SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2005
Bond Funds Ease Charter Schools' Growing Pains
Twenty-eight privately run schools in the state, including 12 in L.A., will expand, add campuses.
Camino Nuevo Charter Academy is bursting at the seams, with 1,200
students on three campuses near downtown Los Angeles, and a waiting
list of more than 1,600. Now, thanks to nearly $11 million from
a state school facilities bond measure, Camino Nuevo plans to expand
to accommodate more students.
The school, which serves mostly low-income, minority families in the MacArthur
Park and Mid-Wilshire neighborhoods, was among 28 charter schools that shared
$277 million from Proposition 55, a state bond measure that was approved by
voters last year.
Besides Camino Nuevo, 18 other Southern California charter schools
won State Allocation Board approval this week for shares of the
$12.3-billion bond measure; 12 are in the Los Angeles Unified School
District.
The money is intended to allow the independently run but publicly funded schools
to expand or build campuses.
Facilities problems are among the main obstacles to opening and expanding charters,
movement leaders say. Many rent space in churches or vacant commercial buildings
while trying to raise money for permanent campuses.
Green Dot Public Schools, whose founder, Steve Barr, is a politically connected
pioneer in opening charters in crowded, low-income neighborhoods, received
more than $60 million for high school campuses in Inglewood, Boyle Heights,
Venice, South Los Angeles and downtown.
Vaughn Elementary Language Academy, which is part of one of the earliest charter
campuses in Los Angeles, received $8.3 million. Another pioneering charter,
the Accelerated School in South Los Angeles, was awarded $11.8 million for
its elementary campus.
A high school planned at the Port of Los Angeles won approval for $16.3 million,
while Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale will get almost $14 million.
Although charters make up a fraction of California's public schools, their
number is growing rapidly, and the state's 13-year-old charter school movement
has found favor with many business leaders and their education-oriented foundations.
Former banking executive William E.B. Siart formed a nonprofit several years
ago to help the schools with business, administrative and other tasks. The
organization, ExED, helped several charters, including Camino Nuevo, write
successful applications for the bond funds. (Schools have four years to formulate
and act on specific plans for the money, which will be held in trust until
needed.)
"The bond money means these charters can create a good facility without
having to dip into operating funds," said Anita Landecker, ExED's executive
director. "It means they can put more money into their classrooms….
It helps put them on a par with traditional public schools," including the
many Los Angeles Unified campuses that are opening as part of a $14-billion building
program.
Proposition 55 is the second state school facilities bond measure to provide
money to charter schools. Almost $100 million from Proposition 47, a $13-billion
state bond measure in 2002, was earmarked for them.
Ana F. Ponce, Camino Nuevo's executive director, said the school's board will
use its bond money to make room for some students on its long waiting list.
"Our board will decide the best way to do that," Ponce said, noting
that the school could build another campus or renovate and expand rented facilities.
Camino Nuevo leaders want to keep each campus small — 500 or fewer students — and
ensure that the schools are within walking distance for most families.
"It's really heartbreaking to tell parents you have no place for them; they
are so desperate," said Ponce, who added that families want small, safe
alternatives to the area's large, crowded campuses.
As required by state law, charter students are chosen by lottery if there are
more applicants than the school can accommodate. Camino Nuevo lacks room at
its high school to enroll all its current eighth-graders.
"The [bond money] will help us take more [students], and that is a big relief," Ponce
said.