Franklin Charter School Future Uncertain

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As the school year draws to a close, students at Franklin Career Academy are playing a game that tests their knowledge of science.
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The class is still managing to have fun -- despite the charter school’s uncertain future.
Career Academy Director Carol Sideris says she’s had to tell the schools’ three teachers and 35 students to make alternative plans for next year.
The Franklin school district, and the city councilors who hold the district’s purse strings, have refused to share state education aid with the school.
we don’t know what’s happening with funding and we have no assurance that the school will be operational next year, so at the end of this year we’re just going to suspend operations.

Many of the students that chose Franklin Career Academy were attracted to the smaller class sizes and individual attention.
8th grader Storm Saint Jacques left Franklin Middle School where she was barely passing math, and now she says she’s getting A’s and B’s at the Career Academy.
But she worries about the prospect of attending Franklin High School - a much bigger school - next year.
I’m kind of excited and scared because it’s going to be a new experience but also I’m scared because I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m hoping the school stays open but if it doesn’t then there’s nothing I can do.

Parents of these charter school students are probably the most upset with the thought that the school might close.
Cory Wardski’s son Will is attending 7th grade at Franklin Career Academy after not doing well in either public middle school or private parochial school.
Wardski says she’s watched her son’s reading scores improve, as well as his self-confidence.
She says what’s now happening to the Career Academy is unfair to kids.
I’m sad, I’m sad that he has to be uprooted where he’s comfortable, where he’s flourishing, where’s he’s come so far. To actually have to stop in his tracks and say, “Is he going to excel, succeed, what’s going to happen to him?”

School Administrators say Will is not the only one improving academically.
Again Carol Sideris.
In reading our average across the board grade level improvement was two point three grades, we had improvement anywhere from one to six grade levels in reading.

Sideris says four students graduated this year that otherwise would have been dropouts.
One student plans to attend college, another is pursuing a career in theater, and two have jobs lined up.

(I feel bad for the kids in the school)

Jay Bowers is a Franklin City Councilor.

He and other city councilors understand that state law requires school districts to pass on state aid to charter schools.
But he says the school district won’t have that money for two years, because state adequacy aid is based on student population from two years ago.
Bowers says he doesn’t see how the Career Academy will remain open without funding.
Jay4 In the school board budget there’s one dollar appropriated for the adequacy aid and that’s something that the state needs to take care of, and as far as I’m concerned it’s a state problem, not a school district problem.

For now, Franklin’s problems appear to be isolated.
The state’s five other charter schools have received their share of state money from their districts.
Education Commissioner Lionel Tracy says what happens in Franklin will be left up to the Attorney Generals’ office.
“I think that maybe with the AG’s help and commissioners help on the state board of education getting together with Franklin both the local district and the charter school, that eventually we’re going to resolve this.”

Franklin Career Academy Director Carol Sideris remains hopeful as well.
But she admits that it will be hard for her on the last day of school.

you don’t if you’re saying good bye forever to someone or if you’re going to be seeing them again in a month and a half and students are quite honestly handling it fairly well, but they do worry about it.

For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.