The South Carolina Educators Association, special interest groups and individuals inside our local school districts are circulating email messages that contain half-truths and misinformation about public charter schools and Bill 4243. To illustrate the point, we've included copies of their emails with explanations of what is true and what isn't (read full article).
Dr. Wayne Brazell, SCPCSD Superintendent, describes the campaign as "the most vicious and misleading attacks I have ever witnessed."
The tactics and messages are old and tired. They are designed to scare the public and deny parents a choice within the public education system. They want to block the bill because it is an amendment to the state's Charter School Law and would provide public charter schools like York Preparatory Academy with sustainable funding.
This is a battle to maintain public support for public charter schools by educating our families, friends and neighbors. The truth is on our side, but we have to get it out to the community.
Equally important, we need to communicate with our elected representatives that you support public charter schools. We have strong support from our locally elected legislators.
 Following Wednesday's rally for charter schools at the state capitol, members of the YPA Board of Directors met individually with 10 of 11 state representatives and senators from our area. Nine of them firmly support York Preparatory Academy and public charter schools, but they are getting bombarded with opposition emails.
Let's ensure our voices are heard. Please send the following note to each of the representatives listed below:
Dear Representative [or Senator]
I am sending this note to let you know that I support public charter schools and York Preparatory Academy. I sincerely appreciate your support and hope you will continue to fight for sustainable funding for children in all public schools, including public charter schools.
Thank you,
[Your Name]
(803) 212-6873 Rep. John R. C. King (Click to Send Message)
(803) 734-3071 Rep. Herb Kirsh (fax# 803-734-3342)
(803) 212-6874 Rep. Deborah A Long (Click to Send Message)
(803) 734-3073 Rep. Dennis C. Moss (Click to Send Message)
(803) 212-6888 Rep. Ralph W. Norman (Click to Send Message)
(803) 734-3040 Rep. J. Gary Simrill (Click to Send Message)
(803) 212-6180 Sen. Creighton B. Coleman (Click to Send Message)
(803) 212-6410 Sen. Robert W. Hayes, Jr. (Click to Send Message)
(803) 212-6024 Sen. J. Michael Mulvaney (Click to Send Message)
(803) 212-6430 Sen. Harvey S. Peeler, Jr. (Click to Send Message)
(803) 734-3074 Rep. F. Gregory Delleney, Jr. (Click to Send Message)
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Email from inside
the Rock Hill School District
From: SXXXX TXXXX [mailto:
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]
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 2:19 PM
Subject: Fwd: Legislative Update
If this bill passes, I will no longer have my job as a program teacher next year. I will have a job in the district somewhere but that means that others with less experience will be fired. It also means that we will be paying $6,000.00 a year for students outside of the Rock Hill School District to go to the charter school with Rock Hill School Dist. monies. Now help me understand the reason behind that. Also, we will be paying for any of the students who are home schooled to receive virtual lessons, 5 million dollars. Help me understand that.
The TRUTH
Misinformation: Charter schools are taking money away from public schools.
TRUTH: Charter schools are public schools. York Preparatory Academy is part of the South Carolina Public Charter School District. Charter school students are public school students.
Misinformation: Allowing education funds to follow students to public charter schools is going to result in job losses in the Rock Hill School District.
TRUTH: A reduction in state EFA (Education Finance Act) funds is the primary driver of the budget shortfall that all public schools, including public charter schools, are facing. Charter schools are not mentioned in the Financial Crisis Plan submitted by Dr. Lynn Moody, Superintendent of the Rock Hill School District.
If a district has fewer students because families move or choose to send their children to schools elsewhere, it is logical the district would receive less funding as it has fewer students to serve.
NOTE: While the local school districts are reducing staff, York Preparatory Academy is hiring teachers to fill approximately 60 positions at the school.
Misinformation: Rock Hill School District will be paying $6,000 a year for students who live outside the district boundaries but attend York Preparatory Academy.
TRUTH: The local funds will follow the student from whatever district in which they reside. The updated amendment clearly states this. For example, if a student is attending York Preparatory Academy in Rock Hill and the student came from
Chester, the funds would follow from Chester, not Rock Hill. Rock Hill residents would not be paying $6000 a year for a student who lives outside the district.
