding: providing a wide range of programs on a shoestring.
  • GateWay Community High School, Phoenix, AZ: Consistent updating of technology.
  • Intelli-School - Metro Center, Phoenix, AZ: Opening new sites fast enough to meet demand; growth in general.
  • Kachina Country Day School #1, Paradise Valley, AZ: The amount of paper work and documentation.
  • Kachina Country Day School #2 (Kachina School for Arts & Sciences), Scottsdale, AZ: Forty percent applicants have multiple school history, basic academic deficiencies and or behavior challenges; Twnety-six percent are honors track students.
  • Khalsa Montessori Elementary School - Tucson, Tucson, AZ: Dealing with city officials who are anti-charter-schools and have passed very stringent ordinances against charter-private-parochial schools.
  • Kingman Academy of Learning - Intermediate School, Kingman, AZ: Meeting needs of all students with limited special education funds.
  • Kingman Academy of Learning - Middle School, Kingman, AZ: Meeting needs of unmotivated or special needs students.
  • Kingman Academy of Learning - Primary School, Kingman, AZ: We continue to work hard at meeting the needs of all students. Our academically diverse student body makes this difficult at times. It's also difficult to continue to support and maintain quality facilities with our limited capital funds.
  • Lake Havasu Charter School, Lake Havasu City, AZ: Convincing the community that we're a viable school.
  • Liberty High School, Globe, AZ: Getting students to school on time, on task. Getting parents to be involved with the school.
  • Life Enrichment Community School, Mesa, AZ: Compliance with USFRCS, dealing with negative media.
  • Mingus Mountain Academy, Prescott Valley, AZ: Working with unwanted children; stretching our meager funds.
  • Montessori Charter School of Flagstaff - Westside, Flagstaff, AZ: Aligning Montessori curriculum with state standards.
  • Northern AZ Academy for Career Dev. - Show Low, Show Low, AZ: Traditionally the students enrolling at NAA from the local school districts assess at extremely low levels in reading and math, normally at the 3rd to 5th grade level, even though they are enrolling as 9th -12th graders. This has created an enormous remedial workload.
  • Northern AZ Academy for Career Dev. - Winslow, Winslow, AZ: Low levels of reading and math skills.
  • Pine Forest School, Flagstaff, AZ: Forging a mission/vision statement with all stakeholders involved: parents, teachers, board, community members.
  • Triumphant Learning Center, Safford, AZ: Keeping up with the government paperwork.
  • Tucson Urban League Education Center, Tucson, AZ: Incorporating Arizona state standards in curriculum/assessment.
  • Vail Charter High School, Vail, AZ: The greatest challenges are increasing funding through grants and accomplishing the diversity of tasks with a limited staff.
  • Village, The: HS for Pregnant & Parenting Teens, Phoenix, AZ: Student absence is extremely high due to lack of child care, child illness, and transportation.

California

  • Challenge Charter High School, Oroville, CA: District administration trying to control charter school.
  • Charter 101, Victorville, CA: Matching curriculum to each child and still keep everyone happy.
  • Community Learning Center, Bakersfield, CA: Excessive growth: coping with hiring teachers throughout the year and facilities.
  • Darnall E-Campus, San Diego, CA: School governance & student achievement.
  • Escondido Charter High School, Escondido, CA: Making sure all funds that are allocated to the district are being passed on to us.
  • Hart-Ransom Academic Charter School, Modesto, CA: Being recognized as a full functioning public school.
  • Home Tech Charter School, Paradise, CA: Variances in home schooling techniques.
  • Horizon Instructional Systems, Lincoln, CA: State department bureaucrats.
  • Kingsburg Community Charter Extension, Kingsburg, CA: We have had phenomenal growth in our last three years. Finding a permanent facility for classroom and office space is our greatest challenge.
  • Mid Valley Alternative Charter School, Hanford, CA: Parent accountability. Student movement. Have around 80 students per year with an average enrollment of 17-19 and a high of 27-30 at any one time.
  • Montague Charter Academy, Pacoima, CA: Governance Model: we need to simplify and modify to lessen impact on teacher time.
  • Mountain Home School Charter, Oakhurst, CA: Making the commitment to not turn a family away if they want to home school. After counseling with the family to see if the commitment of time and energy is present in the family to home school, then we have accepted all families that qualify.
  • O'Farrell Community School, San Diego, CA: Adjusting to enrollment growth. The school is not able to cap enrollment.
  • Options for Youth - Long Beach, Inc., Pasadena, CA: Retention of students: all are out of school and tend to move and find it difficult to attend on a consistent basis. Curriculum: each student needs some curriculum modifications.
  • San Jacinto Valley Academy, San Jacinto, CA: Start-up costs were difficult, almost devastating. Trying to get approval through your competitor, and obtaining adequate facilities, were also big challenges.
  • Santiago Middle School, Orange, CA: None significant.
  • School of Success Kindergarten Academy, San Diego, CA: Adequate funding; district central office support.
  • Sojourn Middle School, Santa Cruz, CA: Lack of staff experience; start-up funding shortage.
  • The Academy for Academic Excellence, Apple Valley, CA: Two school board members and the union.
  • Vivian Banks Charter School, Pala, CA: To improve literacy and test scores of Native American students, to improve attendance, behavior, and racial relations.
  • Yucca Mesa Charter School, 29 Palms, CA: Maintaining high level of parent participation.

