More schools convert to charters as California education funds dip

Associated Press:

More traditional neighborhood schools are looking to operate as charters because they can get huge increases in funding as well as flexibility in how they use it.

The latest example is El Camino Real High School, one of Los Angeles Unified School District's star schools.

Although conversions are holding steady at about 10 percent of new charters nationally, in California they're on the rise. Long a forerunner in the charter school movement, the Golden State saw a jump in the number of conversions from six in 2009 to 16 in 2010, according to the California Charter School Association.

It's a troubling pattern for school districts -- every student enrolled in a charter means a funding loss, and defections of their own schools and principals are a blow to district esteem.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at February 21, 2011 1:01 AM
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