More than 300 at Providence meeting on Achievement First expansion

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -  Two sides of a highly polarized debate on charter schools were on display last night as more than 300 parents, educators and elected officials jammed the Providence Public Library to weigh-in on the proposed expansion of Achievement First charter school.

Achievement First, which operates two elementary schools in Providence, wants to add more than 2,300 students in grades kindergarten through 12, a process that requires approval from the state and the mayors of the sending districts.

The mayors of Cranston and Warwick have already stated their opposition, although the vast majority of children come from Providence. Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, who spoke Wednesday, is awaiting the fiscal impact analysis on the district schools before making a decision on the larger expansion.     

In the second and last public hearing, parents, many of them the sons and daughters of immigrants, described how Achievement First has put their children on a college trajectory. They talked about the schools' sense of community and its commitment to expecting the most of all of its students, regardless of their backgrounds.

"Some people have spoken out against Achievement First," said Santiago Reyes, an eight-year-old student. "But I learned multiplication and long division and now I'm an advanced math student. My goal is to go to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

His mother, Diana Ferreira, a Colombian immigrant, said as soon as she visited Achievement First, she knew it was a place "where my child would excel."

Critics, including many Providence public school teachers, mounted the classic arguments against network charter schools: that they cream the best students from the district public schools and that they draw precious dollars away from the school district.

Others argued that if Achievement First grows to more than 3,000 students, it will create a parallel public school system that will leave the district schools withering on the vine. Under Rhode Island law, the per pupil spending follows the child from the district school to the charter. Starting this year, however, districts can withhold a percentage of what would otherwise go to charter schools.

District school teachers described their challenges: working with students who have changed schools multiple times. The public schools, they said, have to take all comers. Their schools have more students with special needs, more who are learning English.

Jeremy Sensor, a Providence school teacher, claimed that when charter school students return to district schools, the per pupil expenditure isn't always returned to the district school.

"If that's not theft," he said, "then what is?"

Mark Santo, a parent and member of the Providence School Board, said his opposition to the AF expansion is not ideological, adding that his children attended a charter school.

"Whatever benefits 2,000 kids comes at the expense of the 20,000" who attend the district schools, he said. "The fiscal impacts would be irreparable and devastating. This is a high-risk experiment with our own children. It defies common sense to build a second, parallel school system."  

When one Providence parent argued that Achievement First, which also operates schools in New Haven and New York City, has a history of imposing harsh disciplinary measures for minor infractions like an untied shoelace, many parents in the audience yelled, "lies, lies!"

The Rhode Island Council on Elementary and Secondary Education is expected to discuss this issue on Dec. 6 with a final decision on or by Dec. 20.

Mayor Elorza said the Providence school department is working on a fiscal impact study and should have the results soon.

lborg@providencejournal.com

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