Education Reform In The News

CHARTER SCHOOL FOES FILE ARGUMENTS WITH COURT; DECISION IS DUE ANY TIME; ST. LOUIS SCHOOLS LEAD EFFORT TO OVERTURN LAW by Matthew Franck
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 8, 1999

        Groups that support and oppose charter schools are weighing in on a key legal battle that could determine the fate of charter schools in Missouri. A verdict in the case is expected at any time.

        The Missouri School Boards Association is supporting St. Louis Public Schools in its suit against charters. On the other side, the nation's largest school choice organization, the Center for Education Reform, has lined up in support of charter schools. Both groups have filed legal documents in the past two weeks in Cole County Circuit Court, where a judge is deliberating over the charter suit.

        The St. Louis School Board wants charter schools to be declared unconstitutional. That would negate a recent state law that has allowed 15 of the experimental schools to open in Kansas City. In St. Louis, charter school organizers are hoping to open at least a half dozen schools for hundreds of students next year.

        Charter schools are public schools that are launched by parents or community groups and are free from local school board oversight and most state regulations. Supporters say they promote innovation and foster competition among schools. Detractors say they rob traditional public schools of students and, consequently, state money.

        The brief filed by the Missouri School Boards Association claims that the state's charter school law inappropriately channels state education dollars to schools that are not fully accountable to taxpayers and are not truly public schools. The Missouri Constitution bars the state from directing tax dollars to private schools.

        St. Louis Public Schools has made similar arguments in its suit filed this summer to keep the city's first charter school from opening. The school, now called the African-American Rite of Passage Institute, has since faced financial trouble but plans to open next fall.

       Jeanne Allen, who heads the Center for Education Reform, described the suit Tuesday as frivolous, saying it could rob St. Louis children of "the only educational opportunity they may have."

        The Center for Education Reform, a Washington-based nonprofit group, has defended charter school legislation across the nation.

        Time after time, Allen said, critics have attempted to demonstrate that charter schools are not public schools. And time after time they have failed, she said. Charter school laws are on the books in more than 30 states, and 1,700 such schools have opened.

        Kenneth Brostron, attorney for St. Louis Public Schools, said the brief filed by the Missouri School Boards Association shows that educators across the state are concerned about charter schools.

        "In the media, it has sometimes appeared that St. Louis Public Schools was in this alone," he said. "There really is a large concern by a lot of school districts across the state."

        To date, Missouri allows charters only in Kansas City and St. Louis. Brent Ghan, a spokesman for the school board group, said it's likely that charter schools would face legal battles across the state if the current law were expanded.

        "There's not a lot of disagreement on this on the part of local school board members," he said.

        Cole County Circuit Judge Byron Kinder is expected to rule on the suit, although the judge may ask to hear oral arguments, Brostron said.

        Taxpayers are at least partly financing both sides of the charter school suit because the University of Missouri at St. Louis is a defendant. The university is sponsoring the African-American Rite of Passage charter school.

###

Link to related CER Press Release: MISSOURI CHARTER LAW IS SOUND POLICY; CER Files Friends of the Court Brief to Support Missouri Charter Law, December 8, 1999.

Link to January 10, 2000 Update: Suit is Thrown Out

CER Home Page In the News Charter Schools E-Mail CER CER Publications