Charter wins enrollment fight with district

In a decision that could have major ramifications for the Philadelphia's School District's fiscal woes, Pennsylvania's acting secretary of education has found the district illegally imposed an enrollment cap on a charter school in Philadelphia.

In a decision signed today, acting Secretary of Education Ronald J. Tomalis said the Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners Charter School was entitled to receive $1.3 million in funds that the district had refused to give it in 2008-09 and 2009-10 because it had enrolled more students than the 675 specified in its charter agreement.

A hearing officer for state said that the district violated a provision of state law enacted July 1, 2008, that said that enrollment at a charter school could not be limited unless the charter agreed to it.

The charter school had maintained the district had unilaterly imposed the limit.

"This is a big victory for education in general and for school choice in particular," Walter D. Palmer, the founder and board chairman of the charter school whose main campus is at 910 N. Sixth St.

The school has 925 students from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

The state coalition of public charter schools had backed Palmer's fight. Other city charter schools who have objected to the enrollment maximums the School Reform Commission placed in their charter agreements have been watching the case closely.

Six other charters have suits pending in Common Pleas Court challenging their caps.

The district is facing a reported $40 million shortfall in its $3.2 billion budget for the fiscal year ending June 30 and a potential gap of between $400 million and $500 million after July 1. District officials have said that the possibility of losing the fight over charter caps could further complicate the financial problems.

District sources were not available immediately to comment.

In his order, Tomalis said that the state would send the charter $1.3 million of a $1.7 million in state funds the department had withheld from the school district as a result of the enrollment dispute.

The remainder of the funds - for additional students that the charter school had enrolled in 2007-08 will be returned to the school district.

Palmer said he would have preferred to receive the entire contested amount but added: "A win is a win. You can't look at it any other way."