The straw that broke the innovating camel's back:

The Department of Public Instruction hand-delivered a letter today to Dynamic Community Charter school officials stating its intention to revoke the school’s charter. Some of the concerns raised by the interviews include: •Instruction that was not designed specifically for the school population •Students put in or left in unsafe situations •Lack of health care plans for students •Teacher assistants serving in inappropriate capacities •Administration given “scripts” on how to interact with DPI staff “to divert attention from the true practices that were actually occurring;”

In addition, the letter states that “…the investigation revealed a number of instances in which leadership at the school has been untruthful in their dealing with the Department…”

I will forego my usual lecture about how obvious attempts at deception call into question everything you say, even if 90% of it is truthful, leaving you with no reasonable ground to stand on (I guess the lecture didn't want to be stifled). But the worst part of this situation has to do with the students themselves: Will they be better off (safer) without the school? Did the mismanagement rob them (even more than they've already been robbed) of a brighter future? Will this failure scare away others who might have dedicated special schools for these kids? Not much to be happy about in this story.

Even your bake sales and booster bucks:

Senate Bill 456 would force school districts to share all local tax revenue proportionally by striking the ad valorem exception. Sponsor Sen. Jerry Tillman R-Randolph, said the bill "puts the funding back where the courts say it should be."

However, the bill also strikes the law's exceptions for "sales tax refunds, gifts and grants restricted as to use, and trust funds." That means donations, from school PTA fundraising dollars to booster revenues for bands or sports teams, would all go into the shared pot unless the school district sets up a separate account for those dollars and unless donors specify that their contribution is for that particular account.

I'm sure Conservative band boosters and other alums will somehow perceive this as "the damn government" meddling in school affairs, which later will coalesce into "the damn Democrats" did it, since they can't grasp the idea of their intrepid Republican heroes pulling stunts like this. And if/when they do see something negative about the GOP on the news, the filters kick in to defend them from "that damn Liberal media." SMFH.

In a Civitas article appearing today, Mr. Hood notes the value added to education by, and the reasons some schools are successful as:

..a shared vision, a dynamic leader, rigorous curriculum, community support

None of which can be measured by test scores.

As to policy makers, he says:

What happens when a charter school fails students before the school opens? You wind up with a lot of upset parents and kids, especially when the school was intended to serve 9th and 10th graders. High school is tough enough without finding out six weeks before school begins that your plans have changed.

From the Charlotte Observer:

Carolina STEM Academy, one of 11 Charlotte-area charter schools that had been approved to open in August, notified families this week that there aren’t enough students to make that happen.

“Unfortunately, we are disappointed to share the news that, due to enrollment and continuing difficulties with closing (on the facility), Carolina STEM will be unable to open this year,” a letter from the board of directors said.