Working on the future: Quest Charter Academy

This past Tuesday night, Quest Charter Academy's Board was asking the tough questions about financial decisions and the future of the school. Apparently, when some board members questioned what happens with a loan from Board President Glen Barton, if District 150 doesn't renew Quest's five-year contract (which expires in 2015), the discussion generally skipped over some member's questions.

From October 23, 2011, pjstar.com

Quest Charter Academy Board President lends charter school $300,000

Glen Barton, who is President of the Quest Charter 
Academy Board, is a retired Chairman and CEO, 
Caterpillar Inc. and a Commissioner on the Illinois State 
Charter School Commission. (Term: 2011-2014),
is speaking to students at the first 
Quest Charter Academy Promotion ceremony.

Tuesday night, Quest Charter Academy's board of education approved a $300,000 loan from board President Glen Barton, along with a new $3.6 million budget with enough cuts to cover $200,000 in unexpected losses in general state aid. 

The loan from Barton comes in addition to a $500,000 line of credit from Peoria County. Both loans will be used for renovations on the former Loucks and Columbia School buildings. A second mortgage on the two buildings will serve as collateral for Barton's loan.

Quest board members recently purchased the two buildings for $300,000 in a complicated three-party arrangement between the board, Peoria School District 150 and Peoria County. Quest will repay the district for the buildings with money from a private donor who established a long-term annual gift to the school, which is privately managed with public funds.

Quest's first freshman class, will grow from 75 to 90 students. Board members voted to increase the class size to offset attrition that occurs in student numbers. District 150 agreed to the increase in the freshman class size. However, the District will not give Quest additional money. The 15 additional freshman students will be selected from Quest's waiting lists.

District 150 passes its per-pupil funding in general state aid to the charter school. However, when numbers drop below 75 students in a grade level, the district decreases the revenue source. The general state aid Quest will receive through District 150 will decrease by $500 a student, or $200,000 total, next year. Source

"Expect the latter."

Interestingly enough, the post from last Monday, which talked about District 150 terminating the contract with the Peoria Charter School Initiative ("PCSI" the Board for Quest Charter Academy) in 2015, continues to get loads of hits.

I originally thought the quote (shown above) about the 2015 termination of the contract was a typo, so I have been checking the on-line edition for a retraction. To date, I have yet to see a retraction on the statement.

Within the same article as the comment about ending the contract in 2015, the Superintendent of Peoria Public Schools was quoted as saying "I'm excited about the success at Quest,...it's a benefit to the district... (Quest) is expanding into high school for next year and they will continue to have district support. They are meeting the needs of the district and the community." Therein lies the contradiction.

The most recent interview the Superintendent of Peoria Public Schools gave to the local newspaper, didn't reveal any new information on the subject.

Perhaps the retraction was in the "print edition" of the local newspaper. However, I don't take the "print edition" of the local paper. So, if anybody has seen the retraction, please advise.

The final decision to deny, revoke or not renew the PCSI contract in 2015, will be made by the local school board.

Glen Barton named to State Charter School Commission

Former Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Glen Barton has been appointed to a new state commission dealing with charter schools. Barton was one of nine people selected by the Illinois Board of Education for the State Charter School Commission.

Its goal is to review charter school applications and consider them for approval or denial. This will primarily deal with appeals of charter agreements that have been denied, revoked or not renewed by local school boards.

Barton is the current President of the Quest Charter Academy Board in Peoria. The new appointment begins November 1st.Source

Will the new Superintendent support charter schools?

A recent article about the June 2010 retirement of District 150's Superintendent (Ken Hinton), got me to thinking. With the face of this community and District changing so much, what kind of attributes should the new Superintendent have? Getting some type of Community input on the hopes for the new Superintendent will go a long ways towards buy in.

To accommodate those eager for involvement and preclude unreasonable demands, the Illinois Association of School Boards suggests that "the school board should establish procedures for ascertaining the views of the community in establishing qualifications and standards for the superintendency. […] However, public discussion of what the district needs in a superintendent must come long before the pool of applicants is narrowed down to a few finalists."

A head hunter has been chosen to assist the Committee, however I have yet to see where the Community will be able to give some input on this important position. Does the 10 member Committee appointed to review potential candidates cover the Community input aspect?

The 10 member Search Committee appointed to hire the new Superintendent consists of Dr. Andy Chiou, a local physician, who considers changing Peoria a "hobby". Dr. Chiou is thoroughly excited about the possibility of charter schools. Dr. Chiou, along with Glen Barton (retired Chairman and CEO of Caterpillar, Inc.) also sit on the Governing Board of the District’s Community Foundation (Mr. Chiou is the Vice Chair). For those who are not familiar with the Community Foundation:

As you may recall, projected to open in 2010 is the Math, Science and Technology Academy (MSTA). The Academy will house 4th - 12th grade students interested in math, science and technology, with 450 students being selected using a lottery process. The MSTA is slated to cost $12 million dollars and will be a Charter School. The MSTA is to be housed at the current Adult Education Center on Moss Avenue.

The District's Community Foundation clearly has input into the hiring of the new Superintendent and have shown that they believe Peoria should be moving towards charter schools. As a result, is the 10 member Search Committee also looking for a Superintendent who will embrace charter schools, lottery systems and choice for parents? Is our community on board with school choice? Is our School Board on board with school choice? What impact will it have on the inner city? Does this explain why Edison is here to stay and why newly built schools are more like community centers? Can we afford it?

The District Community Foundation monies have been responsible for a lot of good that has happened in District 150, of course they want input. However, it is the School Board who should have final say over who is the Superintendent. The School Board was elected by the public to make the tough decisions. It would be unfortunate for this Community if any one group, other than those elected, had too much of an impact over what new Superintendent is hired.

The Community is crying out for transparency in the District’s finances. Since the decisions the District's Community Foundation make have such an enormous financial impact on the District, hopefully they too are being transparent about their plans for the District's future.

The District's Community Foundation plans need to be conducive to the District’s overall financial picture as set out by the Budget Committee and the Board - not driving it.

If we as a Community are opposed to school choice, charter schools and lotteries, now is the time to be proactive. Make it clear before the Search Committee of 10 sends forward a specific type of candidate.

Related articles: Hiring a New Superintendent – Some Appropriate Roles; Obama vows to double funding for charter schools; Our View: Give charter school a shot; District 150, BU look at partnership, STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) program."; District 150 works on charter school, opening in 2010, slated to cost $12 million; Word on the street: Charter schools a hot topic; Op-Ed: Save money by eliminating Illinois' cap on charter schools; Inner-city culture and the charter school self-sorting effect; Superintendent search committee appointed.