delaware charter schools paper /kowalko

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Charter Schools in Delaware

John Kowalko

Education Law

December 9, 2013

Final Paper


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Table of Contents

I. Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1

II. Comparison of Delaware Schools ........................................................................................6

A. School Demographics ..............................................................................................6

B. School Finances .....................................................................................................11

C. School Performance ...............................................................................................17

III. Comparison of Particular Schools .....................................................................................20

A. Newark Charter School ..........................................................................................20

B. Wilmington High School .......................................................................................22

IV. Conclusion .........................................................................................................................23


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I. Introduction

Over the past decade, charter schools have become a major focus in the field of

education. Between 2000 and 2011, enrollment in charter schools almost quadrupled, from

448,343 students to 1,787,091 students.1The number of charter schools increased from 1,993 to

5,274.2No other type of publicly-financed schools saw even close to this rapidity of expansion. 3

Charter schools now represent over 4% of public school students.4With the support of charter

schools by the Obama Administration through the Race to the Top (RTTT) initiative, these

numbers are likely to continue to grow.

5

1Natl Ctr. for Educ. Statistics,Number and Enrollment of Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, by School

Level, Type, and Charter and Magnet Status: Selected Years, 1990-91 Through 2010-11(Oct. 2012), U.S. DEPT OF

EDUC., http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/tables/dt12_108.asp.

2Id.

3Comparing charter schools to regular public schools, special education schools, vocational schools, magnet

schools, and alternative schools. See id.None of these types of schools even doubled in enrollment or number of

schools.Id.Only magnet schools came close, with a 170% increase in enrollment and a 185% increase in number of

schools.Id. Charter schools saw a 399% increase in enrollment and a 265% increase in number of schools.Id.

Special education and vocational schools actually saw a drop in enrollment.Id.Private schools have also seen a drop

in enrollment.Id.

4According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Education, current through 2010-2011, charter

school enrollment comprises 3.6% of all public school students.Id.However, according to a report by the National

Alliance for Public Charter Schools, by the subsequent year, the number of charter school students increased to over

2 million, which would be over 4% of the public school student population. See Motoko Rich,Enrollment in

Charter Schools Is Increasing, N.Y.TIMES(Nov. 14, 2012).

5President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have repeated encouraged the expansion of charter

schools. See Press Release, U.S. Dept of Educ., States Open to Charters Start Fast in Race to Top: Education


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The point of a charter school is to allow it to operate independently from the traditional

public school system of a state while still receiving public funding. Proponents of charter schools

argue that the private operation structure of charter schools will allow for increased autonomy,

innovation, accountability, and student choice.6 A central aspect of the argument for charter

schools is that their success will be able to be replicated throughout the rest of the public school

system, whether through expanding existing charter schools, modeling new charter schools on

other high-performing ones, or applying the methods in traditional public schools. They are also

touted as a means of improving quality while reducing costs.

Despite its size, Delaware has become an important arena for the developing charter

school movement. Delaware ranks as the third highest state in terms of percentage of public

school students in charter schools, and has a higher percentage than any of its neighboring

states.7Delaware also came in second in the RTTT program, becoming one of the two states

Secretary Seeking Autonomy with Real Accountability for School Innovators (June 8, 2009), available at

http://www2.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/06/06082009a.html. Race to the Top itself also encourages

increased charter schools. Out of the 500 possible points that could be awarded to a state under the RTTT program,

40 of them were solely dedicated to [e]nsuring successful conditions for high-performing charters and other

innovative schools. U.S.DEPT OF EDUC.,RACE TO THE TOP PROGRAM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY3 (Nov. 2009),

available at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/executive-summary.pdf. States are awarded these points for

passing charter schools legislation, removing limits on charter school numbers, and increasing funding for charter

schools, among several other factors. See id.at 11. Increasing the role of charter schools can also gain points under

some of the criteria for the remaining 460 points. See generallyid.

6See, e.g., Press Release, U.S. Dept of Educ., supranote 5.

7Delaware has a higher percentage of students in charter schools than every state except for Arizona and Colorado.

SeeNatl Ctr. for Educ. Statistics,Number of Students in Membership in Operating Public Elementary and

Secondary Schools, by School Type, Charter, Magnet, Title I, and Title I Schoolwide Status, and State or


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awarded funding in the first phase.8Delaware seeks to continue to expand the role of charter

schools, and updated its charter school laws this year to provide for increased flexibility and

funding for establishing and operating charter schools in the state.9

In Delaware, the charter school law is highly permissive compared to other states, with

no cap on the number of schools (since 1999)10 and many groups that can either apply for a

charter school or authorize one.11 Delaware is regularly ranked as having some of the most

permissive laws for charter schools.12Any person or entity can submit an application and form a

charter school in Delaware, except for private or religiously affiliated schools.13Charter school

applications are approved by either a traditional public school district or the Delaware

Jurisdiction: School Year 201011, U.S.DEPT OF EDUC. (Oct. 2012),

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/pesschools10/tables/table_03.asp. Similar to the national level, Delaware has seen a

drop in private school enrollment correlated with the rise in charter schools.Id.

