Missouri and the charter school puzzle: a story with an uncertain ending.

• Author: Dent, Jillian
• Position: LAW SUMMARY

Answer the call, send help. Bless the children, give them triumph now. (1)

1. Introduction

   Education and education reform are often at the forefront of the public consciousness. Currently, three large public school systems in Missouri are at a crossroads: Kansas City Public Schools, which became unaccredited in 2012; (2) the Normandy and Riverview Gardens School Districts of St. Louis, which were re-classified as unaccredited in 2013; (3) and St. Louis Public Schools, whose provisional accreditation was in question after 2013 test results. (4) The education systems in Missouri's two largest cities, the lifeblood of the state, are in varying states of accreditation, and a looming question, with recent cases such as Breitenfeld v. School District of Clayton, is what is in store for the students and residents living within these cities. (5)

   Indeed, the educational statistics for Missouri schools are sobering. Only 27% of Missouri students in 2012 were ready for college in all four subjects tested on the ACT college readiness assessment. (6) In St. Louis Public Schools, only one in three students reads on grade-level, and only 27% of students in 2012 scored on grade-level in the annual math exam. (7) Further statistical breakdowns show that there are gaps along racial, socio-economic, and geographic location lines. For example, in Columbia, Missouri, 36.8% of black students tested on grade-level for math, whereas 64.3% of white students tested on grade-level. (8) When it comes to the impact of wealth and poverty on education, Springfield, Missouri's statistics illustrate the divide. In Springfield, 69% of non-low income students read on grade-level, while only 33.4% of low-income students read on grade-level. (9)

   So, what to do? Flow does Missouri help its struggling school districts and students? One education reform movement that has captivated the public's imagination is the charter school movement. A charter school is a publicly funded school in a specific geographic location that is separate from the traditional public school ("TPS") district in that same location. (10) This separation allows for different entities, such as non-profit organizations, institutions of higher education, and even for-profit companies or corporations, to sponsor and run public schools outside of the confines of TPS systems. (11) In Missouri, charter schools must be "sponsored" by an institution of higher education, such as the University of Missouri, or the TPS district, though the charter school itself is often run by a non-profit or for-profit organization. In short, charter schools, which are publicly funded, operate within the geographic limits of a TPS district but operate separately from the district. For example, a charter school would have its own school board. (12)

   Documentaries such as the popular Waiting for Superman portray charter schools as a saving grace and often the only good school choice in crumbling TPS systems. (13) Waiting for Superman contains shots of children and parents weeping with joy, or sorrow, when their lottery number for attending the charter school is either drawn ... or not. (14) For someone who has only seen Waiting for Superman or only heard politicians talk vaguely about school reform and school choice, charter schools may very well seem to be a utopian solution to the woes of failing public schools. However, upon a closer look at the performance of students at charter schools and the trajectory of charter school performance in general, a different picture begins to emerge.

   Statistically speaking, charter schools most often do not out-perform the districts in which they are operating. (15) A 2013 study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes ("CREDO") found mixed results when comparing educational outcomes for charter school students to TPS students in twenty-six states. (16) For example, "25 percent [of charter school students] have significantly stronger learning gains in reading than their traditional school counterparts, while 56 percent showed no significant difference and 19 percent of charter schools have significantly weaker learning gains." (17) While the results of charter schools as a reform tool are mixed, CREDO encourages states to "raise performance and accountability standards for charter schools and to hold them to the higher standards." (18)

   Missouri is already ahead of the game on the charter school reform front. In 2012, the Missouri Legislature amended the charter school laws to strengthen academic and financial accountability standards. (19) However, the Missouri legislature also made some questionable changes, such as increasing the types of institutions that can act as charter sponsors and failing to comprehensively address concerns about equal opportunity enrollment of Missouri students.

   Because charter schools can either be a bastion of innovation or a destabilizing force within TPS systems, the outcome for Missouri public education --and most importantly the outcomes for Missouri students--will depend on how the legislature structures its laws to protect and strengthen the TPS systems, while also allowing for innovation and alternative choices via charter schools. (20) This Law Summary aims to address some of the great strides Missouri has taken in charter school reform, while also analyzing problematic changes and proposing potential solutions.

2. Legal Background

   In the 1970s, the idea of a "charter school" was born--an idea often attributed to Massachusetts educator Ray Budde. (21) The purpose of a charter school was to allow educators to branch out from their school district and experiment with educational ideas under the umbrella of public education. With early success and enthusiasm for change, the idea of a public charter school spread and "[t]oday there are approximately 5600 charter schools in 41 states, educating over 2 million students, with hundreds of thousands more on waiting lists." (23) Often, charter schools, which are publicly funded schools, receive the same funding as public schools but operate with less legal red tape and more autonomy. (24)

   Missouri passed its first charter school law in 1998, becoming the twenty-seventh state to do so. (25) Missouri Revised Statute Section 160.400, known as the Charter Schools Act, authorized the establishment of independent public charter schools in metropolitan or urban school districts. (26) A metropolitan or urban school district was defined as a city "containing most or all of a city with a population greater than [350,000] inhabitants." (27) An organization wishing to apply to become a charter school was to submit an application to a potential sponsor. (28) A sponsor was defined as an entity that would oversee the charter school on behalf of the state. (29) The charter application was required to include the charter's mission statement and a description of its organizational structure, governing body bylaws, financial plan, educational and academic goals, and its curriculum. (30) A charter school could be approved for a minimum of five years but no more than ten years, with the option to renew the charter upon completion of the initial term. (31)

   To establish a public charter school, the applicant group was required to find a sponsor. (32) A sponsor under the 1998 Missouri law could be any of the following:

   (1) The school board of the district;

   (2) A public four-year college or university with its primary campus in the school district or in a county adjacent to the county in which the district is located, with an approved teacher education program that meets regional or national standards of accreditation; or

   (3) A community college located in the district.

   The sponsor of the charter school was to oversee and provide non-financial support to the school, but the sponsor was not liable for acts or omissions in the performance or operation of the charter school. (34) A sponsor could revoke the charter "at any time if the charter school committed] a serious breach of one or more provisions of its charter or on any of the following grounds," including legal violations or failure to meet academic or fiscal standards. (35) The Missouri law differed, and still differs, from many other state laws in allowing institutions of higher education to sponsor charter schools. (36)

   In addition to requiring a charter school to obtain a sponsor, the 1998 law set forth many sound requirements. (37) A charter school was to be "nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employment practices, and all other operations" and was to "[c]omply with laws and regulations of the state relating to health, safety, and minimum educational standards." (38) A charter school, once established, must "enroll all pupils resident in the district in which it operates or eligible to attend a district's school under an urban voluntary transfer program who submit a timely application." (39) The school was to set forth "a method to measure pupil progress" and to hold themselves "financially accountable." (40) To fund the charter schools, the 1998 law required that the school district whose "resident pupils" attended the charter school pay the local, state, and federal aid given for that student to the charter school. (41)

   Additionally, the 1998 law established a commission to be formed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education ("DESE") to study the academic performance of students attending charter schools as well as the impact charter schools were having on the school districts in which they operated. (42)

   In both 2005 and 2009, the charter school laws were amended. (43) The 2005 amendments included changes such as requiring higher education sponsors to be of a certain size, expanding restrictions on sponsor-charter relations that create conflicts of interest, requiring charter schools to publish financial reports, and creating additional academic accountability measures. (44)

   The 2009 amendments were more...