Latest news with #charterschools
CBS News
3 days ago
- General
- CBS News
DeSantis signs bill expanding cellphone restrictions in Florida schools
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a bill that will expand a restriction on cellphone use in Florida schools. The bill (HB 1105), which was approved by the legislature on May 2, revises the law that has prevented students from using cellphones during instructional time. The bill will prohibit cellphone use throughout the school day in elementary and middle schools. It also will create a pilot program in six counties that will prevent cellphone use in high schools throughout the school day. Charter school funding and conversion changes The House voted 85-14 to pass the bill, which includes a series of education issues, while the Senate approved it in a 26-5 vote. The bill also will make changes that could help charter schools. For instance, it will require that charter schools get a cut if school districts receive sales-tax money through what is known as a local-government infrastructure surtax. Charter schools would receive proportionate shares based on school enrollment. Also, the bill will make it easier to convert traditional public schools to charter schools. Currently, such conversions must receive support from a majority of parents and a majority of teachers. The bill, which will take effect July 1, removes the requirement for teacher support.
CBS News
3 days ago
- General
- CBS News
DeSantis signs bill enhancing charter school autonomy in Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a measure that will make a series of changes related to charter schools, including allowing charter schools to have stricter codes of conduct than traditional public schools. The code-of-conduct change drew debate before the House voted 86-25 on May 1 to pass the bill (HB 443). Opponents argued that charter schools could use stricter codes of conduct to exclude some students and said the codes could include issues such as hairstyles. Expanded enrollment and governance changes Rep. Alex Rizo, a Hialeah Republican who helped sponsor the bill, said it would allow parents to choose "something a bit more stringent" than traditional public schools and said many schools already have standards such as dress codes. Charter schools are public schools but are typically run by private operators and are generally not bound by the same regulations as traditional schools. Among other things, the bill will allow charter schools to increase enrollment to more than what was initially approved, though they could not exceed the capacities of their facilities. It also will seek to prevent charter-school landlords or their spouses from serving on charter-school governing boards. The bill, which was approved by the Senate in a 30-7 vote, will take effect July 1.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Supreme Court to weigh nation's first religious charter school: What's at stake in blockbuster case?
WASHINGTON − The Supreme Court on Wednesday will consider whether the Catholic Church in Oklahoma can run the nation's first religious charter school, a potentially major expansion of the use of taxpayer money for religious education. The court's decision is expected to turn on whether charter schools – which are publicly funded but have private operators – are public schools under the law. If they are, religious charter schools could violate the Constitution's prohibition on the government backing a religion. If they're not, prohibiting the church from participating in the state's charter school program could be discrimination under the Constitution's promise that Americans can practice religion freely. In recent cases where those dual aspects of the First Amendment have been in tension, the Supreme Court came down on the side of protecting religious exercise, blurring the line separating church and state. Here's what you need to know about one of the most high-profile cases the court is deciding this term. More: Supreme Court hears arguments on blockbuster religious charter school case: live updates Charter schools are tuition-free schools funded through taxpayer dollars but run independently of local school boards. They have more flexibility in how they operate than traditional schools. Oklahoma's 30 charter schools educated about 7% of the state's public-school students during the 2022-2023 school year. Nationally, there are more than 8,000 charter schools serving nearly 3.8 million students, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Yes. In 2002, the Supreme Court said taxpayer dollars could be used to help parents pay for tuition at private religious schools. One of the justices who dissented in that 5-4 decision, now-retired Justice David Souter, called the scale of public assistance to religious schools approved by the court 'unprecedented.' And vouchers cover only a portion of the cost of a private school. Oklahoma provides vouchers up to $7,500 for parents to send their children to private schools of their choice, including religious ones. More: Will claims of anti-Catholic bias prove pivotal in blockbuster Supreme Court case? In a trio of cases since 2017, the court has allowed taxpayer funds to flow to religious organizations. Most recently, the court said Maine couldn't exclude religious schools from an indirect aid program based on the schools' religious use of the funds. "The state pays tuition for certain students at private schools – so long as the schools are not religious," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in 2022 for the 6-3 majority of conservative justices. "That is discrimination against religion." In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the court was continuing 'to dismantle the wall of separation between church and state that the framers fought to build. She expressed 'growing concern for where this court will lead us next.' The Catholic Church's two diocese in Oklahoma formed a nonprofit corporation called St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School, Inc. In 2023, the nonprofit applied to participate in Oklahoma's charter school program. The school projected an initial enrollment of 500 students. More: Pride puppies and a charter school: a look at the blockbuster religion cases at the Supreme Court The K-12 school would be open to all Oklahomans who want a 'robust Catholic education' that includes teaching 'Catholic faith and morals.' Students would be required to attend two all-school masses, though exemptions are available. The state's governing body for charter schools voted 3-2 to approve the church's application. