JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Tuesday, May 6, 2008 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - The Wyoming Board of Education will decide May 12 whether to uphold the Cheyenne school board's rejection of a charter school application or to send the case back for another hearing.
Those are the only options available to members of the state board, Chairman James Lowham of Casper said Monday.
Lowham and three other board members - Jeff Marsh of Torrington, Bill Anthony of Casper, and Dana Mann-Tavegia of Osage - agreed to serve on a subcommittee to draft the proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law for the full board to vote on at the May 12 meeting.
The board members did agree tentatively that the Cheyenne Classical Academy had accepted the format of a contested-case hearing in December last year and did not object in a timely manner.
Several state board members commented during a compressed video meeting that the state law that outlines the steps to set up a charter school is confusing.
"The process is so new, I don't think it was flawed," Marsh said. "I just sense there should have been a little more dialogue between the parties."
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jim McBride said he believes the "huge" questions about the application should be answered in the early stages of the process.
He said if the state board members were on the local board, they would ask first about what's best for the students.
"l don't know, because we're not sure about the curriculum. We're not sure about the facility," he said, referring to the Cheyenne Classical Academy application.
Anthony said the CCA representatives filled out an application that covered 23 issues, including one that dealt with expelling students.
Only the school board can expel students.
"In the spirit of negotiations, the school board could have pointed that out," he said, and also could have discussed the proposed curriculum with the applicants.
Anthony also said the state law on charter schools is a "half-a-loaf statute" that the parties involved accepted as better than nothing.
Although the CCA attorney asked the state board to clarify the law, Anthony said he would be more comfortable if the courts performed that job.
Charter school supporters have said they will try to get a bill through the Legislature next year to clarify the law and the application process.
During a hearing before the state Board of Education last week, the attorney for the Cheyenne school board, David Evans, said the trustees did not prejudge the application and acted in good faith.
Although the school board voted against the application, the trustees are not opposed to the concept of a charter school and asked the supporters to continue to work with the district, he said.
The attorneys for the CCA, Lucas Buckley and Matt Kaufman, said the Cheyenne school board should have worked with the applicants.
The way the process should work is for the board to allow the school to open, subject to review, to be sure it adheres to state standards, Buckley said.
Although a charter school is a public school, it has its own board of directors who can hire employees and can adopt a different curriculum than the one approved by the school district.
Wyoming has three charter schools: the Snowy Range Academy in Laramie and two on the Wind River Indian Reservation. The two reservation schools, however, are sponsored by the school district.
Contact Joan Barron at joan.barron@trib.com or by phone at 307-632-1244.