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 Tuesday's Public Hearing on the Classical Charter School of the Finger Lakes went well. Public opinion was expressed and heard by a packed audience of over 200. We will hear THIS WEEK whether the school moves one step closer to becoming a reality with the Albany interview stage.
Our existing schools do a very good job of educating our children (click here to see where your district ranks, as per NYS test scores, amongst upstate NY Schools). But, there is nothing wrong with offering a choice for those families that feel the classical approach to education fits more in line with what they want for their child. Striving for EXCELLENCE with a classical public school offering is a good service to bring to our area! Don't we want the Finger Lakes to stand out as an area of educational choice?
The key opposition to something like this is money. The reality is the only parents who will choose the charter school will be those who are unhappy with their district or were looking to do something different anyway like choosing to homeschool or attend private school. Some, may just be drawn to the traditional liberal arts education, explicit phonics reading instruction, Latin and Spanish. Shouldn't these people have a public school option with proven classical teaching methods? The education of each child is appropriated in state aid and follows that child. If the child is no longer attending that district school,(homeschooling, private school, or in our case the charter school), the district no longer incurs the cost of educating that child so they do not receive that allotted money.
Each district still receives all of the school tax money, no matter where children are being educated. And, if 2% of students in a district enroll in the charter, that district receives transitional aid from the state (80% back the first year, 60% the second and 40% the third). Yes, this is a new way of looking at education in the Finger Lakes, but why shouldn't we try to increase academic achievement and "customer" (parent) satisfaction throughout the whole area by offering another public school choice?
Albany decides (THIS WEEK) if there will be a charter school in our area - the districts do not and neither do I. Please send an email of support to charters@suny.edu and sign the online petition we just started here.
Sincerely,
Donna Bennett
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