8Delaware and Tennessee were the highest scoring states in the first phase, with Delaware awarded $100 million.

Race to the Top Phase 1 Final Results, U.S.DEPT OF EDUC., http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/phase1-

applications/score-summary.pdf.

9See H.B. 165, 147th Gen. Assemb., 1st Sess. (Del. 2013), available at

http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS147.NSF/vwLegislation/HB+165.

10See DEL.CODE ANN.tit. 14, 501 (2013). H.B. 165 also removed the ability of the Delaware Department of

Education to limit the number of new charter school applications it would consider in a specific year. See H.B. 165.

11See GARY MIRON ET AL.,EVALUATION OF THE DELAWARE CHARTER SCHOOL REFORM:FINAL REPORT 16(Mar.

2007).

12See id.at 16-18.

13DEL.CODE ANN.tit. 14, 502 (2013).


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Department of Education, and applicants may engage in discussions with a potential approving

authority before submitting the application.14

Charter school applications are assessed under sixteen main factors. 15 Under previous

Delaware law, an approving authority was also required to assess the impact of a charter school

that was increasing enrollment within than eighteen months from the date of the application.16

The only impact that was required to be considered was the impact on the schools from which

the charter schools new students will likely be drawn.17 The recent charter school reform of

H.B. 165 made two important additions. First, new charter schools are included in this impact-

assessment requirement.

18

Second, both the new charter schools and applicable modifications

must also be assessed for their impact on the community, and not just the schools.19The potential

impact of this change, however, may be limited.20

14 511(c), (f).

15 512. These same factors, along with the actual charter of the school, are used for oversight and renewal purposes

as well. See 514A, 515.

16 503(b)(3).

17See id.



19Id.

20Interestingly, H.B. 165 removed language from the Delaware Code that prohibited the impact assessment from

being used as the sole paper for approval of an application. See id.The reform law continues to include the

prohibition on using the impact assessment as the sole basis of disapproval.Id.The implication of this change seems

backwards: a potential positive impact alone does not entail other aspects of the charter school will be beneficial (at

least when the impact assessment is limited to only two considerations, since factors such as qualifications of the

founders, economic viability, and the fourteen other factors under DEL.CODE ANN.tit. 14, 512 are not included);


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Despite the focus in Delaware on charter schools, they are experiencing serious issues in

the state. They are not achieving better academic results than traditional public schools, and the

schools continue to expend the same approximate amount of public funding per pupil.

Additionally, charter schools are increasing segregation in Delaware public schools along lines

of race, class, and ability. A small number of charter schools account for almost all positive

academic achievement, and these schools are significantly segregated. Not only is this

segregation wrong in itself, but it prevents any measure of reproducibility of the limited success

of those charter schools.

This paper will look in depth at the dynamics of Delawares charter schools, based almost

entirely upon original research due to the dearth of statistical and legal analysis of the Delaware

system.21If charter schools are going to offer any improvement to the public educational system,

then we must understand how they are successful, where they have problems, and what our

expectations should be. This paper will first discuss the demographics of Delaware charter

while a potential negative impact may be enough to undermine the overall benefit of a charter school, although the

approving authority will have to find additional reasons to disapprove the application. An amendment to remove this

change in the law was defeated. See H.A. 8 to H.B. 165, 147th Gen. Assemb., 1st Sess. (Del. 2013) (defeated),

available at http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/HA+8+to+HB+165/$file/legis.html.

21Most of the statistical information regarding Delaware school demographics and finances comes from my own

compiling and analyzing of the data provided by the state. Delaware provides district-level information for all

districts, but not for charter schools, and so I had to compile my own charter school district data from the

individual school information. For the general website containing the links to specific districts and school

information, most of which is current through the 2012-2013 school year, see State of DelawareSchool Profiles,

DEL.DEPT OF EDUC., http://profiles.doe.k12.de.us/SchoolProfiles/State/Default.aspx. I also compiled school test

performance data, which can be found in its raw form at School Test Scores 2013, DEL.ONLINE,

http://php.delawareonline.com/news/2013/school-test-scores.


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schools in comparison to the traditional public school system, including an overview of the effect

Delaware law on school demographics. Then, it will analyze the financial aspect of Delaware

charter schools. Third, it will compare the academic performance among Delaware schools,

especially as its relates to the school demographics and finances. Fourth, this paper will analyze

Newark Charter School and Charter School of Wilmington to compare the demographics of

these schools to their surrounding localities. Finally, this paper will conclude with a brief

overview of the national context and recommendations on how to move forward with our public

education system.

II. Comparison of Delaware Schools

A. School Demographics

Most charter schools in Delaware are located in New Castle County. Out of the twenty-

two current charter schools, seventeen are in New Castle County, and ten are located in the City

of Wilmington. Kent County contains four charter schools, while Sussex County contains only

one. Charter schools enroll 7.9% of all Delaware public school students.2284.4% of students in

charter schools are black or white, compared to 79.7% in traditional public schools and 80.1%

overall.23The vast majority of black students attend charter schools located in Wilmington.

On average, charter schools do not have significantly different racial demographics from

traditional public schools (TPS). Charter schools have slightly lower enrollment of whites and

22See School Profiles,supranote 21.

