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Charter School Courts Students

Posted on: Thursday, 30 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By ANDREA SCHOELLKOPF Journal Staff Writer

The president of Horizon Academy South is spending this week's spring break knocking on doors of high school students, making sure they are signed up for classes.

Monday, the elementary school will begin offering classes to the students of the former Horizon Academy Preparatory High School. Problem is, only 140 of the 200 students have registered for the "new" school, and officials there need to determine how many teachers are needed.

"I think there are some parents that are upset maybe with the repetitious (problems)," Horizon South board president Jim Nessle said Wednesday. "First it was the management company, then it was the failure of the school itself. That has a tendency to shake the confidence of the best. It's uncertainty."

The Horizon High board voluntarily returned its charter last week after determining it did not have enough money to finish the school year, and the Albuquerque Public Schools board agreed to let Horizon South -- the school's neighboring charter -- take over. The two schools are within the same converted strip shopping mall on Isleta south of Rio Bravo, and share a landlord.

Horizon High's closure marks the second time a charter has been shut down in Albuquerque. Paseo del Monte was shut in December 2004. A third charter had been revoked in Carlsbad, state Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia said, but was able to stay open under new management when that school board's vote violated state Open Meetings laws.

"I'm always disappointed to see a charter school not make it," Garcia said. "I think it gives an impression the charter school movement isn't viable. There are many charter schools that have good financial practices and are doing well."

Garcia said the state has not yet approved the emergency funds requested by Horizon South to finish the school year, but said she is not certain if APS has even applied for the funding yet. The APS board approved the request last week. APS officials could not be reached for comment late Wednesday evening.

But she said emergency funding is available.

The two Horizon schools are among four that share the same founder, who stepped down last year. New boards of directors for all four Horizon schools took over management last year from Advanced Educational Programs, the former Arizona-based management company. That company ended its contract after repeated financial difficulties, chiefly for trying to run the schools for a profit and as a mini-district, in violation of state regulations.

"Our entire resource philosophy has been entirely different," Nessle said. "Per capita, per child, we're dedicating our resources to the classroom."

While the three other Horizon schools -- all elementary and middle schools -- were able to recover and be pronounced as fiscally sound by APS, the high school board had difficulty getting off the ground when the new charter opened last fall.

Some $50,000 in federal stimulus funds needed by Horizon High to start the school year had been diverted by the previous management to other schools. The state withheld the remaining $150,000, and asked APS to withhold $70,000 in additional federal funds from the school.

Horizon South -- in its fourth year -- will not be eligible for the remaining stimulus funds, but will get $70,000 in federal funds for special education and low-income students, said Don Moya, the state Public Education Department's deputy Cabinet secretary for finance and operations. He said that money was only available to reimburse funds spent, and Horizon High never had the money to spend on the programs.

Terry Holmberg, charter school liaison for Albuquerque Public Schools, expected most of the students to return Monday, and perhaps they or their parents weren't aware they had to register again under the new school. "Spring break was good to close and reopen under new management," she said. "It's also kind of problematic. People forget and they're on vacation." This week, custodial staffers were cleaning, painting and making repairs to the high school area -- about $5,000 in work that could not be completed due to the troubled school's finances -- to prepare for class on Monday, Nessle said. "We would like the opportunity to prove to them we are a lot different," Nessle said. "... We understand the onus of the job is on us. We're not demanding that the parents trust us because that would be rude." Horizon South administrators were busy interviewing teachers -- many of whom are from the former high school trying to stay with the students, though some are new applicants, Nessle said. He could not say how many of the staff would return until the enrollment is final, but added that some of the former high school teachers have chosen not to apply.

Source: Albuquerque Journal

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