District 150 More Confident About Charter School

January 7, 2010

Less than a week before the District 150 School Board is expected to decide whether to give a green light to a math, science and technology charter school in Peoria, district officials say the option is still viable.

While some questions and concerns remain, many involving finances, School Board President Debbie Wolfmeyer said Wednesday she is more comfortable now than even a week ago about the possible venture.

"One of the big concerns was our capacity, with opening two new schools and merging a high school. Would we be able to handle another change with everything else that’s on our plate?" Wolfmeyer said of the charter school option. The "administration has assured us that would not be a problem."

Speaking after a quarterly meeting with the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, Wolfmeyer echoed what other School Board members said Wednesday – they believe a charter school is headed to Peoria, but whether it will be 2010 or later is yet to be decided.

Adding pressure for a decision on Monday, however, is $1 million in anticipated private funding that’s at stake.

The Caterpillar Foundation has agreed to hand over $500,000 for the charter school if private and business donations can match that amount. The hitch, the foundation says, requires the School Board to authorize the charter at the Jan. 11 meeting for the academy school, so that it can open this fall.

To date, the charter school, organized under the Peoria Charter School Initiative, has more than $163,500 in hand, another $18,800 in written pledges and another $102,000 in voiced support – all in just two weeks – said Roberta Parks, CEO of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, who’s also on the charter school’s board of directors.

Others on the District 150 School Board who were at Wednesday’s meeting also voiced support.

"I think we’re behind the rest of the country," board Vice President Linda Butler said, recounting a conversation with a Michigan woman who moved to Peoria and discovered the city had no charter school.

Rachael Parker and Jim Stowell both said they like concepts of the charter school. Parker, however, cited community concerns about the lottery process involved with how students are chosen.

Stowell said the charter school is "no silver bullet," and he wished the school district could employ characteristics of the charter school.

But finances also are still a concern.

"What happens if we get through halfway or two-thirds of the year and run out of money? Those are still our students," Interim Superintendent Norm Durflinger said. "This is kind of a funny coming from District 150 – but we need to know that you are financially sound."

Butler said she wants to see financial projections in terms of revenues and expenditures beyond the first year.

"People need to know it’s going to be a part of the community," she said.

Members of the charter school group are expected to give a presentation at Monday’s School Board meeting before any vote.

Officials with the charter school have said they need about $1.7 million from the school district – 70 percent of operating expenditure per pupil at District 150 multiplied by 225, the number of students the school would start with in August in grades 5 through 7.

Plans are to add a class per year up through 12th grade.

"The community has been very resounding – they want to see this," Parks said of the charter school, ad ding that officials plan to answer any concerns the district might have at its Jan. 11 meeting.