A parent in Austin sent the following account of events there, along with a link to the newspaper story.

 Dear Diane,

I thought you might be interested in the vote of Austin ISD last night – not to renew the IDEA contract.  It was standing room only – many of the students you met at Eastside Memorial made incredibly impassioned pleas for the Board to “give our school back to the community”.  Here’s a short article someone sent to me late last night.  The info is correct.

Here’s the link to the Statesman story today:  http://www.statesman.com/news/news/residents-pack-austin-school-board-meeting-for-ide/nTYtz/

Note of interest:  the new Board members were very heroic in my estimation.  They include a civil rights attorney (who has a 4 month old baby and a child in  elementary school), a Catholic priest, and a 27-year veteran retired teacher.  Interesting group. 

Patti 

New Austin ISD Board Turns Back Charter School Wave

The Austin ISD school board tonight sounded a clarion call that public school districts need not be overrun by the by attempts from large-scale funders to dictate public education policy in the United States, voting not to renew the district’s contract with IDEA charter schools. 

IDEA had opened its first school in Austin this past August, in partnership with the school district, by emptying out an elementary school that had been passing state assessments–a move that was opposed by a majority of the parents in the neighborhood the school was intended to serve. Parents responded by enrolling their children in other public schools – only 28% of enrollment was from the target area.

The Austin American Statesman commented on the process used to rush the IDEA proposal to the Board for a vote, “In its short history, the charter school has generated much controversy, triggered by trustees’ rush to make a deal – even voting while they amended the IDEA contract from the dais.  Let by Superintendent Maria Carstarphen, six trustees pushed through the IDEA deal a year ago over the protests of many East Austin parents, teachers, students, and community leaders, including two former mayors who also were former trustees.”

Just last week, IDEA schools were awarded $29 million in Race to the Top funds, but that didn’t have nearly the impact on board members as the fact that the Austin IDEA school opened with a curriculum that did not include art and music, which are offered in every other Austin ISD School, as well as an empty library after IDEA chose not to have books for its K-6 school (in its first year with just grades K-2 and 6 because those grades are not subject to state accountability ratings).  New Board members asked why students in this low income area shouldn’t have the same opportunities as students in every other Austin school.  Other Board member were very concerned that IDEA graduates from schools it operates in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas received the worst grades of any high school in the county during their first year at Texas public colleges and universities, according to the latest data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

The Austin school board made the decision in the culminating meeting of the first month in office for four new members elected in November. In their campaigns, three of the four new members had focused on the fact that the superintendent did not achieve community buy-in for the IDEA charter and other changes that were generated at the top–most in compliance with school management models sponsored by the Gates, Broad, and Arne Duncan’s US Department of Education. While IDEA CEO Tom Torkelson said that “I would hate to see the board go down as the most knee-jerk reactionary board in the nation”, board members talked about the need to look to the community and award-winning Austin educators to make sure its schools work, citing a number of examples of high performing AISD schools and programs in Austin schools with similar populations.  

Ironically, the Austin Board approved creation of a new in-district charter school on the same night it voted not to renew the IDEA contract.  A group organized by Austin InterFaith and Education Austin spent over two years working with parents, students, and teachers to transform an Austin school into an in-district charter that will benefit from flexible district and state requirements.  Over 80% of parents and teachers signed on, and it was approved by the Board with no dissension from the community.