17 charter schools could face failing label or possible closure

The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools wants to hold charter schools accountable for their academic performance. Up to now, the board has only been able to penalize the schools or force them to close for business reasons.

Wednesday's vote added academic performance to charter schools' periodic reviews, and later this year the board will spell out how it will deal with failing schools.

The first set of failing schools is expected in October, when the state releases its next set of labels and some charter schools receive "underperforming" three years in a row, which constitutes "failing."

The board's move is part of an effort to toughen and enforce standards for Arizona's 516 charter schools, whose students tend to score lower on Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards test.

In spring 2005, only 36 percent of charter-school sophomores passed the AIMS math test compared with 73 percent at traditional schools.

The charter-school movement has been criticized nationally for not closing enough low-performing schools.

Advocates hope that tougher sanctions in Arizona will reassure parents and boost the schools' reputation, though some charters are top performers.

The changes are being driven in large part by state law, which requires the charter board to either close failing schools or restore them to acceptable performance. But the options for dealing with failing charter schools are different than those for traditional public ones.

When a traditional school is rated failing, the state can remove its principal and take over the school.

With charter schools, the state cannot oust a principal or take over the school, but now it can close the school for failing academically.

Charter Board President Kimberly Contreras-Mosher predicts the board will close some schools for academic reasons, with the earliest ones to consider in December.

But a failing school won't automatically be shut. The board likely will consider other factors, such as whether the school followed an improvement plan and how much progress individual students made.