Aurora School Board's Thoughtful Leadership on Charter Schools

Tuesday night Aurora’s Board of Education demonstrated the thoughtful leadership necessary to ensure that Aurora Public Schools begin to dramatically increase student achievement. Aurora Public Schools, particularly the School Board, has a reputation for being opposed to opening and supporting charter schools. Last night, the Board proved they are increasingly agnostic about school governance models as long as they are serving Aurora students well.

In with the New Charter Schools

The questions and conversations about charter schools at the board meeting Tuesday night indicated that the district and board have been thinking about how to ensure that there is a well-defined, rigorous system for authorizing new schools in Aurora. The focus of the questions last night: how will we ensure that these schools are offering a quality education to Aurora’s kids? Director Cathy Wildman, whose ties to the teacher’s union might make her seem like an unlikely ally, demonstrated her commitment to expanding great schools, whether charter or district-run. She joined her fellow directors as they praised the strengths and probed for weaknesses in the charter applications presented to the board.

This meeting was also one of the culminating steps for charter schools hoping to open in Aurora Public Schools. School leaders submitted their applications to district staff for review in March. After review, the district makes a recommendation to the board: to approve or deny the charter application. After thorough analysis of the applications, the district’s recommendations at Tuesday’s meeting: approve three of the schools, and deny the fourth.

Out with the Failing Charter Schools

A failing school, whether district-run or charter, requires significant action. The Board unanimously voted to close Hope Online’s Aurora charter schools which has multiple campuses in the community. The decision to close a school is never an easy one, but the guiding light for school closures has to be how well schools serve kids. Hope Online was not driving academic achievement. The APS Board’s decision to remove Hope from APS indicates that they are willing to take action when a school proves it is failing kids.

As Superintendent Munn wrote in an email to APS Staff: “In my experience, there are few topics in public education today that evoke more emotion than charter schools. Some believe that charter schools are a destructive force in public education, others believe that charter schools are “the answer” for school performance and reform. In APS, we have rejected the ideological extremes of these positions.” The Board affirmed this understanding of the role of charter schools: while they may not be an answer in and of themselves, high-quality charter schools can be part of an effort to improve the public education being offered in Aurora.

APS, like A+ Colorado, has affirmed that they are in favor of high-quality schools, be they district-run, innovation, or charter. Focusing on quality over ideological commitment to a particular public school governance model will support APS as it navigates school/district turnaround and accountability. Change is coming to APS, and that is great to see.