Promising reform for charter schools

The compromise Gov. Bob McDonnell and others reached last week over charter schools won't constitute a revolution.

Virginia will not be inundated by new applications. The spigot will be loosened enough to permit a trickle of new charter schools. But that's still progress in a state that has just three. Quantity isn't - and shouldn't be - the goal.

The real value of the compromise lies in its focus on quality. The bill will encourage respected national charter school organizations and serious community groups to submit proposals by guaranteeing them a fair and open review.

The main obstacles blocking charter schools in Virginia are two-fold. Most applications are substandard, and many school boards are resistant even to the more promising candidates.

The new process proposed by McDonnell reserves the final decision for local school boards, but gives the state Board of Education a larger role. Submissions will first be vetted by state officials, who can help weed out weak applications and strengthen promising ones, but their recommendations will be just that.

If a local school board rejects a proposal, it's obligated to provide a public explanation and offer the applicant a chance to polish the plan and file an appeal. However, no charter school will be foisted on a school division against its will.

McDonnell initially sought to give the final say to the state board, but the future of charter schools ultimately rests on the ability of the state, communities and private advocacy groups to work together. A combative approach was in no one's best interest, least of all the fledgling schools. It also raised legal questions because the state constitution gives local boards supervision of public schools in their jurisdiction. The compromise the governor has reached with teachers, school boards and superintendents should avoid court challenges that could have bottled up progress for months or even years.

The governor's hard work has satisfied many of his former critics. Who, indeed, can be opposed to better quality applications?

But some concerns linger. Members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus oppose the charter school bill because they fear it will exacerbate inequities in the school system and marginalize children who remain in traditional classrooms. But charter schools should be buoys for all students. Restrictive rules imposed on Virginia's public schools by the legislature make it difficult to innovate. Even a simple request for permission to open before Labor Day is routinely rejected. How can schools ever hope for flexibility to expand the academic calendar and curriculum to compete with their counterparts in Germany or China? It will take a handful of successful charter schools exempted from those regulations to show that they are outdated and must be abandoned.

Still, it's no surprise that legislators would look askance at McDonnell's enthusiasm for education reform in a year when public schools are facing unprecedented budget cuts. The governor's own budget recommendations slice deeply into schools in nearly every community in the commonwealth.

More troubling is a separate plan backed by House Republicans that would single out urban schools with large concentrations of low-income students for the most severe reductions. McDonnell has been silent on that proposal, and he has no reason to expect support from legislators when he refuses to come to their aid.

Nevertheless, there is no reason to hold up the charter school compromise, which contains only the most innocuous reforms. Legislators should pass the bill.

McDonnell, in turn, should publicly condemn the House efforts to eviscerate urban schools. But that's just a first step. The governor should instruct Education Secretary Gerard Robinson to identify the state's 10 lowest-performing schools and design a comprehensive plan that will target those communities for additional financial resources, turn-around specialists, university-sponsored laboratory schools, virtual academic courses and, yes, charter schools.

Robinson is young, energetic and genuinely empathetic to the cause. His regular presence in struggling schools would make a strong statement to those communities and especially those students. McDonnell and Robinson are capable of proving that suspicions about charter schools are unfounded, but it will take years of hard work and commitment to do that.