SRC OKs 5 new charter schools, rejects 34 others

AMID PROTESTS, the School Reform Commission last night voted to authorize five new charter schools - the first stand-alone charters approved in Philadelphia since 2007 - while rejecting 34 others.

Following more than four hours of passionate testimony, the commission approved conditional charters for Independence Charter West, KIPP Dubois, Mastery Gillespie, MaST Community Charter-Roosevelt and TECH Freire, creating a total of 2,684 charter seats over the next three years.

The approved operators each have existing schools in the district and are scheduled to open their new facilities in September 2016.

District officials would not provide the exact cost of the charters, but said there would be no expense to the district next fiscal year, for which it already projects an $80 million deficit.

"It will be very limited in the next few years after that as a consequence of continued closure of nonperforming charter schools, so it's a limited impact on the five-year plan," SRC Chairman Bill Green said after the meeting.

Green danced around the issue of whether the district would accept a controversial $25 million offer from the Philadelphia School Partnership to help offset the cost of additional charter seats.

"We really want the district's overall priorities to be at the front and center of that, so we're going to rely on the district to have any discussions with anybody who'd like to give the school district money," Green said.

PSP executive director Mark Gleason was registered to speak but withdrew. He declined to comment through a spokeswoman after the meeting.

Reaction was mixed among applicants, parents and education advocates following the vote.

"When you talk about who can go into West Philly and take people who live in West Philly and turn them into college-preparatory students, I've done that with the most difficult population - boys," said David Hardy, founder of Boys Latin, whose application for Girls Latin was rejected. "And we send more African-American boys to college than any school in this city, so I think we certainly have the qualifications to do the job.

"I think what happens is the school district took kind of the weak way out. Five out of 39? That's nowhere near enough considering the condition of schools in this city," Hardy said, noting that he plans to appeal.

Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan said he was disappointed by the decision to approve any charters, given the district's ongoing financial crisis - a point echoed by many.

"To vote to approve the millions of dollars that will leave the system via the approved charters, instead of maintaining a moratorium because it is going to cost the children in the schools currently," Jordan said, adding that the decisions will likely result in fewer counselors, nurses, librarians and support personnel.

Even those charter operators that were approved were not completely thrilled. John Swoyer III, CEO of MaST, said he looks forward to discussing the conditional approval of his charter's application, which includes locating in lower Northeast Philly as opposed to its proposed site in the far Northeast.

"We didn't know" about the conditions, Swoyer said.

Other conditions for the approved schools range from changes to grade configurations to clear-cut admissions preferences. As a condition of Mastery Gillespie's authorization, it would surrender its charter if Mastery is approved for another Renaissance charter. Each school was approved for a three-year term.

The operators have until May 31 to agree to the conditions, Green said.

Green said each application was considered on its merit, not the financial impact, but declined to elaborate. He said the adjudications would be released today.

Each of the denied applicants may appeal the state Charter Appeals Board.

The voting was briefly interrupted by protests from ACTION United, a coalition that advocates for workers' rights, as members blasted the SRC for approving any charters. Four people were arrested and were expected to be charged with disorderly conduct.

Before the vote, the five-member commission heard from more than 30 speakers, most of whom pleaded for the panel to deny all of the applications.

Southwark Elementary parent Mollie Michel said the school is drawing growing interest from parents, despite recent budget cuts.

"I believe this district has an obligation to provide a quality education for every single student," Michel said, "but at best this expansion would provide more opportunity for people who already have options."

- Staff writer Regina Medina contributed to this report.