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond sued the governing body, arguing the charter school board's contract with the church's nonprofit corporation was illegal. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled 6-2 last year that charter schools are public schools and state law requires public education to be secular. The court also said a Catholic charter school would violate the federal Constitution's clause aimed at keeping religion separate from government. Dig deeper Will claims of anti-Catholic bias prove pivotal in blockbuster Supreme Court case? Both the state's charter school board and the nonprofit created by the Catholic dioceses asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in. The court consolidated the two appeals into one case although both the school board and the school are represented by different attorneys who will each get to speak during the oral arguments. Oklahoma's governor and attorney general – both Republicans – are on opposite sides of the issue. Drummond, the attorney general, has said allowing the Catholic charter school would 'open the floodgates and force taxpayers to fund all manner of religious indoctrination, including radical Islam or even the Church of Satan.' Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has criticized what he says is Drummond's 'open hostility against religion.' Under the Trump administration, the Justice Department changed its position that charter schools act like government entities. The court granted Trump's solicitor general time during the oral arguments to make its case that Oklahoma can't bar religious charter schools. The court is deciding whether the state's charter schools are 'public,' which would allow the state to say they can't be religious. They are also deciding whether Oklahoma can reject religious charter schools without violating American's constitutional right to practice their religion. The church and the Oklahoma governing body that backed their proposed virtual charter school argue that charter schools aren't 'public,' because that terms applies only to the fact that charter schools are free to students and funded through taxpayer dollars. Charter schools retain enough independence from the state to keep it from being a government entity, they say. And once the state allowed private entities to operate charter schools, blocking the Catholic Church from doing so would unconstitutionally discriminate against religion. Because no student has to attend the school, the government is not imposing religion on anyone, they argue. Drummond, the Oklahoma attorney general, says charter schools are public in any ordinary sense of the word. They are created and funded by the state, are heavily regulated by the state, have to follow anti-discrimination laws, are free and open to all students and their teachers can join state retirement and insurance plans. That's why 46 states, including Oklahoma, and the federal government define charter schools as public schools, Drummond says. If Oklahoma's requirement that charter schools be both public and nonsectarian is unconstitutional, he argues, then so are everyone else's – a result that would create 'chaos and confusion for millions of charter-school students.' The Oklahoma attorney general, says the nation's founders were justifiably concerned about the government giving an official stamp of approval to religion. And keeping religious instruction out of public schools – a uniquely influential environment − helps promote tolerance for different political and religious views, Drummond argues. St. Isidore and the charter school board say opening up the program to religious schools will expand educational choices, especially for low-income families. If the Supreme Court sides with St. Isidore, thousands of Catholic and other religious schools across the nation could transform into charter schools, according to Michael Petrilli, the president of the Fordham Institute, a right-leaning think tank. How many convert, however, will depend in part on what rules they would have to follow, such as whether they could exclude LGBTQ+ students or staff. 'The Court − if it finds that states must allow religious schools − will need to spell all this out,' Petrilli wrote. 'If not, these questions are likely to be litigated for years to come.' The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools sees the case as an 'existential threat not just to the fabric of public charter schools, but to their continued existence.' If charter schools are considered private, not public, that would jeopardize the funding of charter schools in states that ban public funding for private schools, they told the Supreme Court in a filing. 'Unable or unwilling to sponsor private charter schools, some states may decide to place charter schools under the type of uniform, top-down oversight that stifled public school innovation in the first place,' the association wrote. Because Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case, a 4-4 deadlock is possible. That would mean the state supreme court's decision rejecting religious charter schools would remain. Barrett did not give a reason for her recusal. But she's close friends with the Notre Dame Law School professor who was an early legal adviser to St. Isidore. Pride puppies and a charter school A look at the blockbuster religion cases at the Supreme Court A decision is expected by summer. The court is also deciding whether parents with religious objections can request that their children be excused from class when books with LGBTQ+ characters are being used. And they're deciding whether a Wisconsin Catholic charitable organization should be exempt from state unemployment taxes. During both oral arguments, the court appeared likely to side with the religious groups. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What to know about Supreme Court case on religious charter schools
ABC News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
New Zealand and the US debate the question: Should public money fund charter schools?
