From State Sen. J.B. Jennings:
Last Week, the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee heard Governor Hogan’s legislation, Senate Bill 595 that changes Maryland’s current charter school law so that it will make opening and operating a charter school easier. The Governor believes Maryland parents and students should have various viable educational options.
The Governor’s bill will:
–Require charter school operators to include in their application a plan to provide rigorous program instruction, including an equivalent method for satisfying any requirements from which the charter school operator intends to seek a waiver.
–Ensure that professional staff will be well qualified and credentialed, including assurances that the plan does not violate the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESSEA).
–Authorize charter schools to be eligible for the capital improvement program by providing an operating funding formula based on per pupil allocation and a capital funding stream.
–Allow public charter schools in both public and privately owned buildings to be eligible to participate in the Public School Construction Program.
–Ensure that charter schools have access to public facilities commensurate with other public non-charter schools.
–Authorize charter school employees to be employees of the charter school rather than of the local school system.
–Exempt charter schools from the state teacher certification requirements.
–Authorize charter school employees to form their own exclusive bargaining unit.
–Allow charter school employees to be exempt from collective bargaining agreements of local school districts.
–Include charter school teachers in the Teacher’s Retirement System (TRS) and Teacher’s Pension System (TPS).
The charter school operators are required to pay the local share of the retirement cost for their employees in the TRS/TPS.
Currently, charter schools are privately operated, publicly funded and open to all students in the school’s jurisdiction. If too many students apply, then they are chosen through a lottery.
At the request of the Maryland State Department of Education, the University of Baltimore Schaefer Center for Public Policy did an in-depth study of charter schools and made recommendations for change. A major change would be the creation of an independent board to evaluate and approve applications to open a charter school. Under the current law, the power to evaluate and approve applications belongs to local school boards. Additionally, the law charges the local school system with paying for the operation of a charter school. In order for this to take place, the local system has to cut its funds for existing schools. Obviously, the method of paying for a charter school operation represents an immense obstacle to opening a charter school.
While the current law directs the local school system to fund the charter school’s operation, the system is not legally required to help fund the charter school’s facilities. The charter school must find, pay for and renovate, if necessary, its own building. Charter schools can hire only public school employees and must adhere to school district policies. Maryland is the only state that requires charter school teachers to be members of the union.
Surprising no one, teachers, education leaders and unions reacted immediately to the report’s recommendations with stinging criticism.
Laws governing public charter schools have been approved in 42 states and the District of Columbia. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has ranked each state’s law, using essential standards. Such standards include; providing equitable access to capital funding and facilities and exemption from collective bargaining agreements. Maryland’s public charter school law consistently ranks low and is considered by many to be the most restrictive law in the nation. In its January 2014 report, Maryland’s law received the lowest ranking.
Maryland’s current charter school law does not create an environment in which charter schools can flourish. Some changes need to be made. There are only 47 charter schools in the state serving nearly 18,000 students in Baltimore City and five counties. Neither Harford nor Baltimore County has a charter school. Of the 47 charter schools, Baltimore City has thirty-one; Prince George’s County, ten; Frederick County, three; and St. Mary’s County has one. According to a recent Abell Foundation report, Maryland’s restrictive law discourages charter operators from locating schools in this state.
To me, it makes no sense that charter schools in Maryland are forced to comply with a law that thwarts their existence and practically dares them to operate.
Please do not hesitate to contact me on this or any other issue of concern to you. Your input is valuable to me. It enables me to represent you effectively. I encourage and welcome your input.
Best regards,
Senator J.B. Jennings
Horrible idea from a party that’s about killing education funding and giving it to the rich kids.Next idea, get rid of right to choose laws and also conceal and carry permits for everyone.. Welcome to Arizona of the mid-atlantic. Hopefully legislature will not pass any of these far right ideas.
Because the far-left ideas that the Maryland political machine has shoved down our throats for 40 years have worked so well…
You mean the ideals that made MD the #1 ranked state for FIVE consecutive years? Dang those lefties! Sorry we now dropped to #3 after they made a change in Education Week to give someone else a shot. Not too bad. Look at all the states that are ranked in the high 40’s, almost all southern and conservative. Mississippi, Arkansas, ad nauseum. 3 kids educated in MD public schools, 2 college grads (one local) and 1 tradesman who did Vo-Tech. Thanks, I liked the policies and hope that Hogan doesn’t change it. Let us see how his charter schools deal with the disabled who are mandated by law to be educated. Oh wait, they don’t have to provide that service. Hmmmm…
Law calls to exempt chapter teachers from state certification like current teachers have to. How is that improving outcomes? And allows these uncertified teachers to participate in the teachers pension! That’s so weird that it defies a reasonable explanation. So a charter school teacher doesn’t have to be a certified teacher but can collect a pension as a certified teacher??? Wtf!!! In addition the bill diverts capital funding from public schools to presumably bouldorimprove private charter schoolsand at the same time charter schools can selective as to whom is admitted in their school? That sounds more like a private school than a charter school time. I got it, they want government funding but not the messy kids that public schools can’t turn away..
