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Carcieri Enters Dispute Over School's Charter

Posted on: Friday, 29 July 2005, 18:00 CDT

The governor, a proponent of charter schools, is to discuss the future of the BEACON Charter School with the state education commissioner.

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WOONSOCKET - As the debate over the future of the BEACON Charter High School nears its close, Governor Carcieri has stepped into the fray.

According to Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal, the governor is "trying to speak to all the different parties to get a better understanding of the issue."

Neal acknowledged that Carcieri is "a large proponent of charter schools" and said the governor was scheduled to call Education Commissioner Peter McWalters late yesterday to discuss the issue.

Carcieri is the latest politician to join the widening debate about the financially troubled charter school. In a letter to the Republican governor several weeks ago, Mayor Susan D. Menard, a Democrat, also announced her support for the school.

On Tuesday, in the midst of a hearing to determine the fate of the school's charter, Menard and Woonsocket City Council President Leo T. Fontaine -- a longtime BEACON supporter and former state Republican chairman -- placed a call to Carcieri asking for his help.

"I, along with the mayor, felt that it was important that the governor be aware of what's going on and ask for his assistance," Fontaine said yesterday. "He said he would speak with the commissioner. He's a huge supporter of charter schools and he does want to see BEACON saved."

Neal said it's simply too early to characterize Carcieri's stance on the BEACON debate. "He's trying to understand what options he has and doesn't have. That's why he's talking to everyone involved, including the commissioner," he said.

Since taking office in 2003, Carcieri has backed charter schools as alternatives to the state's public schools. Last year, he proposed nearly $8 million more in school aid to charter schools. Charter schools are public schools that can set admission criteria and operate independently of local school districts.

The hearing on BEACON's charter is expected to enter its final day of testimony tomorrow. If the school does officially close, it will be the first of Rhode Island's 11 charter schools to do so.

Almost from the get-go, the BEACON Charter School, which opened less than two years ago in a partnership with the Northern Rhode Island Council of the Arts, was beset with financial difficulties.

The problems were several: the school had trouble finding a corporate sponsor to shore up its finances and a guarantor to support renovations to the Market Square building that was to be its permanent home. Plus, administrative turnover left the school with a leadership vacuum.

But the biggest snag was the school's miscalculation of its second-year enrollment.

Months before school started last fall, officials estimated a student body of 190 students in grades 9 and 10. (Grade 11 was expected to be added this year and grade 12 next year.) Later that number was lowered to 165. But when school opened in September, just 111 students were enrolled.

Worse, the budget was not immediately pared from roughly $1.5 million to account for the smaller enrollment, meaning the school was unable to generate sufficient per-pupil revenue to cover its staffing costs.

The projected deficit was almost $500,000.

By October, it was clear to state officials that the school would indeed run into the red if it did not find a financial backer. The winter months that followed were a blur of felled business partnerships with such companies as GTECH and CVS, and even a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. School administrators tried to cut back on spending.

In February, Department of Education officials warned the school that it was just weeks away from running a deficit. They offered a deal: they'd give the school the $280,000 it needed to finish out the school year provided that the school agree to surrender its operating charter at the end of the academic year in June.

Desperate and out of options, school officials signed the agreement in April and took the money from the state.

However, school officials continued to scramble for solutions. Last month, Johnson & Wales University agreed to enter into a partnership with BEACON, offering academic and leadership guidance, but no cash. Administrators constructed a more concrete business plan that identified weaknesses and laid out a careful fiscal-year budget based on a more realistic enrollment figure: 114.

Yet, as far as the state Department of Education was concerned, the school's charter was formally surrendered on June 30.

Ultimately, in an unprecedented move, the state agreed to hold a hearing with its own hearing officer to try and settle the dispute after BEACON officials threatened to sue the state.

Though hearing officers routinely hear cases regarding personnel matters and student issues, they have never before stepped in to determine the fate of a charter school in Rhode Island.

In three days of testimony this past week, hearing officer Forest Avila has listened as Department of Education officials and BEACON leaders sparred over who was to blame for so many missteps along the way.

Tomorrow, Avila is expected to begin deliberating on whether BEACON should be allowed to reopen this fall. Legally, he has 45 days to make his decision. But that may change, depending on how involved Governor Carcieri chooses to be following his conversation with Commissioner McWalters.

Source: Providence Journal

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