Charter Autonomy at Stake: OSSE on the Loose

Friends of Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS) is now the DC Charter School Alliance!

Please visit www.dccharters.org to learn about our new organization and to see the latest news and information related to DC charter schools.

The FOCUS DC website is online to see historic information, but is not actively updated.

Submitted by Anonymous on

By Lauren Outlaw

 

Since the creation of the Office of the State Superintendent (OSSE) in 2007, FOCUS has been engaged in a never-ending battle with OSSE to protect charter school’s autonomy.  The School Reform Act leaves financial, administrative, personnel, and curriculum matters to the exclusive control of the charter school.  Moreover, the SRA also exempts charter schools from laws, statutes, and regulations created by the OSSE, DME, DC Council, Mayor or the SBOE for the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS).  Despite these legal mandates, however, the OSSE continuously proposes new requirements and regulations that purport to apply to charter schools, encroach on the autonomy that is vital to charter schools’ success and are often duplicative of PCSB efforts.

 

Most recently, these encroachments have manifest in a Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS) for pre-schools; a kindergarten entrance assessment (KEA); new graduation requirements; and student discipline and compulsory attendance/truancy proposed regulations.

 

FOCUS does not dispute the need for state standards on these important school issues, but they should be standards and not regulations.  Standards function as guidelines and can help schools create their own, individualized school policies. The OSSE cannot mandate that charter schools adopt any policy, and lacks the authority to do so, as enforcement power over the charter schools lies with the PCSB. OSSE should therefore not try to establish a direct reporting relationship with individual LEAs, but rather work collaboratively with the PCSB on these issues.

 

So, when does it stop? We don’t know.  This week we were able to get the State Board of Education to hold off on a final vote on the compulsory attendance regulations to allow for additional public comment, and hopefully this is a good start. FOCUS will continue monitoring OSSE’s actions, paying special attention to proposed regulations that could potentially infringe upon charter autonomy, and keep the charter schools apprised of the OSSE’s goings on.