New charter schools are opening in New Zealand as the United States faces a pivotal Supreme Court decision over one in a case that is threatening the separation of church and state in American education. Over two years, the New Zealand government will spend nearly $140 million on charter schools — a type of school that is not required to adhere to the national curriculum. In a policy that scholars said echoed education models in the US and the United Kingdom, the coalition government pledged to open 15 new charter schools while also converting 35 existing state schools into so-called charters. Now the first batch is in operation, with another school set to come online in July, and New Zealand is getting a sense of just how much demand there is for this style of education. Charter schools are owned and run privately but are paid for with public funds. They don't charge fees, so theoretically they offer families a choice over where to send their children to school without incurring any cost. Their critics say they splinter already inadequate education budgets, are not proven to improve results and ultimately become expensive distractions. Their proponents, like incoming New Zealand deputy prime minister David Seymour, say charter schools offer a chance for educators to break free of bureaucracy and innovate their way to academic success, and they "have clear performance requirements, which state schools don't". Across the world, charter schools are a policy of classic liberalism. Just as these movements push for a free market, they argue that in education there should also be choice and that by letting private groups run schools with more flexibility, results will improve because competition demands it. "But education doesn't work in the same way that selling cars works," professor of education at the University of Southern Queensland and expert in the democratisation of schooling systems Stewart Riddle said. In the United States, charter schools are set up as alternatives to traditional public schools. The belief system that underpins these schools is that government should fund education, but not control it. "They have, as the name suggests, a charter — a particular kind of promise that they make as a school," Dr Riddle said. "You might have a charter school that is built for students who have an interest in the creative arts or the performing arts. "What's tended to happen in the US is they get driven by groups that have religious and other kinds of beliefs and so they want to have control over curriculum." Now, the Supreme Court of the United States is set to rule on a case involving a charter school in Oklahoma and the result could change the nature of public education in the country and reinterpret the First Amendment. Charter schools are run as private organisations, are funded by the state on a per child basis and therefore do not charge families tuition for enrolment. These schools give families a private school choice, without private school fees. Australia has resisted going down the charter school path, instead educating most children in public, private or independent schools. All schools receive public funding, but to be a registered school in Australia, you have to follow the national curriculum until senior years, even if the way you teach that material varies. Recently, Mr Seymour announced a new charter school called Twin Oaks Classical School will open in Auckland in July. "Students attending Twin Oaks Classical School will spend the first three days of the week at school and the last two days learning from home. The school will train and support parents and provide clear expectations for work that students complete at home. This partnership approach is based on the classical Charlotte Mason approach," he said. The Charlotte Mason method is one adopted by Christian homeschooling families, and takes a very traditional view of gender roles, morality and spirituality, according to Dr Riddle. Other charter schools in New Zealand have different areas of focus, including models dedicated to at-risk students who are disengaged from mainstream schooling, Māori immersion schools, a creative arts college and a French school. New Zealand's Charter School Agency says the schools "have considerable flexibility around teaching and curriculum" as long as they deliver results according to their agreed-upon charter. New Zealand has had charter schools before, but the model was scrapped under Jacinda Ardern's first government. And former prime minister and now Opposition Leader Chris Hipkins has said the same would happen again if Labour was returned to power. Across the political spectrum and within the sector, there's acknowledgement that New Zealand's education system is in crisis, but there is not a consensus on how much help charter schools will be. "What we're doing is setting up a parallel, very expensive system, that's not evidence-based and that's costing a lot of money and that is money that is not available to the public system to use," senior lecturer in education at the University of Auckland Dr Jude MacArthur said. Mr Seymour told the ABC "the money that is put into the education budget doesn't belong to unions or the state schooling system – it belongs to the students". "What I find bizarre is that some people seem to think that just because a student is better off in a different school they don't deserve to have their education funded like any state school student," he said in a statement. Mr Seymour has argued the charter schools will specifically address needs of neurodivergent students. He pointed to new charter Mastery School in Christchurch, saying "it provides another option for students who were disengaged from the state system, particularly neurodiverse students, and the results speak for themselves with vastly superior reading, mathematics and spelling achievement". Dr MacArthur said state schools faced similar challenges, but for years had been asking for more resources to overcome them. "One of the charter schools has one teacher and three teacher aides to every classroom," she said. "If the charter school is saying that's what's needed to support these students, then why are we not putting that money into a public system where we know these children and young people are?" In the latest New Zealand budget released on Thursday, the government has allocated new spending and "re-prioritised" funds to boost learning support services in schools by nearly $600 million over the next four years. It's a massive shift and one the government is calling: "The largest boost to learning support in a generation." The budget papers noted some savings were made when money provisionally set aside for state schools to convert to charter schools in 2024/25 were not required "as no state schools converted in this period". Dr Riddle said, looking at the United States where charter schools have been part of the education system for decades, the results were mixed. "The argument becomes, 'OK, these struggling public schools, let's turn them into charter schools because private business is allegedly more efficient than government' — that's the usual argument for privatisation," he said. "But then what has happened in the US, is where they've had situations where charter schools have not performed, they've simply closed them