Charter Schools asks parents for $1200 "donation"

[Deleted]

Written by

Lisa Fingeroot

The Tennessean

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News
News Education





www.tennessean.com/article/20120911/NEWS04/309110022/Great-Hearts-leader-says-1-200-donation-from-parents-optional-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE&nclick_check=1


A controversial charter school expected to be approved tonight by the Metro Nashville school board asks families in its Arizona schools to ante up a $1,200 gift, a separate $200 tax credit contribution, and a few hundred dollars in book and classroom fees.

However, a Great Hearts Academies official says the schools are free and that even the book fees will be waived if necessary.

“It is 100 percent clear to everyone in our schools that those are optional contributions,” said Peter Bezanson, president of Great Hearts Tennessee, the nonprofit management company set up for the five schools Great Hearts hopes to open in Nashville.

Great Hearts’ requests for parent donations in Arizona are larger than those typically seen in Nashville public or charter schools.

For example, Julia Green Elementary PTO asks for a $300 donation and J.T. Moore Middle asks for $250, parent volunteers said. Meigs Middle, which is conducting a technology campaign, asks for $5 to $500, depending on what parents feel they can afford.

LEAD Academy, a charter school with a campus near Great Hearts’ target area in West Nashville, notes on its website that “we must raise an additional $1,500 per student” to supplement the public funding the school receives, but LEAD doesn’t explicitly request that amount from parents as Great Hearts does.

LEAD is always on the lookout for donors and constantly applies for grants, said Shaka Mitchell, director of external affairs. The school also has an annual breakfast to raise money for students to visit colleges.

Charter schools in Tennessee don’t usually ask for donations from attending families because the population has been traditionally from lower socioeconomic groups, said Rebecca A. Lieberman, chief talent strategy officer at the Tennessee Charter School Incubator. But they do ask for donations from others and participate in fundraising, she added.

The proposed Great Hearts charter became controversial mostly because of the wealth associated with its supporters and the affluence of the mostly white West Nashville area where it plans to locate.

The Metro school board has twice denied the proposed school and even refused to bow to state pressure last month, postponing a vote on Great Hearts because members were not convinced the charter was dedicated to diversity. The board had been ordered by the state to approve the charter after Great Hearts appealed its denial.

Great Hearts officials have promised to market to families in other areas of the city and to supply some transportation for poor children.

Books loaned if students can't pay

The Great Hearts schools in Arizona ask every parent to participate in two fundraising campaigns. Parents are asked to make a one-time, $1,200 donation — which can be paid in monthly installments during a school year — and a $200 gift that allows the donor to receive a dollar-for-dollar Arizona tax credit. One Great Hearts school requests a $1,500 contribution.

The only mandatory fee is a refundable deposit of $35 per textbook, Bezanson said. If a parent cannot afford it, the fee can be waived without a lot of paperwork, he added.

The websites show different requirements, though. They say parents must submit a $25 application to an outside party along with tax documents. That company will determine whether parents are eligible for a waiver.

The schools also ask students to purchase other books for reading the classics of the Western canon that are so much a part of the curriculum, but Bezanson said schools will loan those books to students if needed.

Class fees of $120 are required for workbooks, student planners, assemblies, field days and ceremonies, according to at least one of the school’s websites, but again Bezanson said the fees are not required.

Great Hearts, like any other school, wants everyone to participate, he added.

“We never send anyone away,” he said. “We have never turned anyone away for not paying.”

[pixy0stix]

At what point do they stop being a charter school and become a private school? (Rhetorical question.) This is ridiculous.

[Deleted]

Sept 11, 2012 7:43:33 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

At what point do they stop being a charter school and become a private school? (Rhetorical question.) This is ridiculous.

that's what I thought too....

I have issues with charters. I have a few friends who really want this school to start in town so they can send their kids there instead of the public schools. This charter school seems to be really popular with upper middle class whites who live in the city and aren't quite rich enough to send multiple kids to private schools costin $20k yet don't want them to attend the public schools that have a bad rap.

I think even suggesting that parents "donate" close to $2k/year will turn away a lot of low income families from even applying.

[SusanBAnthony]

Septimus, ditto times a million on the white people living in the city.

MPLS has a ton of them, and if we had stayed there, there were a few we would have seriously considered. But we had the option of our local public school as backup, we weren't living in a crap district with no good choices. The one we most strongly considered pulled from our nicer suburb as well as the city to try to get a diverse group of kids (race and economically) which I loved bc our suburb was Whitey McWhite.

I understand that districts are pinched and are faced with either canceling stuff like sports, or charging. And I know they susually say that if you can't afford it, you don't have to pay. But I am sure families feel like they have no choice. The whole thing icks me out, but I don't have a better solution.

[Deleted]

It's not just a charter school issue though. The public school in my (semi-gated) community is not charter but is insane about fund raising. And the parent threw a fit when the city suggested students from neighboring communities might attend.

The fundraising is great. But when there is fundraising and a belief that "other" students can't attend (either students who live in other areas, or who aren't accepted at the charter school) it is really screwed up.

[Deleted]

What makes it more ridiculous is that it is a for-profit charter school asking for the $1200 donation.

[basilosaurus]

But, septimus, the public schools in your area are practically private schools they're so full of rich kids. Or has that changed since the late 90s when the people I knew went?

[Deleted]

Sept 11, 2012 15:59:13 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

But, septimus, the public schools in your area are practically private schools they're so full of rich kids. Or has that changed since the late 90s when the people I knew went?

My county schools are good but this charter is in metro schools