Denver Daily Post - Building Strong Charter Schools

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Local charter school leaders reacted positively yesterday to federal legislation introduced by Congressman Jared Polis that would provide grants to expand high-quality charter schools.

The All Students Achieving Through Reform (All-STAR) Act would establish a new competitive grant program for states, local education agencies, public charter school authorizers, and eligible non-profit organizations to expand and replicate existing successful charter schools.

"To reclaim America's leadership in education, we must support, expand and replicate successful schools and educational models with a proven track record of getting the job done," Polis, D-Boulder, said in a statement. "My legislation … builds upon effective models of educational achievement, expands opportunity, and encourages the growth of top-performing public charter schools."

Charter school leaders in Colorado expressed a positive view of the legislation yesterday, but pointed out that expanding existing charter schools should be coupled with promoting and assisting new charter schools get off the ground.

"They're not mutually exclusive," said Alex Medler, chairman of the board for the Colorado Charter School Institute. "The ones that are doing a good job and are willing to do more and have the capacity to do the job … we should figure out a way to do that. And at the same time, the people that are creating wholly new ones, that's also additional value and an asset to the community."

West Denver Preparatory Charter School is one such successful charter school that might benefit from Polis' legislation. The school's successful model has been approved by Denver Public Schools to be replicated in areas across the city next year. One campus will be co-located at Lake Middle School, while another is slated to open at the building that currently houses the Emerson Street alternative school. The charter will have four schools operating, including its already existent Harvey Park and Federal campuses.

The college-preparatory charter school ranked second among all schools in the district on school performance.

Head of School, Chris Gibbons, says it is entirely possible to replicate successful school models such as his school's, but said the process is not an easy one.

"There's no doubt that it's challenging, but I also think that it's very doable," said Gibbons. "I think it's easier to replicate an existing success than it is to build a new school from the ground up. I think there's certain things you can learn … I don't mean to suggest that it's easy, we definitely think that it's challenging, but I also think that we're learning from best practices across the country to do it as well as we possibly can."

Jim Griffin, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools, said he only wishes more lawmakers took charter school issues as seriously as Polis. But he believes America as a whole is beginning to warm to the role charter schools can play in the public education system.

"What this represents is the convergence of two key things: One is growing national consensus and bipartisan support around the role that charters play in the future of our nation's public school system," said Griffin. "And the second thing that it represents is a growing understanding of how to invest resources intelligently in the highest-performing schools to get the most bang for the buck."

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