CHARTER SCHOOL BILL PROPOSED AND MANY OPPOSED

The Education Committee from the Nebraska Legislature heard testimony March 14 on a bill that would allow nonprofit organizations to operate independent public schools, also known as charter schools, in areas with underperforming schools.
LB630, introduced by Sen. Tyson Larson of O’Neill, would create an eight-member commission to grant and oversee charter school agreements or compacts. The bill also would authorize school districts to grant and administer compacts for those schools to operate within their boundaries.
Each charter school would receive state aid equal to the number of enrolled students multiplied by the statewide average basic funding per formula student. The Legislative Fiscal Office estimates that if 1 percent of public school students attended a charter school this year, approximately $28.6 million in state aid would go to these independent schools.
Yolanda Williams, an OPS board member, said charter schools are not needed because OPS already is working to provide school choice through magnet schools, blended learning environments, dual enrollment and other programs.
Bryan Corkle, a science teacher at O’Neill Public Schools, said charter schools skim away those students with the greatest potential and leave the majority of students behind in traditional public schools. At the same time, he said, they divert school funding away from traditional public schools that have diverse needs and stretched resources.
Jeannette Eileen Jones-Bazansky, president of the Lincoln branch of the NAACP, said last year the association called for a moratorium on charter school expansion until those schools are subject to the same accountability and transparency standards as public schools. Jones-Bazansky said any expansion of charter schools should not be funded at the expense of traditional public schools, where most minority students would remain.
The committee took no immediate action on the bill.