Misinformation: Rock Hill School District will be paying for homeschooled children to receive virtual lessons.
TRUTH: A child enrolled in one of South Carolina's virtual charter schools is a public school student. They are enrolled in a public school albeit one that doesn't have brick and mortar buildings. There are no homeschooled students in the South Carolina Public Charter School District.
The current funding amendment states that public virtual charter school students receive no more than $5,000 per student. This amount does not all come from the General Fund, but includes local and state funding. Depending on the local funding amount, some virtual school students will be funded at less than $5,000.
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Email from a member of the Rock Hill School District Board of Trustees
From: XXXXX XXXXX [mailto:
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]
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 8:19 AM
Subject: Bill 4243
Comparison of funding and benefits for Charter Schools versus public schools. You will also find contact information for House members. Remember, bill 4243 could be debated this week by the full House.
How are Regular Local Public Schools Funded? New Comparison with State Charters?
According to the sponsor of H.4243 (Owens), the total per pupil funding would be, as follows:
* For the 6-10,000 students in the Statewide Charter District: $9,168 (state average of total local/state/federal $) + $700 state BSC bonus (in budget) = $9,868 per pupil (total).
* For the remaining 710,000 regular public school students: $9,168 (h/r, please note that $ to be sent to the statewide charters would come from districts decreasing this total).
* If the budget & the Charter Bill passes, Charters will receive $700 more than regular public schools (& the majority of this $9,868 will be received via checks from school districts).
The TRUTH
Misinformation: Charter schools will receive $700 more than regular public schools.
TRUTH: The $700 is a budget proviso in case the charter school bill does not pass. It would not be in the budget if the amendment passed. In either case, public charter schools receive less per student than traditional public schools (see scenarios below).
SCENARIO 1: If the charter school bill does not pass, public schools in the South Carolina Public Charter School District would receive approximately $3500-$3900 per student with the proviso. This is the lowest funding rate per student for any public school in the United States.
In comparison, the Rock Hill School District's 2009-2010 operating budget is $127.7 million plus an additional $19 million for debt service (mortgage on buildings). The combined total of $146.7 million is spent to serve approximately 17,700 students. The resulting average per student is $8,288.
SCENARIO 2: Charter schools would receive less per student even if they receive local tax dollars because charter schools must pay for their buildings out of their operating budgets. Traditional public schools use bonds to pay for their buildings. That debt is not serviced from their operating budget.
For example, the Rock Hill School District currently serves approximately 17,700 students with an operating budget of $127.7 million. This equals approximately $7,215 per student. A separate debt-service budget of $19 million, managed by the county, pays for the buildings. This equals an additional $1,073 per student for a total of $8,288 per student.
If local tax dollars followed students to public charter schools, the schools would receive only $7,215 per student. The charter schools receive no additional funds to pay for buildings.
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Information Posted on the RHSD Website
From the Rock Hill School District Budget Crisis Q&A document: "How will charter schools affect funding for public education? As it now stands, we will lose the funding for each of our students who decides to attend a charter school. The district has asked for a moratorium on legislation that continues to take money away from public education and on state mandates that require the district to do more things with no money from the state."
The TRUTH
Misinformation: Funding public charter schools is taking money out of public schools.
TRUTH: Allowing funds to follow a student from the Rock Hill School District to the South Carolina Public Charter School District is not taking money out of public education. Both are public school districts that serve students in public schools.
If parents choose to send their children to York Preparatory Academy, the Rock Hill School District no longer has any expense associated with educating that child. It makes sense that the public's tax dollars go to the public school that is educating the child.
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Email from a Special Interest Group
From: XXXXXXXXX <
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>
Date: Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 10:38 PM
Subject: School Funding - from South Carolinians 4 Public Education
To: XXXXXXX <
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>
Hello,
As many of you know, a group of us is working to mobilize the public to advocate with the state legislature for public schools and their funding. Our name is "South Carolinians 4 Public Education and our requests are simple: prioritize state funding on Public Schools, including Pre-K through grade 12, State Community and Technical schools, State Colleges and Universities.