Colorado

  • Academy of Charter Schools, Denver, CO: Relations with chartering district.
  • Alpine Charter School, Dillon, CO: Public acceptance; district support; parent involvement.
  • Battle Rock Charter School, Cortez, CO: Enrollment in a rural area where children's population is decreasing.
  • CIVA Charter School, Colorado Springs, CO: Attracting high school students to this program for character development and keeping enrollment up has been a challenge.
  • Crown Pointe Academy of Westminster, Westminster, CO: Getting parents to understand their role.
  • Lake George-Guffey Charter School, Lake George, CO: Early tensions with district regarding budget negotiations. Later on, there was tension with some of the older teachers who had strong affiliations with the NEA.
  • Littleton Charter Academy, Littleton, CO: Delivering instruction in a building with very limited space is our greatest challenge.
  • Pinnacle Learning Center, Thornton, CO: Operating in a shopping mall.
  • Platte River Academy, Littleton, CO: Budget issues: our start-up costs are extremely high as is our rent, and our budget is very tight. School district relations: in the past, our school district was quite supportive of charter schools, however it has changed significantly.
  • Union Colony Charter School, Greeley, CO: Negativity, resistance from Board of Education, and school district administration.

Connecticut

  • Side by Side Community School, South Norwalk, CT: No capital funds; banks unwilling to loan; federal grants closed to us; over-crowded.
  • Sport Sciences Academy, Hartford, CT: Relationship to local school district, lack of clarity in charter legislation.
  • The Bridge Academy, Bridgeport, CT: Starting & keeping the energy.
  • Village Academy, New Haven, CT: There was a vicious attack upon the school's director orchestrated by former disgruntled employees and the group whose charter application was denied at the time that Village Academy's was accepted.

Florida

  • Sarasota School of Arts and Sciences, Sarasota, FL: Hiring the right principal, parents who do not understand how difficult it is to implement all aspects of charter on limited budget, non-supportive school board.
  • The Renaissance Progressive School, Inc., Lakeland, FL: Transitioning extrinsically controlled public school children into an intrinsically motivated environment; sourcing, training, keeping progressive staff; educating parents.

Georgia

  • Cartersville Primary School, Cartersville, GA: Parent involvement.
  • Sedalia Park Elementary School, Marietta, GA: Deepening shared decision-making and expanding parent and student input.

Illinois

  • Chicago International Charter School, Chicago, IL: Trying to fill learning gaps that our students have due to years of social promotion and inferior public schools!

Kansas

  • Greenlawn Charter School, Columbus, KS: The high percentage of low SES students.
  • Learning Center of Harper, Anthony, KS: Attendance & motivation of younger students.

Louisiana

  • Children's Charter School, Baton Rouge, LA: Finding a principal/administrator.
  • Jefferson Community School, Jefferson, LA: The students, themselves, along with funding.

Massachusetts

  • Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter School, Franklin, MA: The key challenge is remembering that we are still a charter school and as such we must never grow complacent. Once we lose the drive to get things right, we'll lose our edge.
  • City On A Hill Charter School, Boston, MA: Facilitating a teacher driven school.
  • Community Day Charter School, Lawrence, MA: Seventy low income, seventy percent bilingual.
  • Lawrence Family Development Charter School, Lawrence, MA: Finding qualified bilingual faculty.
  • Lynn Community Charter School, Lynn, MA: Initially, finding suitable space, then funding for the space. Funding for renovations and expanded programming continues to be a big challenge. Also, difficulty in hiring experienced teachers due to limited funding.
  • Somerville International Charter School, Somerville, MA: Two challenges that we see are: Board of Trustees and SABIS Educational System working relationship and meeting the bottom 15 percent for academic excellence.
  • South Shore Charter School, Hull, MA: Community opposition, secondary facility.

