Per this article in the Salt Lake Trib. it seems like UT could use some of the tough love charter operators applied in California and elsewhere. May not be illegal, but it sure smells.
Remember that study on charter school finance in Texas? Well, according to the Dallas Morning News the state education agency now acknowledges that it was fatally flawed because of some reporting errors. One charter apparently reported a budget of $66 million when in fact its budget was $9 million. That’s enough to skew the average results statewide. Also, close-reading reveals something in this article that Eduwonk’s more literary friends might call “foreshadowing.”
Meanwhile, a well-connected Tarheel reader writes to say:
The NC Senate and House have signed off on the state’s two-year budget, and unless Governor Easley vetoes it (he is expected to sign it), there is NO chance for the cap on charters to be raised this year. (While the bills to raise the cap in NC never made it out of committee, a change in the cap could have been amended to the state budget.)
So, all 100 charters are taken. No more new charter schools in North Carolina, unless an existing charter school has its charter revoked.
BTW, in NC, the very top performing schools are charters; and charters are among the worst performers. There is a strong demand among parents for charters, but all in all, NC just “doesn’t do” charters well! No charter school resource center, no lobbying force, etc.