PENNSYLVANIA Report gives mixed view of state's charter schools

Eighteen of the state's 67 counties have charter schools, with most of them in the Philadelphia area.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- Pennsylvania charter schools have shown mixed results in pupil achievement since state lawmakers passed a 1997 law authorizing the creation of the publicly funded, independently operated schools, says a study released today.
The Western Michigan University study found that charter schools are showing "modest" academic achievement gains overall compared to traditional public schools with similar demographic characteristics, while some schools scored significantly higher and others substantially lower.
"This inconsistency in performance, while certainly echoed in the Commonwealth's noncharter public schools, is a source of concern about the reform," the researchers wrote in the report's executive summary.
The full study, which was required under the charter school legislation, will be made available on the state Department of Education's Web site, www.pde.state.pa.us.
The report cited "considerable growth" in the number of schools, from six during the 1997-98 school year to 90 schools in the current school year. About 30,000 pupils are enrolled in charter schools, compared with 1,143 in 1997-98.
Eighteen of the state's 67 counties have charter schools, with the highest concentration in Philadelphia, where charter school pupils account for 7.9 percent of the total school enrollment.
Teachers' turnover rate
The report also found that turnover among charter school teachers is significantly higher than among teachers in traditional public schools. During the 2000-01 school year, 24 percent of charter school teachers left their schools, compared with 9 percent for traditional schools.
Although the researchers were unable to determine why the turnover rate was so high, they speculated that lower salaries might be to blame. During the 2000-01 school year, charter school teachers were paid about $12,000 less per year than their noncharter school counterparts, the report said.
It also was unclear whether charter school competition prompted public schools to change their programs as the law envisioned, the researchers said.
At the same time, they noted that school officials in districts with large numbers of charter schools "complained loudly during interviews that charter schools were siphoning off already limited resources."
School districts are required to pay the instructional costs of children who enroll in charter schools, which amount to a portion of their per-pupil state education funding.
"I think funding has remained the most significant concern for us," said Thomas Gentzel, executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. "This has drained millions of dollars from the public schools."
Still supported
Jeff McCloud, state education department spokesman, said that although the study did not declare charter schools an unqualified success in Pennsylvania, the department still supports them as an alternative to traditional schools.
Timothy Potts, executive director of the Pennsylvania School Reform Network, a public school advocacy group, said the findings show that the state is failing to hold charter schools to the same academic standards as it requires traditional schools to meet.
"After five years, we can say charter schools are not as good as traditional schools, by about any measure," Potts said. "If we want charter schools to be good, we have to apply the same standards to them that we apply everywhere else."