Fifth time’s a charm: BESE ok’s Red River Charter

After years of being told they meet all educational criteria, only to be told “No,” Red River Charter Academy finally heard “Yes” to their request to open a state-chartered middle school in Avoyelles Parish.

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted 7-4 to grant RRCA’s application to open an independent public charter school for the 2019-20 school year.

RRCA took two busloads of supporters to BESE’s School Innovations and Turnaround Committee meeting, where the vote on the charter application occurred. The crowd erupted into cheers when the charter vote was taken.

Avoyelles Parish already has two charter high schools. RRCA will be the third, as it will start with grades 6-8 and add a high school grade each year until it is a grade 6-12 high school.

Avoyelles Public Charter is an independent charter school. Louisiana School for Agricultural Science (LaSAS) is a charter school within the public school system.

RRCA officials have said they wanted to be a Type 1 charter school under the auspices of the local School Board rather than an independent charter, and still hold out that option if the School Board that takes office in January is willing to negotiate with them to convert the school from a Type 2 to Type 1 charter.

RRCA COMMENTS

“We hope this brings a school of choice to our students,” RRCA Executive Director Stephanie Moreau said, “one that will tap into STEM education, character development and just one that our community can be very proud of.”

Stanley Celestine Jr. was at the BESE meeting and can view the news from three perspectives -- an Avoyelles School Board member, a RRCA Board member and a charter school graduate.

The 19-year-old was elected to the Avoyelles School Board District 5 seat on Nov. 6 and will take office in January. He graduated from LaSAS, a charter school within the local public school district.

His position on the RRCA Board means he cannot vote on anything dealing with RRCA due to an obvious conflict of interest.

District 9 Board member- elect Aimee Bordelon Dupuy also serves on the RRCA Board.

“I think it was a smart decision by BESE,” Celestine said. “It was a very hard decision for some of the BESE members to make, but at the end of the day it was a decision made for the kids.”

CONVERT TO TYPE 1?

Several BESE members urged the new school to continue to work with the local School Board to make Red River a Type 1 charter school within the local school district.

Despite some harsh words exchanged between RRCA and APSD partisans in the past, officials of RRCA are still willing to mend fences and join the public school district “as long as it does not interfere with our mission and vision,” RRCA Board Treasurer Pat Ours said.

“We are not taking anything off the table,” Ours continued, “but we are moving forward. If the School Board wants to consider approving us as a Type 1 charter in January or some time thereafter, they will need to enter into negotiations with the RRCA Board.”

Ours said the School Board can “at any given point seek to take us under their wing -- but now we will have the position of strength. We will be opening with the board’s blessing or without it.”

Celestine said RRCA had wanted to be a Type 1 charter under the local School Board, but was repeatedly denied. Now that it has been approved to be a Type 2 charter it can open as an independent public school without the board’s approval.

“What is more important is not so much the type of charter school -- Type 1 or Type 2 -- but the ability to have a quality educational option available to parents to choose,” Celestine said.

He said he hopes that now that the charter has been approved, “the tone and attitude of the School Board will change from being ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ to ‘We.’ We need to work together for the education of all children.”

RRCA Board President Jessica Couvillion echoed those sentiments, saying, “We want to impact all children in Avoyelles Parish, not just the ones in our doors, and we are going to continue to find that meaningful conversation” with the School Board.

School Board member Chris LaCour -- one of only two incumbents re-elected to the nine-member board in this past elections -- said “with the new board, there is a definite chance we may consider” asking RRCA to become a Type 1 charter.

“Any way it goes -- Type 1 or Type 2 -- we stand to lose,” LaCour said. “The question to answer is ‘Which way do we stand to lose the least?’

“I am open to any discussions on that issue,” he continued.

APSD CONCERNS

APSD Superintendent Blaine Dauzat chose to make no comments on the RRCA approval.

Dauzat and APSB members have said in the past that “drastic actions” would be required if Red River was approved due to the loss of state Minimum Foundation Program funds, which are allocated on a per-pupil basis.

Avoyelles Parish School Board member Van Kojis -- the other returning member -- told BESE “the district would possibly have to close schools and cut teachers,” if RRCA were allowed to open.

The school system anticipates the loss of over 150 students in grades 6-8 in RRCA’s first year. That loss would increase each year as two classes per grade are added.

“We stand to lose approximately $1 million in funding the first year,” Kojis said. "If they reach their maximum student count, we will have an annual lost revenue of approximately $3 million.”

Kojis said under those figures, “I can almost guarantee we would have to close one school. After three years, we might have to close a second one.

“It will be extremely difficult for this school district to sustain the loss of $1-3 million a year in state funds when we are already 69th out of 69 public school districts in the state -- dead last -- in funding per student,” he added.

RRCA officials have said the loss will be less significant than APSD officials fear, noting the district will not have the cost of educating the charter school’s students.

They have also presented a “lost sheep” argument. They contend some RRCA students will come from non-public schools and students illegally attending schools in neighboring parishes to avoid attending the local public school.

APSD has responded that a large percentage of RRCA students would otherwise have been in one of the 10 public schools.

As a grade 6-8 school, it will effect the six elementaries by taking some 6th graders.

Kojis said if RRCA opens as a Type 2 charter, “I want to be sure they follow the same rules and state laws we have to.”

He also wants BESE to insist on receiving a written report from the charter school to ensure it is following conditions in its charter, including a “blind lottery” for enrollment and meeting certain enrollment demographics.