Commentary – The Dais
Ann Saltzman
The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 18, 2015
Charter schools contribute enormously to quality education in Santa Fe, and yet a recent report in The New Mexican stated that “only two schools in Santa Fe earned ‘A’ ratings in the state’s school grading system.”
Charter schools in New Mexico are public schools that arise out of the needs of individual communities. They are not districts or systems, but rather distinct school communities, usually smaller than local district schools and often offering a particular educational focus sought by parents and students.
With the exception of the statewide arts charters that accept students by audition, applicants enter charter schools by lottery, meaning that no charter school can pick and choose its students or skim off the top performers.
Charter schools are under the auspices of either the Public Education Department or their local school district and are required to submit all oft eh same reports, do all the requied testing, and follow all of the same funding checks and balances as district schools. The state grade template for charter schools is the same as that for district public schools.
The Santa Fe community is enriched and blessed by the presence of six charter schools: The Academy for Technology and the Classics, Monte del Sol, The New Mexico School for the Arts, The MASTERS Program, Tierra Encantada, and Turquoise Trail Elementary. Between them, these six schools offer an intensive high school arts program, an AP-based curriculum, an arts enriched curriculum, a college campus with dual-credit courses, project-based learning and dual-language curriculum.
All emphasize more individualized attention to each student. The state grades earned by these schools are four A’s, one B, and one C. In some cases, these grades reflect huge efforts made to improve student learning and test scores.
Charter schools are under the same pressure to do better by our students as any other public school, but we feel that, with the world as it is, smaller schools with the ability to know and support each student can make a significant impact in New Mexico.
We believe our students and parents will tell you this is why they chose us. We have great respect for our administrative and teaching colleagues in all of the local district schools, but it is our belief that larger schools, where each person cannot be known and seen, often create untenable conditions that demoralize teachers and alienate students.
It is true that our governing boards, made up of local business people, parents, teachers, professors, and others, are not elected by local voters, although some of us have current parents and teachers vote on board members. Nevertheless, our boards are required to undergo hours of training each year to ensure they act within the law. As well, they are under all of the same rules of conduct as traditional school boards, including following the Open Meetings Act and all of the rules governing use of state funding.
We all know that any misuse of state funds makes the headlines, as it should, and that there are charter schools that have been in this position, as well as districts that and individual district schools. The Santa Fe charter schools are audited every year and have never had findings that indicated any misuse of funds. Your tax dollars are spent on offering the best education possible to the students we enroll.
All we ask is fair representation of who we are and what we are doing. Come visit any one of us to see for yourselves. And to our students and parents, we are so grateful for the choice you made to attend our schools. We welcome feedback from all of you as we continue to be the best we can be.