No action on charter schools bill

LINCOLN — Charter schools in most states are urban creations, set up to provide options for students from inner-city areas and offer choices to all students within large districts.

A charter school bill introduced by State Sen. LeRoy Louden of Ellsworth would make Nebraska unique.
It would allow for the creation of charter schools in rural arease to serve children who might otherwise be spending hours each day on a bus.

The schools would be similar to the state's former elementary-only Class I school districts, which were dissolved in 2006.

Legislative Bill 1028 would allow small groups of families to create charter schools, which would be limited to preschool through grade 8.

The schools would have to have at least five students and be at least seven miles from another elementary school.

The schools would receive the amount of funds the local district spends per student, plus transportation costs.

At a public hearing Tuesday, Louden said people in sparsely populated parts of the state have been frustrated with the continued closure of former Class 1 buildings.

The closures are forcing children to travel long distances for school.

“What are we getting for the money we're spending for education?” he asked. “Are we getting education or are we getting bus drivers?”

Kristen Eggerling, speaking for the Nebraska Cattlemen, supported the bill. She said the distance to schools in some areas makes it hard to hire ranch help.

But Sen. Ken Haar of Malcolm questioned the need for the bill when local boards make decisions about closing schools.

“It just sounds like there's a group of people that don't agree with the decision to close,” he said.
Other speakers at the hearing opposed the proposal or took a neutral position.

Rhonda Stuberg of Omaha, a longtime proponent of charter schools, took a neutral position because the proposal would do nothing to help urban areas. She urged lawmakers to consider more traditional charter school ideas.

Susan Darst Williams, an Omaha parent, also talked about the opportunities that traditional charter schools could provide, such as a phonics-only curriculum for early grades or a specialty high school focused on performing arts.

Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha said those kinds of programs could be created now, without new legislation. Setting up focus and magnet schools is part of the dream for the Omaha-area learning community, he said.
As written, LB 1028 would take money from existing public schools for the new charter schools, said Brian Halstead with the Nebraska Department of Education.

The result would be increased education costs because expenses would be unlikely to decrease at the existing public school with the loss of a small number of students, according to an analysis by the legislative fiscal staff.

The Education Committee took no immediate action on the bill.

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