Winner winner chicken dinner!!!!!!
I like how he wants the local BOE to fund it but they get no say in if it is viable!
“At the request of the Maryland State Department of Education, the University of Baltimore Schaefer Center for Public Policy did an in-depth study of charter schools and made recommendations for change.”
It’s impressive how you can turn a study done by researchers at a Maryland university (long a bastion of liberal ideals) at the request of the Maryland Department of Education (another collection of liberal eduation idealists) whose findings were presented BEFORE GOV. HOGAN TOOK OFFICE into something evil that he proposed. Some of you die hard liberals will do absolutely anything to twist the facts and rewrite history to further your own agenda.
Smh, as the young kids say…
Gov Hogan is proposed change, not a twist to be found. I don’t have a problem with making it better but no certification for charter teachers is a no for me and having these non-certified teachers share in the teachers pension system does nothing to improve delivery of educational outcomes but cut the public education pie which is the republican intent anyway. Funny thing is Maryland Constitution mandates public schools not charter schools. Funny how strick constitutional are so willing to make it a living g document when it fits this agenda.
Charter school workers should not be able to join the pension fund, they should be limited to a defined-contribution plan.
But then, so should every state employee.
I’d sign up for it. It would keep them from dipping into it when state budget is tight and it would force them to pay a defined amount into MY account. State pension is a deficit because they promise the pension but always subject to making changes to it. At the same time, it is a primary way to keep employees without paying more for real time wages and pensioners depend on it since it is a primary supplement to social security and did you know also a source of income tax, as employees must pay income taxes yearly on it, not a deferred pension plan.
Why should we contact you. You’re not even a Mr. Top 100 like your “humble” colleague Mrs. Top 100 Szeliga.
Part of the cost per student in Harford county is based on fantastic sums that it costs to educate and sometimes house students who have special needs that the public schools are incapable of accommodating, such as kids that are pretty much stone cold crazy. I’m wondering if the charters are to receive the cost for educating normal students or if they will get the full averaged amount that we normally see quoted as the cost per child. If they get the full amount, HCPS is up the proverbial creek.
Here come the teachers union trolls who are so threatened by charter schools. Unfortunately I find it absolutely appalling that democrats play on the strings of minorities in this country to vote for them because they will not cut the benefits. Meanwhile they sit back and try to kill anything that resembles a change to the way education is conducted, to include private sector investment. Each successive President has pumped more money than the previous into Public Education in this country, yet the numbers for graduation are lower than previous generations.
I’ll all about teachers getting paid, but the unions need to address the heavy administration positions with salaries which are bloated and actual created positions where the person isn’t actually teaching at all.
Tired of Liberals acting like they are all about minorities.. Bullsh**
Recent numbers for graduation are higher than they’ve been in decades.
http://www.ed.gov/blog/2013/01/high-school-graduation-rate-at-highest-level-in-three-decades/
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/06/high-school-graduation-rate-hits-40-year-peak-in-the-us/276604/
What do the unions have to do with the Administration positions you speak of?
How about paying the teachers before another 500 good ones leave. My sons three favorite high school teachers all left this year. Harford County Public Education is really in a sad state of affairs. How about we do something about that??? Or is it just business as usual and the top cats are still getting paid so who cares?
HCPS hopes that the three teachers who left from your son’s school were paid higher than entry level. That way they could higher new teachers at rock-bottom salary, which means your son’s favorite teachers departure meant savings for them. Also, they don’t care whether they were good teachers or not, only if they were expensive teachers.
The word is out that already HCPS is refusing to negotiate increased salaries for teachers next year. At some point current and potential teachers have to simply accept that HCPS HATES it’s teachers, and has no interest in treating them in any manner that may be deemed professional, or even respectful. They’ve proven it above and beyond a shadow of a doubt for almost a decade now. Up next: year 7 out of 8 with no salary or step increases.
Because fiscal reality has nothing to do with HCPS’s negotiating posture, nope, it must be hatred for their own employees.
So every other county in the state has no “fiscal reality”? Hunh….interesting.
You claim him?
…your position has nothing to do with your well established hatred of teachers either. It’s just fiscal reality.
I wonder the title/salary of the Facebook updater for HCPS? Supervisor of Social Media? LOL
Must be nice getting that paycheck, and all you do for half a year is post once a day about the next entity that donated to the teacher of the year nonsense.