One Year into Democrat Reign: Charter Schools Stalled
November 26th, 2007
Advocates Express Cautious Hope For Next Legislative Session with Groff Now Leading Senate
Face the State Staff Report
Colorado’s leading defender of public charter schools says opponents have toned down their attacks for the time being. But school choice supporters in the legislature are urging allies to be prepared for a possible resurgence of anti-charter activity. According to Jim Griffin, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools, voters can expect a Democrat-led 2008 legislative session that sees little action with regard to charter school efforts. “It’s détente right now,” Griffin said. “We don’t have the ability to push anything through. However, I don’t think they can push anything through to restrict the charter school law, either.” But state Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Golden, cautions supporters of school choice against becoming complacent. “Anybody who cares about charter schools needs to have their guard up and be ready to fight to protect choice,” Witwer said. “There’s no secret that there are forces at work in the education establishment and in the legislature who want to carve back on the progress that has been made over the years.”
Fighting Back for Building Funds
The top 2008 legislative priority for the League is securing facilities funding for charter schools that is comparable to other public schools. “I think that’s where our opportunity is, in part because the Democrats are talking up the shortcomings to fix facilities funding statewide,” Griffin said. Yet state Sen. Mike Kopp, R-Littleton believes providing equitable dollars for charter school capital construction will again be difficult, after Democrats cut funding in 2007. “I’m certain that we will once again have to fight tooth and nail to keep their meager capital funding intact,” he said. Nevertheless, Griffin and Kopp agree the selection of new Senate president Peter Groff, D-Denver, may be a possible source for progress. “We’re optimistic that he will work to set a pro-charter school tone in the legislature,” Kopp said. Groff led a small coalition of Democrat lawmakers in support of a 2007 Republican amendment that helped to stop the main attack on public charter schools.
Anti-Charter Forces Sharpened Knives
Charter schools are public schools of choice that operate independently of local boards of education. Though freed from many of the rules under which traditional schools must operate, charter schools remain accountable for student scores on state assessments, as well as other state regulations. Charter school teachers most often are not unionized. The large coalition of Colorado’s Democrat lawmakers whose campaigns are funded by teachers unions have opposed the expansion of charter school choice. Following Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter‘s 2006 election, Griffin says legislative Democrats felt emboldened to attempt roll backs to parent-friendly education reforms. “We saw an all-Democrat lineup that started sharpening their knives, picking the time they could come and get rid of charter schools,” he said. During the 2007 legislative session, the Democrat majority in the State Capitol escalated attacks on charters and other forms of public school choice. The chairs of the state legislature’s education committees led the charge to undermine the popular educational option for parents. Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, and Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs, crafted Senate Bill 61 to severely weaken the state’s Charter School Institute. The Institute authorizes charter schools in districts where local boards have resisted offering families an independent choice.
Deceitful Tactics Backfired
Griffin said SB 61’s prime sponsor tried to promote her legislation under false pretenses. “[Sen. Windels] was going around saying it was a clean-up bill, a good neighbor bill,” he said. “But if it had 30 provisions in it, then only six or eight of them were really good.” Windels’ and Merrifield’s deceit also extended to arguments concerning the poorest and neediest students, said the League’s president. “They’d talk about ‘at-risk kids’ and say that’s what the [Charter School] Institute is supposed to be about,” Griffin said. “But instead of helping the Institute to offer more options for at-risk kids, their answer was to cut options for non-at-risk kids.” The bill sponsors’ tactics backfired. A coalition of Republicans and pro-school choice Democrats in the legislature staved off the worst attack and neutralized the sponsors of SB 61. “The Republicans were unanimous in the Senate, and now-Senate President Peter Groff was no small factor,” said Griffin. “He led a cohort of Democrats that were not going to allow those changes.” Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial took her opponents’ logic further than they were willing to go. Spence amended the bill to authorize schools with measurably high-poverty student populations that had achieved consistent success on test scores to replicate their programs in Colorado. The only school that met the criteria and had the capacity to open new sites was Pueblo’s Cesar Chavez Academy, a nationally-recognized charter school. “It identified the most successful schools, the best of the best serving the poorest kids, and said as a matter of state policy they should now be given every advantage to replicate their success,” Griffin said. “Needless to say, [Windels] and Company went through the roof.”
Short-Term Calm for Charter School Supporters
Griffin said that for 2008 the League is promoting a version of SB 61 that is stripped of all the attacks on charter schools and focused on needed modest changes, including improved communication with affected school districts. “I don’t have any problems with a district knowing how many of their kids are planning to leave next year,” he said. But the League president added that individual student privacy must remain protected. “Their names shouldn’t be released so the district can interfere in the decision,” said Griffin. For now, though, overt efforts to weaken charter school law appear to be off the table for 2008. “I can’t see them launching any other substantial attacks like that, unless it’s just for show or just to try to make a point,” said Griffin. “Sue spent a lot of time and energy on Senate Bill 61, only to walk away frustrated.” In an email message to Windels that plotted the development of SB 61, Merrifield wrote that “there must be a special place in hell” for charter school supporters. Face the State uncovered the communication through an Open Records request, generating publicity that exposed the bill sponsors’ motivation and helped to turn the debate against them. “That made it politically difficult to go after charter schools,” said Witwer. “But if there’s a window of opportunity again, those who oppose choice in education will seize it. That’s why we need to be vigilant.”