These particularly clueless democratic minds wish to limit the entrepreneurial mind and spirit. claim the school curriculum is "too broad" and not etched in stone. After all, a success American dream is a democratic government's biggest enemy..
Updated Mar 20, 2013 01:28
(Lancaster, Pennsylvania) - Citing "serious and pervasive deficiencies" in its application, the School District of Lancaster board has rejected a charter for the proposed Academy of Business Entrepreneurship Charter School.
Tuesday's 8-0 vote, with one abstention, ended, for now, a months-long debate over the merits of the school, which would have opened in the fall in Lancaster city.
The rejection can be appealed to the state Charter Appeals Board, which could overturn the ruling.
Sait Onal, president of ABECS founding board, could not immediately be reached for comment on whether backers would file an appeal.
In a separate action Tuesday, the SDL board tabled a vote on renewing the charter for La Academia Partnership Charter School for five years. That vote will occur next month.
The school board's 35-page decision rejecting ABECS charter touched on many of the concerns members of the public had aired about the proposal during three often-contentious public hearings.
According to the board's decision, the applicants designed ABECS "around a simple, broad idea, without engaging in any concrete and definitive research and planning,"
Because of that, the school would be unable to provide the "comprehensive learning experiences" required under the state's charter school law, the board said.
The application lacked details on how the school planned to teach entrepreneurship to younger students, how state academic standards would be aligned to daily instruction and how concepts would be taught and assessed.
Instead of details, the application contained "idealistic, 'big ideas' as the content of the curriculum," the board said in its decision.
It also found that ABEC's backers failed to demonstrate sustainable local support for the school and "were not honest with the community in describing the grades and age levels to be served under the proposed charter."
The proposal called for the school to enroll students in kindergarten through grade 12, but ABECS would enroll pupils only through fourth grade in the first year, adding one grade per year in subsequent years.
People who initially supported the school were not aware of the grade limitations under the five-year charter, and only about 70 percent of the students who had been registered through pre-enrollment forms would actually be able to attend ABECS, according to the board decision.
The school had planned to lease classroom space in the Carol B. Winters building on Laurel Street and would have been funded primarily by tuition payments from SDL.
The school board found inconsistencies in the space requirements and the amenities that would be provided, alleging the school would have no library, cafeteria or kitchen.
The school's budget assumed that only 10 percent of ABECS students would need special-education services — far below the state average of 17 percent and the SDL average of about 19 percent. The budget also projected that special education costs would peak in year two and then decline.
The application stressed that the school would provide an environment "that will minimize the identification and labeling of new students as requiring special education," according to the school board decision.
That statement "shows that the applicant will be unable, or unwilling, to adequately serve students with special needs," the board found.
Backers of the charter school had argued that ABECS would be a better alternative to SDL schools, most of which are failing to meet state academic standards.
They pointed out that 14 district schools were recently named among Pennsylvania's "low-achieving schools" and only one SDL school made "adequate yearly progress," based on student test scores, in 2012.
But the board found "such serious and pervasive deficiencies in the charter school application" that denial of the application was "not only warranted under the charter school law," but was "necessary and required of this board to ensure the proper education of our children."
Backers have 60 days from Tuesday's decision to file an appeal.
To do so, they must submit to Commonwealth Court petitions containing signatures from 1,000 adult residents.
The Charter Appeals Board would then review all records and hear arguments from both sides on the appeal before making its decision.
Since the board was established in 1999, about half the appeals that were decided have been successful, according to the state Department of Education.
A total of 124 appeals have been filed and 102 decided, department spokesman Tim Eller said. Of those, 46 were granted, 43 were denied and 13 were dismissed, he said.
Over the past two years, under the administration of Gov. Tom Corbett, 31 appeals were filed, six were granted and none was denied, Eller said. Four appeals were dismissed, seven were withdrawn and 14 are pending.
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