As you may have noticed in the news, there has been a systematic assault on charter schools throughout the State of California. One reason for this attack has been the recent rise in enrollment at California’s 1200+ charter schools and the demand for new charter schools, as based on the thousands of students on waiting lists for charter school programs throughout California.
A recent potential ballot measure, the Elimination of Charter Schools Initiative, is seeking to get 400,000 signatures in order to qualify to be placed on the ballot. This initiative would seek to dismantle ALL charter schools throughout the State of California. We believe that this campaign has been launched to combat the declining enrollment in local big districts and within the California Teachers Association, since many Southern California counties now have more than 15% of students attending charter schools, and that number is increasing each year. Charter schools are redesigning public school and disrupting the status quo!
SOME FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
We need your help to promote the accurate story of charter schools, and particularly our own Springs Charter Schools, to the general public. Here are some facts that you should know:
• Charter schools are free public schools which must enroll all students who apply as long as space is available. This means our schools have students with disabilities and English learners. In fact, our percentage of students who receive special education services is more than 11%, which is the same as the county and state average.
• Non-classroom based charters like Springs do not claim attendance based on a student’s seat-time minutes, but through work product and academic progress, which can happen in a variety of locations other than a classroom.
• Non-classroom based students do not have to complete their work in the classroom on any given day. All work is available to families at home through our online learning management system. Site-based charters have more restrictions on how and where they can operate, which are the restrictions that were reported in the article.
• Our program is necessary and popular because 21st century families want a more personalized and flexible school arrangement. If parents want to homeschool their child one or two days per week in a typical school, they are not allow to do so. Our teachers provide personalized home study work that ensures that parents are true partners. Home study days provide a perfect forum to give kids individualized one-on-one instruction to help them master all the content of the grade level.
VOICE YOUR SUPPORT FOR OUR SCHOOL
There are several ways that you can help voice your support for our schools and for having high quality, free public charter school options in your community.
• Vote! Your free public school choices can be taken away if you don’t exercise your right to vote. Encourage your family and friends to vote too.
• Leave comments under the article linked above.
• Send a letter to the editor to your local newspaper.
• Visit a school board meeting and speak during their public comments time or deliver a letter in support of our schools and of charters at large.
• Write to your state representatives to voice support for charter schools.
• Join a charter school advocacy group