down." In 2023, when New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was negotiating to form government, he struck coalition deals with the ACT Party and New Zealand First. In those negotiations, ACT Party leader David Seymour won his charter school policy, just as he won support to draft and table the Treaty Principles Bill and the Regulatory Standards Bill. It was also the ACT Party who won the right to launch charter schools in New Zealand the first time around — that time in a confidence and supply agreement with John Key's National government. Messaging from Mr Seymour and New Zealand's Charter School Agency is that this renewed leap into the charter school model will provide parents with choice and schools with the space to be innovative. "A one-size-fits-all education system is not working for everyone, and families paying their taxes deserve more educational choice for their children," Mr Seymour told the ABC in a statement. Dr MacArthur questions that logic. "Parents have enormous an amount of choice in our ... school system. They can choose public, or private, or they can choose state-integrated special character schools they can choose kura kaupapa Māori schools and so on. There is a big range of choice here," she said. "Also we don't have a problem in our public education system when it comes to innovation. Our schools are incredibly innovative under our own New Zealand curriculum." Charter schools most often come to the fore as a policy when conservative governments are in power, according to Dr Riddle. "At the end of the day what they're doing is moving responsibility for what's effectively public education away from the public and into the market." As New Zealand goes back and forth on charter schools, the United States is now decades down the road, with most states funding these institutions. In Oklahoma, a legal fight over a charter school now sits with the Supreme Court. It is being very closely watched because it is reckoning with the fundamental question of whether public money funding a religious school that can teach its own curriculum threatens the separation of church and state, or if not doing so would be an act of religious discrimination. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution includes this line: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The "establishment clause" restricts government officials from endorsing any particular religion or promoting religion over non-religion. The "free exercise" clause protects the free exercise of religion. And it is a charter school that has laid bare the tension between the two clauses and brought them to the bench of the Supreme Court. Two Catholic dioceses in Oklahoma have been bidding to launch the first taxpayer-funded religious charter school in the United States, but it was blocked by the state's top court. That court's reasoning was that by being publicly funded it was a government entity that could not, under the constitution, establish a religion. Now the conservative-leaning Supreme Court is deliberating over the case. "The essence of the establishment clause was, 'We're not going to pay religious leaders to teach their religion'," liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor said during arguments. Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh expressed concern that rejecting St Isidore would be religious discrimination. "When you have a program that's open to all comers, except religion, that seems like rank discrimination against religion," he said. If the Supreme Court rules the St Isidore charter school can go ahead, American public money will be spent to teach children across Oklahoma "God's orderly creation of the universe" and "the value of human life from the beginnings of a cell, conception and throughout the nine body systems", among other lessons detailed in the school's Catholic curriculum. "We will learn that the heart and brain are the first in embryonic development allowing us to know the truth and to love God as we are made in his image," the document reads. Dr Riddle said the Oklahoma case was an extreme example of where charter school models can end up. "There's this really long, robust process of figuring out what's the best curriculum for our young people," he said. ABC/Reuters
Associated Press
22-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Patricia A. Hennessy Recognized for Fifth Consecutive Year on the 2025 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers List
PHILADELPHIA, PA, UNITED STATES, May 22, 2025 / / -- Patricia A. Hennessy has been named for the fifth consecutive year to the 2025 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers list, a directory of leading attorneys who are evaluated on various measures of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process involves independent research, peer nominations, and evaluations, with only up to five percent of attorneys in each state earning a spot on the Super Lawyers list. Selections are made annually on a state-by-state basis. With over 20 years of experience advising educational institutions and corporate clients, Pat is a highly regarded education lawyer, recognized as one of the top experts in her field for her sharp intellect, strategic problem-solving skills, and ability to quickly get to the heart of complex legal issues. Pat specializes in guiding schools through all phases, from application drafting to daily operations, with expertise in areas such as school code compliance, special education, student discipline, and federal legal matters. A dedicated advocate for charter schools, she serves on the National Litigation Council for the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools and has been a long-time member of the Alliance of Public Charter School Attorneys. Additionally, Pat has contributed to private and boarding school communities as a board member of the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools and as the outgoing Chair of the Legislative Affairs Committee. On the state level, she plays an active role in shaping legislation related to the Pennsylvania School Code, education reform, school choice, and other critical issues affecting schools. About Barton Gilman Barton Gilman ( ) serves clients throughout the Northeast with offices in Boston, MA, Providence, RI, New York, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Milford, CT, and Fairfield, NJ offering legal services in over twenty-five service areas, including education law, employment, medical malpractice and aging services defense, professional liability defense, insurance coverage and bad faith litigation, product liability and general liability, business and commercial litigation, as well as immigration, family law, trusts and estates, criminal defense, corporate formation, intellectual property and real estate. Committed to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, Barton Gilman achieved Midsize Mansfield Certification Plus status in 2023. The firm and its attorneys have received numerous awards and accolades, including Best Lawyers, Best Law Firms, Best Places to Work Rhode Island, Outstanding Philanthropic Business, Common Good Award, and Super Lawyers. Melissa Maichle Barton Gilman LLP +1 7815348620 email us here Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
