Pulling off education reform is not easy, especially when funds are pinched.
That's what the state's two upcoming charter schools are discovering. One, the Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts in Ivins, Washington County, has to fill 225 seats by fall. With 50 students enrolled, the school is beating the bushes for tuition-paying out-of-state families."If we don't have the enrollment, there's no way we can open the school," said Tuacahn principal Lynn Davies. "It's kind of an emotional roller coaster in some ways: I get the negative side, then I'm on the phone with people who want to come here, and then I'm on top of the world."
Sen. Howard Stephenson pins the difficulties on the law passed in the last Legislature, which gave charter schools only partial school funding and minimal start-up funds.
"Under the current law, they're doomed to fail," Stephenson, R-Draper, said of the schools, which promise increased autonomy, curriculum specialization and innovation and parent involvement. "It's imperative we put them on a level playing field with the regular public schools."
Lawmakers last year approved creating eight pilot charter schools, endorsed by Gov. Mike Leavitt.
The schools receive around $1,919 per student under the state's basic education funding formula but only part of local funds as a way to ensure school districts can have enough to pay off district debt from bonds.
So far, two charters have been granted. The state is expected to grant three more next month. And Larry Horyna, the State Office of Education's program development coordinator who is overseeing the application process for charter schools, Thursday asked the State Board of Education to open the process to another round in March.
"We've had a hard time even scaring up good applications," Horyna said in an interview.
"There would be some people on the Hill who would not be happy that they started this initiative and we don't even have eight takers," he said. "It's not there isn't interest out there. But I think people stand back and say, 'Whoa, I'm not wading into that given the financial (constraints).' "
Lawmakers gave $500,000 in start-up funds to the schools, which was split evenly among the schools. But $62,000 apiece isn't much, and in retrospect, Horyna says it would have been better to divvy funds based on school size and other factors.
"But you can't change the rules once you're halfway down the field," he said.
The other charter, the Jean Massieu School, specializes in American Sign Language. Though its enrollment target is 20, it may be able to open with fewer students. But that depends on rent, and projecting even that is out of the question -- the school doesn't have a site yet. And, like all the other charter schools that surface, it must begin its three-year charter in the fall.
"Could they have funded it better? Yes, definitely. We're getting by with the skin of our teeth," said Jean Massieu co-administrator Jeff J. Allen. "We're a smaller school, but we're starting from nothing."
Stephenson said he is looking at legislation to correct funding shortfalls in charter school law. And Horyna says his office will continue to try to make the program work.
The law, which vests charter granting authority with the State Board of Education, also has been attacked by the Utah School Boards Association. The organization sued the state school board, claiming it cannot govern schools within its boundaries. The state board says its authority mirrors its oversight of the Schools for the Deaf and the Blind and Applied Technology Centers.
Arguments for summary judgment will be heard this week in 3rd District Court.