Recent Charter School Legislation

[DonaldH675@aol.com]

Anyone who is following the Idaho Charter School movement may be interested 
to know that Gary Schroeder has introduced legislation to eliminate the 
statutory 5 year legislative review ("sunset clause") for charter schools. 
This clause provided for  legislative review and consideration of the 
effectiveness of charter schools in the state of Idaho. Eliminating this 
clause removes an important evaluative step for these new schools.  The move 
to cut out this step comes mainly from schools which want to finance 
buildings and other capital projects; lending institutions are reluctant to 
loan money without security that the schools will be in existence after five 
years.

Our experience of charter schools here in Moscow suggests that more, not 
less, supervision is needed to make them work.  Because most charter schools 
are not founded or run by experienced professionals, they often struggle at 
first with legal  compliance and with establishing sound public and fiscal 
policies.  Permitting them to incur large public debts within a few years of 
their founding is potentially disastrous.

I would urge everyone with an interest in the development of strong, 
well-administered, and safe public schools (of all types) to contact Sen. 
Schroeder and urge him to reconsider this legislation, for the protection of 
students and school districts which may be left holding the bag when schools 
fail.

Melynda Huskey {posting from Rose Huskey's account)