Charter School advocates and organizers packed the room for today’s meeting of the State Board of Education, to ask them rescind the moratorium on New Charter school approvals.
Several of the schools whose applications were denied because of a state budget shortfall were on hand, saying the moratorium was poorly timed.
Schools like the Gate City Charter say that this will keep them from opening on time.
Cevasco: My name is Karin Cevasco, and we are here to compel you to accept our application.
Board Chairman Tom Raffio responded by repeating according to the Attorney General requiring the next legislature to pay for charter schools approved this year is illegal.
Charter schools advocates, like Eileen Liponis with the New Hampshire Association of Charter schools contend that the Board of Education could go to the current legislature to ask for extra money out of this year’s budget.
He says that charters in development will have to wait until the next budget cycle to get their applications approved.
Raffio: In addition to putting the correct budget line item in, they might actually change the law in terms of the process so that’s another solution that the legislators could do… in January.
Chairman Raffio says the board of education will go before lawmakers to ask for the $4.4 million needed to fund the already approved charter schools next Friday.
Charter School advocates, like Eileen Liponis with the New Hampshire Association of Charter Schools, contend that the Board of Education could go to the current legislature to ask for extra money out of this year’s budget.
Liponis: Before going to the legislature to ask for the extra money they went to the Attorney General’s office instead. Now we expected them to go and ask for the money that we needed for this year last May, and they did not.
Whatever the reason for that, the issue doesn’t look like it will be going away anytime soon.
