Charter silence keeps city schools from making cuts

One year of full state reimbursement for the cost of new charter schools is a central piece of the state's plan to help Massachusetts' traditional public schools cope with the loss of aid money that accompanies new charter schools.

When the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School was proposed nearly two years ago, proponents argued that this reimbursement would actually pump state money into the city that could be put toward reorganizing the city's schools for when the charter school reaches full enrollment.

But with next year's school budget now all but set, Gloucester Public Schools officials say that uncertainty surrounding the local charter school makes it impossible for the district to downsize or realize any cost savings from students attending the charter.

The budget proposed this spring by the School Committee contains no cuts connected with the 95 students scheduled to leave the district for the charter school in September.

As a result, the only benefit of the more than $1 million in state tax money being fed into the city this year will likely be, at most, a marginal class size reduction for some fourth-, fifth-, sixth- and seventh-graders.

According to the school system, the reason for this is the charter school is under no obligation to say which students will be leaving the district or from which schools and classes they will come from. In fact, charter school officials have said their school is legally prohibited from releasing that information.

With no idea which classes or schools will see drops in enrollment, the Gloucester School Committee has decided it cannot responsibly lay off any teachers or close any classrooms for fear of guessing wrong and having nowhere to put kids if they appear in September.

In addition, the district has long argued that even when they know where the kids are coming from, the cost savings do not proportionally follow loss of students unless there are enough to eliminate entire classes or close whole schools.

"From a planning perspective, not understanding or knowing the true commitment level of the GCACS applicants is creating an additional undue hardship upon our school district," Gloucester School Committee Chairwoman Val Gilman said in an e-mail to GCA Trustee Chairwoman Amy Ballin at the end of April asking for the list of charter applicants.

"In reality, now that we are in this situation, we can't plan to use any of this money because our infrastructure cannot be downsized if we do not know the intentions of the applicants," Gilman wrote.

Since that request, the charter has stuck by its position to not release any names and addresses, and the school's executive director, Anthony Blackman, has cited new state regulations as further reason not to give anything out.

One way the school district has tried to gauge who may be leaving for the charter school is through busing requests, as the district is required to provide transportation for any students within the city attending the charter.

State charter school regulations "strongly encourage" charter schools to cooperate with their host districts to plan and coordinate busing.

But asked last Thursday what information the district has received from the charter school on busing needs, Gloucester school Superintendent Christopher Farmer said, "None."

Blackman, in a written statement, said the charter school has been "in touch" with district officials about transportation and "will" send the number of students "attending from each of the other local schools to help them plan for the safe transportation of all students."

Almost 15 months after the charter school was approved in a controversial decision by state officials, bitterness between charter supporters and opponents in Gloucester remains.

Tensions boiled over at a Gloucester Community Arts Board meeting last week when Gilman was questioned by charter school board trustee Gordon Baird about why the district was not planning for the eventual downsizing of the system.

In a series of e-mails that followed in the days after the meeting, Ballin apologized for the "misunderstanding."

Despite coming to grudging acknowledgement in the last few months that a legal or political avenue for killing the charter is unlikely, the School Committee is still not assuming that the school will open in September.

Before it can open its doors, the charter school needs a $1.8 million renovation of the former Cape Ann Medical Center building in Blackburn Industrial Park on a timeline some have questioned as unrealistic.

In her e-mail message, Gilman asked Ballin "what if you don't get your occupancy permit on Aug. 1? What if many of the enrollees are not planning on attending?"

Blackman has said work on the building is "going well" and plans were submitted to the city building inspector "several" weeks ago. He said no permits have been issued, but the building inspector has not raised any problems with the plans.

Building Inspector William Sanborn could not be reached by phone Friday.

On the district side, concerns about how difficult the downsizing is expected to be starting in 2012 are growing.

Estimates of the cost of the charter school to the district next year, when the state reimburses 25 percent of the cost, are now estimated at around $740,000 and could be matched by about that amount in lost federal stimulus money.

Mayor Carolyn Kirk, in her budget message to the City Council last week, said the school system is going to need a "bail out" next year.

Charter founders dismissed as scare tactics estimates two years ago that the charter would result in school closings elsewhere in the city, but many involved in the public schools are estimating that the downsizing will include at least one elementary school closure and the elimination of two "houses" of students within O'Maley Middle School.

Patrick Anderson can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3455, or panderson@gloucestertimes.com.

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