The Texas Board of Education recently vetoed three out of eight new charter school operators seeking to open schools across the state and voted to take no action on the other five, effectively clearing them to begin operations for the 2021-22 school year, according to a release by the Texas Classroom Teachers Association.
Heritage Classical Academy, CLEAR Public Charter School and Rocketship Public Schools will not be able to open schools. The vetoes came after the board met with leaders of the proposed schools, questioning their records in other states and hearing testimony from advocates of traditional school districts that Texas could not afford funding for new charters and that more charter operators would divert money from traditional public schools.
Some parents told the board that they looked forward to sending their children to the new charter schools and desperately need high-quality educational options in their communities.
"We support Rocketship because we want an excellent education," parent Perla Vidales, addressing the board virtually in Spanish Thursday, said in the press release.
The other five charters — Brillante Academy, Doral Academy of Texas, Learn4Life-Austin, Prelude Preparatory Charter School and Royal Public Schools — will be allowed to open schools next academic year, unless Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath or the State Board of Education takes further action within the next 90 days.
"I would say now is definitely the time to see some more innovation," Morath told the board. "This set of applicants ... would likely result in better outcomes for kids academically and otherwise."
COVID-19 was a hot issue during thedebate, from charter operators' arguments on why their schools would be good for the children in target neighborhoods to school district superintendents' pleas that the state reject all new applications.
"When crises like the COVID-19 pandemic hit us, we don't want to be left behind again," Aaron Brenner, superintendent of Brillante Academy, a proposed pre-K through eighth grade dual language school in McAllen, said in the release.
Opponents of charter schools say that as the pandemic continues, Texas cannot currently afford to spend money on charter schools because, unlike traditional schools, charter schools cannot levy local taxes, and receive all their funding from the state.
"This is not the time to move forward with the approval of eight more charter schools. It's time for restraint," Jim Chadwell, superintendent of Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District, said in the press release.
With 171 charter districts in operation as of June, Texas is one of the largest authorizers of charter schools in the country.
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