Scheduled to begin soon is discussion on House Bill 4243, raiding Public Schools funding and giving it to Charter Schools which are not required to provide many things public schools provide and will become the fiscal responsibility of the local district. The district will have no authority over these schools and must still educate the students the Charter School refuses to accept. Naturally, a Charter School will accept only the most well supported of students to make things easier, and the public schools will be required to provide everything for everybody else as well as many things for the charter schools. A short version of some of the provisions of H4243 is below, and an example of how the provisions would affect a local school district. H4243 would favor Charter Schools and hurt public schools dramatically. With the 10% cuts the schools have been receiving for several years we cannot afford such an ill-advised bill. If you have time to contact your representative, even a short call or letter will help them understand this is an bad idea for the majority of South Carolinians. H.4243 requires locally generated funds be sent to State Charter Schools but provides no way for these costs to be recouped locally. The General Assembly has tied the hands of local districts in generating local funds with a tax cap. Thus, the only way districts can comply with this mandate is to take funding from the students they are already responsible for serving. Contact information follows for the York County Delegation to the General Assembly.
[For brevity's sake, the remainder of the email has been deleted. The false points made in the second part of the email, however, are debunked below.]
The TRUTH
Misinformation: All of the above!
TRUTH: Charter schools are public schools. Funding them is not "raiding" public education.
Misinformation: Charter schools are not held to the same standards as traditional public schools.
TRUTH: Charter school students are taught with the same state standards, take the same state testing, and have the same graduation requirements as "traditional" public school students.
Misinformation: Charter schools will become the fiscal responsibility of the districts in which they are located.
TRUTH: Charter schools are responsible for their own fiscal affairs (e.g. operating budgets, audits, financial controls, cash flow, etc.). If Bill 4243 is passed, the only role local school districts would play is ensuring local tax dollars follow the student to their public school of choice.
Misinformation: Charter schools pick which students attend.
TRUTH: Charter schools are public schools and cannot pick and choose students. Any student can attend a charter school. There are no prerequisites. When demand exceeds supply, admission mustbe determined by a public lottery.
Misinformation: Traditional public schools will be required to provide services to charter schools.
TRUTH: Traditional public schools are not required to provide any services to charter school students. Charter schools may contract with local school districts and pay for services if the schools are willing to cooperate.
Misinformation: The $700 proviso would reduce state infrastructure and funding of public education.
TRUTH: The $700 proviso is independent of the EFA (Education Finance Act) funds that are the basis of state taxes that are given to schools. The proviso, by its nature, is not a factor in education funding.
Misinformation: Charter schools will get funds from the local districts that would have been spent on buildings.
TRUTH: Local school districts do not pay for their buildings out of their operating budgets, which are the funds being referenced. The buildings are paid for by county bonds and a separate debt-service budget that is above and beyond the operating budget. Charter schools do not have access to those funds.
Misinformation: Charter schools don't have to provide transportation.
TRUTH: Transportation cannot be a barrier to attending a public charter school. Transportation is provided if needed.
Misinformation: Charter schools can require parents to participate in the schools.
TRUTH: There are no prerequisites or mandates imposed by public charter schools. Any child can attend a public charter school without regard for his parents or guardians willingness or ability to contribute within the school.
Misinformation: Charter school students can participate in extracurricular activities at the regular schools where they reside.
TRUTH: York Preparatory Academy will have extracurricular activities (e.g. band, athletic teams, clubs, performance groups) based on the interests of the students and parents.
Members of the YPA Board of Directors do not support the component of the amendment that would require local school districts to provide these services. If a child chooses to attend the charter school, and the school doesn't offer that service or opportunity, the student may choose to stay at their existing school.
Misinformation: Private schools can close for 24 hours then reopen as charter schools.
TRUTH: Receiving a charter from the State of South Carolina is a long, rigorous process that generally takes more than one year to complete. If a private school chooses to close and become a public charter school, it must complete the same application process.
York Preparatory Academy's planning committee worked for 15 months to draft its 400 page charter application. The charter application was then scrutinized by the Charter School Advisory Committee (CSAC), which must approve all applications before they can be submitted to the sponsoring charter. Once approved by the CSAC, the charter application is analyzed by the board of the sponsoring district. The sponsoring district then approves or denies the application.
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