SIG Grants, the US Department of Education’s School Improvement Grants, are meant to be used as a tool to improve the academic performance of schools that fall in the lowest 5% of a state's accountability measures under ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act). Charter schools have long been held up as models of the rigor and flexibility needed to help make failing schools academically successful. One of the four implementation models available for school improvement grants, the Restart Model, actually allows a local school district to close a failing school and reopen the campus as a charter school.
SIG grant recipients using the Transformation Model or the Turnaround Model of implementation are adopting characteristics of the stereotypical charter school (increased academic rigor, extended leaving time, etc). But fewer than four percent of the 850+ schools with SIG grants at the moment have adopted the Restart Model, which would allow them to actually become charter schools. One reason for the low number of Restart Model grants is simple: ten US states (Alabama, Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Washington, Vermont, West Virginia, and Maine) simply don’t allow charter schools. Pressure from the Race to the Top grant program has made charter schools a political issue in those states. And some, like West Virginia with its new “innovation zone” state grants, have taken steps in the charter school direction. But at the moment the Restart Model simply isn’t an option in those states.
What Is a Charter School?
A charter school is a school that gets public funding to operate but is allowed to function independently of the school district it is in. It is granted a charter to operate under its own set of rules and is governed by its own board or director (instead of the district superintendent). Exactly how independent a charter school is depends on state laws. So there are, in effect, as many definitions for the term “charter school” as there are states.
The idea behind charter schools is simple. In exchange for public funding and the increased flexibility that comes with independence from the school system, a charter school is supposed to produce better results. Maybe they are able to pay their teachers more and require longer workdays (or attract better teachers). Maybe they can have a longer school day in order to achieve the academic gains they need. Maybe they can trim some of the personnel procedures that keep bad teachers on the job in many public schools and, thus, get rid of their own bad teachers more quickly. But the “bargain” (as one author describes it) is simple: give us money and leave us alone, and we’ll produce better results. If we don’t you can close us (and take your funding back).
The Restart Grants
Out of the 850+ schools at the moment with SIG grants, 31 have adopted the Restart Model that allows them to become charter schools. States where the Restart Model is being used are:
- Alaska – 1 school
- California – 5 schools
- Connecticut – 1 school
- DC – 3 schools
- Illinois – 1 school
- Maryland – 5 schools
- North Carolina – 1 school
- Pennsylvania – 7 schools
- Virginia – 5 schools
- Wisconsin – 2 schools
The grants are spread across grant levels, with 10 going to high schools, 10 to middle schools, 5 to elementary schools, 5 to schools that combine elementary and middle grades' campuses (K-8 schools), and one to a 6-12 secondary school. What do they have in common? Over 94% of Restart Model schools have student bodies where over two-thirds of the student body are members of a minority group (Black or Hispanic). In 24 of the 31 schools, the student body is made up of 95% or more minority members. Poverty is also characteristic of these schools, with over half of them having student bodies where 85% of the students qualify for free lunch based on family income. All but two of the schools have student bodies where at least 65% qualify for free lunch.
School districts (not individual schools) decide which SIG model to use. In my opinion making a failing school a charter school would limit a district's control over the school, and evidently school districts aren't interested in giving up that control, even when a school is failing. With one or two exceptions, the Restart Model (when it’s used at all) is used at impoverished minority schools.
Resources
- Eric Dillon, SIG Grants and the Charter School Bargain, The Quick & The ED, April 28, 2011
- US Charter Schools
- School Improvement Fund, US Department of Education
Greg Cruey - Greg Cruey is an educator and journalist. He works as an educational interventionist specializing in a small, rural school in Central ...
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