Charter School Growth in Porter County (Monroe: 2013, school districts, landlord)

[Northwest Indiana]

I know that there is Discovery Charter School in Porter, IN but it has its own building (renovated office building in semi-secluded area) and the school appears to perform very well and is consistently ranked higher than other charter schools (way above any in NWI) and they are expanding. But in addition to taking money away from the local public schools, the vast majority of charter schools perform very low while still taking money from the local schools. Overall, I am not the biggest fan of charter schools and this proposal for this one in Valpo is very sketchy...

Valpo council hears concerns about proposed charter school

This whole proposal does not really make sense especially when you look at the number of students the school is hoping to have. And they would be housed ONLY in modulars on the church lawn (a plan the church is not even aware about)? Hmmm...I have to agree with the Superintendent when he says that this charter school would not provide any alternatives to education and programs at Valpo schools (and Duneland schools for that matter too).

The church's (or "potential landlord's") response: Local church says it was 'blindsided' by charter school proposal

[Northwest Indiana]

Well, that was quick! UPDATE: Proposed charter school in Porter County axed

But we know there will be many more proposals...this is just the beginning.

[rrah]

You can bet there will be more proposals. I suspect most Hoosiers don't know the ins and outs of how charter schools can be approved in this state.

It's not only the state charter school board that issues the charters. Charter schools can receive their charter from several religiously affiliated colleges across the state. Those colleges receive 3% of the funding for "supervising" the school. Huge conflict of interest. The meetings held to approve the charters are not required to be open to the public. Essentially a religious organization has the authority to determine how taxpayer funds are used with no open meetings and minimal public input. It's really taxation without representation at work and a mix of church and state.

We now have 2 charter schools in Monroe County. The 2 public school districts in this county regularly do well and above average on state testing measures. It's absolutely not the case that they are offering an alternative to poorly performing schools.

The charter school that opened this month "used" the system to get it's charter. It was denied by the state charter school board at least once. The second or third time it went to the state charter school board, the school founders pulled the application the day before it was to go before the board. It was likely to be denied again.

This particular charter board is made up of several members associated with a church in the area. It was basing it's charter on a curriculum recommended by a religious college in Michigan. This religious institution is guiding the school.

The charter school board finally went to a small, instate, religious college to get the charter granted. It was the same proposal that the state board denied. It was no surprise to anyone that the religious college ignored public input and granted the charter. Taxpayers in Monroe County are now paying for about 100 kids to get a religious education. The headmaster is a graduate of another religious college. By the way, the school claimed they would have 300 or more students the first year.

This entire system for granting charters in this state is a way around the separation of church and state and giving taxpayers representation.

I just read part of the article above. Coincidentally the school that opened in Monroe County this month is also a "Classical" school. I could go on about this and the backwards model of a classical education as put into practice here. It's emphasis on "morality" is code for religion.

[rrah]

Based on this article, this is EXACTLY the same set of colleges I referred to in the above post. Hillsdale College in Michigan and Grace College in Indiana. The scenario is very similar.

State taxpayers really need to be aware this is happening and that this process was approved by the current governor and state legislators and Senators.

Here is the article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburb...911-story.html

[svillechris]

Great posts, rrah. The whole charter school scheme is infiltrated with conflicts of interest, corruption, non-separation of church and state, and taxation without representation. Not to mention, it's unconstitutional to use public taxpayer money to fund private education. But somehow, Indiana Supreme Court found this use of public taxpayer dollars for private education (also including the topic of vouchers) to not be unconstitutional. Oh wait, perhaps it's because three of the five Justices on the Supreme Court were nominated by Mitch Daniels, and a fourth nominated by Mike Pence... two of the top three biggest proponents of the charter school initiative, behind only Tony Bennett, who was ousted as Indiana's Superintendent of Schools and had moved on to Florida to pull the same type of wool over the public's eyes... only to step down a year later in 2013 amidst more controversy of corruption.

[rrah]

Thanks Svillechris. I just wish more voters were aware of the facts regarding charters in the state. Unless one is proposed in an area most voters think it's just fine....