Hope on the way for at-risk students
Some people just love to demonize charter schools and the people who believe in them. In Lisa Mieritz’s column published in The Gazette on July 14, her bias was apparent. Even biased columnists, however, should try to be factual and honest. Unfortunately, for her, charter schools have wide bipartisan support.
Why all the false claims about my interest in how public schools are funded in the state of Colorado? Maybe a few facts are in order. Yes, I am serving on the School Finance Interim Committee to examine and determine if we are using the best possible ways to fund our schools throughout the state. Of the $5.4 billion we spend in the school finance act, $227 million is allocated to school districts for educating at-risk students. For the 2009-2010 budget year, it is projected that 250,772 students out of 788,648 will be eligible for at risk funding.
Currently, students are eligible to receive at-risk funding only if they qualify for free lunch as measured by eligibility under the National School Lunch Act. A limited number of non-English speaking students are also eligible. Because the state funds districts, and not students, the at-risk funding does not necessarily follow students.
How we can we help at-risk students before they get so far behind in their academic studies that they decide to drop out of school? This is the civil rights issue for the 21st Century. I have and will continue to do everything I can to help them.
Contrary to the claims of Ms. Mieretz, no one has put forward a specific proposal on how best to define at-risk students or on how to fund them. I have, however, suggested that it might be better to include students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, or students who score unsatisfactory on CSAP’s. Below I will outline, for the first time, some definite ideas on how we might change the School Finance Act.
Districts could develop a funding system, known as “Student Based Budgeting,” where the academic needs of students determine how the schools are funded. Under the leadership of now Sen. Michael Bennet, Denver Public Schools has begun to implement this system. It puts extra resources where the student attends school and allows that school to create educational strategies specific to their student body. I would propose that any district that implements a student based budgeting system be given extra at-risk funding and total flexibility on how they spend their at risk dollars. If a district does not want to initiate that system, at least 75 percent of the at-risk funding a student receives must follow that specific child into the school he or she attends.
Second, we should award Schools of Excellence throughout the state that do a great job educating academic at-risk students. This idea is in the 2009 School Finance Act passed by the Legislature. I would propose allocating up to five million dollars of at-risk funding to schools with at least thirty percent at-risk students and less than five percent of the students scoring unsatisfactory on three of the four CSAP’s administered at the school in the previous year. The only districts that would be eligible for the funding would be districts that have adopted student based budgeting and who would give the extra at-risk funding to the specific schools that was meeting the objective.
How do charters fit in? They would be held to the same standard of excellence and be rewarded only if their at-risk students perform. Every school in the state should be encouraged to be a School of Excellence, including those charter schools which have yet to achieve the distinction.
Make no mistake of my intentions. I will never apologize for asking our public schools to do the very best for all our students and especially those who are at-risk of academic failure. Every school including the charter school where I am the Administrator, Colorado Springs Early Colleges, which gives a student the opportunity to receive an Associate’s Degree free while in high school must be held to a high standard of accountability. After all, every student deserves the opportunity for success.
Keith King is a Republican state senator from Colorado Springs. Contact him at: keith@keithking.org
