Inquirer Editorial: Be careful with charters

The Philadelphia School District's motive to start its own cyber charter school is understandable - recouping some of the $60 million it sends to other cyber charters to serve city students - but that's not the road to take.

It's been only five months since the Education Law Center urged Pennsylvania to impose a moratorium on any new cyber charters, citing recent research showing cyber charters in the state are not educating students as well as traditional public schools.

In fact, not one of the 16 cyber charters operating in Pennsylvania is meeting the adequate yearly progress requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law. The law center said the state isn't providing sufficient oversight of the cyber charters, which have 35,000 enrolled students.

The law center also participated in a recent audit by the Public Citizens for Children and Youth organization, which has revealed that many of the 16 regular charters schools in Philadelphia whose contracts are currently up for renewal are not serving the city's most challenged students.

The audit showed the schools are loath to enroll special-education and low-income students, as well as those learning English as a second language. Nine of the charters serve fewer low-income students than the district average.

The report cited admission policies at some charters that are being used to keep out challenging students. For example, the audit found that most of the schools have admissions forms only in English. Thirteen of the charters had fewer than 2 percent English language learners, compared with the 8 percent district average.

One charter required students' Social Security numbers and parental income. Two had cumbersome, 20-page applications. "All schools should be accessible to all students, and at a minimum showing academic output as strong as the district," said PCCY executive director Donna Cooper.

The PCCY report also detailed other problems in how the 16 charters operate, such as failing to provide free and reduced-price meals to all eligible students.

The schools up for contract renewal serve 12,000 students, or about 20 percent of the city's charter school population. Philadelphia has 84 privately-run public charters with more than 55,000 students, and five cyber charters.

Under new schools chief William R. Hite Jr., the district is taking a more thorough look at its charters. That must happen for the charters to be a viable alternative to failing traditional schools. It serves no one except charter officials putting taxpayer money into their pockets when the charters are doing a poor job, too.

That's not to say every charter is doing a poor job. Some charters are yielding very good academic results, but more needs to be done about those that are not. Too many charters are falling victim to gross mismanagement. Too many are succumbing to the type of outright corruption that has put some operators in jail.

Ultimately, the state must overhaul the entire system to ensure charters are properly funded and regulated to get the best results.