Michigan

  • Academy of Detroit West, Westland, MI: Maintaining attendance through a number of separate transportation circumstances.
  • Academy of Health and Science, Grand Rapids, MI: Creating a single vision from different ideas of what a school should be, having parents understand our vision.
  • Colin Powell Academy, Detroit, MI: Finding teachers who understand the philosophy and role modeling this effectively to students and parents.
  • Dearborn Academy, Dearborn, MI: Bilingual needs of children and families.
  • Discovery Elementary School, Fennville, MI: Maintaining the vision.
  • Excel Charter Academy, Grand Rapids, MI: Getting enough funds: since we can't raise funds for capital (bond issues) we have to do more for less.
  • Gaudior Academy, Inkster, MI: Informing staff / parents of how to apply Gaudior's philosophy.
  • Henry Ford Academy of Manufacturing Arts & Science, Dearborn, MI: Raising money, working with different aspects of start-up while also in operation.
  • Horizons Community High School, Wyoming, MI: Changing the attitudes of people in our community about our students.
  • Knapp Charter Academy, Grand Rapids, MI: Putting the total package together quickly (building, enrollment, staff hiring, curriculum development, etc.).
  • Marvin L. Winans Academy of Performing Arts, Detroit, MI: Our greatest challenges have been to find qualified performing art teachers.
  • Michigan Health Academy, Southgate, MI: Attracting and retaining students.
  • Mid-Michigan Public School Academy, Lansing, MI: Opening from scratch.
  • Morey Charter School, Shepherd, MI: Meeting the academic needs of students in grades 5-7. Very weak in reading, writing, and math.
  • Mosaica Academy of Saginaw, Saginaw, MI: Urban population, transportation.
  • NewLand Academy, Manistee, MI: Financing our facility, finding teachers who can realize the vision. Growing pains with management and Board.
  • Oasis Academy, Southfield, MI: Many of our parents are aggressive, illogical, and sometimes violent. Their children tend to imitate them. Frequently our parents and sometimes the public misunderstand the nature and function of charter schools.
  • Saginaw County Transitional Academy, Saginaw, MI: Student attitude towards school.

Minnesota

  • Bluffview Montessori School, Winona, MN: Start-up in those pioneer days of 91-93 when there wasn't any federal aid, etc. Today we are desperate to get our own site because of incredible growth.
  • Eci' Nompa Woonspe' Charter School, Morton, MN: To increase student achievement.
  • Metro Deaf School, St. Paul, MN: Setting up management (3rd - 4th year); now, getting grants for projects, providing national leadership.
  • Toivola-Meadowlands Charter School, Meadowlands, MN: Low enrollment, teacher turnover.
  • Village School of Northfield, Northfield, MN: Bureaucracy in state reporting, particularly student and financial reporting.

New Jersey

  • North Star Academy Charter School, Newark, NJ: Regulations and paperwork.
  • Robert Treat Academy Charter School, Newark, NJ: Funding, of course, is a challenge since New Jersey law does not allow public monies to be spent on capital costs.
  • Soaring Heights Charter School, Jersey City, NJ: Sharing facility, developing community trust, and raising money.

New Mexico

  • Turquoise Trail Elementary, Sante Fe, NM: Overcoming resistance in the local school district, school board, and central administration.

North Carolina

  • Chatham Charter School, Siler City, NC: Funding growth: raising funds for building expansion. Curriculum issues, because we do not follow the North Carolina standard course of study.
  • Downtown Middle School, Winston Salem, NC: Continually changing policies from state level. Miscommunication from state agencies.
  • Francine Delany New School for Children, Asheville, NC: Facility; getting parents to understand our non-traditional public school administration.
  • Grandfather Academy, Banner Elk, NC: Funding, state testing program.
  • John H. Baker Junior High School, Raleigh, NC: Student turnover: most students are incarcerated for short periods of time (three months).
  • Magellan Charter School, Raleigh, NC: Meeting our own high expectations.
  • Orange Charter School, Hillsborough, NC: Delivering two challenging curriculums.
  • Summit Charter School, Cashiers, NC: Serving special needs students and raising money for capital assets.
  • The Community Charter School, Charlotte, NC: Providing ancillary services that larger systems have, and being one administrator to deal with all the state information and paper work.

Pennsylvania

  • Keystone Education Center Charter School, Greenville, PA: Meeting individual student needs: dealing with over 150 diverse students ("at-risk" population).
  • Philadelphia Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter School, Philadelphia, PA: Tracking our money from the Philadelphia School District. Lack of transportation resources.

Rhode Island

  • Textron Chamber of Commerce Academy, Providence, RI: As the first and only charter school in RI, our greatest challenge has been to solve the problem of, "how do we fit into the public system that we are simultaneously within and without."

Wisconsin

  • Appleton Central Alternative School, Appleton, WI: Tight budget, new staff members yearly.
  • Core Knowledge Charter School, Fitchburg, WI: Our biggest challenge is trying to find a facility to house all of us, K-8. Being spread out at three different building sites is extremely difficult! Another challenge is overcoming the mentality of the district administration and school board.
  • McKinley Charter School, Eau Claire, WI: Facility issues; gaining understanding of middle management of the district; acquiring social services for our students and families.
  • New Century School, Verona, WI: Acceptance by school district administrators.
  • School of Technology and Arts, La Crosse, WI: Marketing, staff continuity.

· · ·

· · ·

Survey of Charter Schools 1998-1999 is part of Charter Schools Today: Changing the Face of American Education. The entire report is available for $19.95 + $3.00 shipping and handling. Order your copy on our publications page, or by calling CER at (202) 822-9000.

Charter Schools Today: Changing the Face of American Education is published by The Center for Education Reform [CER] a national, independent, non-profit advocacy organization that provides support and guidance to those working to bring fundamental reforms to their schools. For more information on charter school efforts, call CER at (202) 822-9000, or visit our Charter School Library.