23Id.


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Latinos, and slightly higher enrollment of blacks and Asians.24The most significant differences

occur within charter schools. A minority of charter schools consistently perform well

academically,25 and these schools also present significant demographic differences from the

other charter schools. These top charters26 contain 70.4% of all white students attending

charter schools and 82.2% of all Asian students, but only 15.9% of all black students and 28.7%

of all Latino students.27That means the top charters are 66.9% white, compared to 23.5% for the

other charter schools (and 48.9% for TPS); 14.4% black, compared to 63.6% for the other charter

schools (and 30.7% for TPS); 4.6% Latino, compared to 9.7% for the other charter schools (and

14.4% for TPS); and 10.1% Asian, compared to 1.8% for the other charter schools (and 3.2% for

TPS).28These extreme disparities in racial demographics should be a cause for concern.29

24Id.Charter schools compare to traditional public schools as followswhite: 43.2% to 48.9%; black: 41.2% to

30.7%; Latino: 7.4% to 14.4%; Asian: 5.6% to 3.2%; Native American: 0.9% to 0.5%; Hawaiian: 0.2% to 0.1%;

multi-racial: 1.4% to 2.2%.Id.

25See infraPart II.C.

26I will use the term top charters to describe this group of 7 schools, which include Charter School of

Wilmington, Delaware Military Academy, Kuumba Academy Charter School, MOT Charter School, Newark

Charter School, Odyssey Charter School, and Sussex Academy of Arts and Sciences. These schools comprise 45.5%

of the charter school student population. See School Profiles,supra note 21. These are the only charter schools that

consistently perform better than the average traditional public school on the yearly Delaware Student Testing

Program (DSTP) standardized tests. See infra Part II.C.

27

See School Profiles,supranote 21.

28Id.

29These racial disparities increase when Kuumba Academy taken out of the top charters. Kuumba Academy is

94.7% African-American, with 249 black students and no white students. When Kuumba Academy is removed from

the figures, then the top charters are 70.9% white and only 9.7% black.


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Charter schools are more uniformly differentiated from traditional public schools

regarding demographics for income, special educational, and English language learners. On

average, 39.9% of students at charter schools are classified as low income (compared to 53% for

TPS), 8.4% receive special education (compared to 13.1% for TPS), and 2.1% are English

language learners (compared to 6.5% for TPS).30 However, the disparities between the top

charters and the rest of the charter schools are still extreme. Only 14.7% of students at top

charters are classified as low income, compared to 61% at the other charter schools. 313.9% of

students at top charters receive special education, compared to 12.2% for the other charter

schools.

32

1.2% of students at top charters are English language learners, compared to 2.8% at

the other charter schools.33

The legal structure for charter schools in Delaware does not provide any remedy for these

demographic disparities, and it may even perpetuate some of them. Despite professing a unique

concern for students with high needswhether from low income, special needs, or other

situationDelaware law provides no incentive for charter schools to increase their demographic

representation of low income students, special education students, or minority students.34Indeed,

the law allows for a charter school to give preference to students residing in a five-mile radius,

30Id.

31Id.

32Id.

33

Id.

34Although H.B. 165 establishes a fund for charter schools focused on students with high needs, this fund is shared

with high-performing charter schools, and no part of the law addresses which of those two will receive portions of

the funding. See H.B. 165, 147th Gen. Assemb., 1st Sess. (Del. 2013), available at



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which can increase segregation in schools when local demographics reflect that segregation.35

Delaware law also allows for charter schools to give preference in admissions to the children of

school founders and employees, the siblings of current students, and students who have a

specific interest in the school.36Despite formal prohibition on discrimination on the basis of

race and income,37these other provisions can enable or perpetuate the demographic problems in

Delawares charter schools. For example, if wealthier parents are able to be more involved in

choosing their childrens school, then a disparity may exist at newly opened charters. These

disparities could then be perpetuated though favoring siblings.

H.B. 165 fortunately made progress on one glaring deficiency in the previous charter

school laws of Delaware, although the reform failed to provide an adequate remedy. Before the

implementation of H.B. 165, charter schools in Delaware were not required to provide meals to

students who would ordinarily qualify for free or reduced breakfast or lunch. Several schools did

not provide meals to students, and some were not even equipped with the facilities to do so. This

created a strong disincentive to families who may otherwise be interested having a child attend a

charter school but who are unable to afford adequate meals. H.B. 165 added a provision that now

requires charter schools to provide breakfast and lunch to children who qualify under federal

programs for no or low cost to the families.38However, the provision retains two fundamental

35See DEL.CODE ANN. Tit. 14, 506(b)(3)(a) (2013). An amendment to remove this provision from the Delaware

Code failed. See H.A. 5 to H.B. 165, 147th Gen. Assemb., 1st Sess. (Del. 2013) (defeated), available at

http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/HA+5+to+HB+165/$file/legis.html.

36See 506(b).

37See 506(a)(4), (f).

38See H.B. 165.


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deficiencies: the law does not define low costor who receives no cost meals,and the law

does not require any nutritional standard.39

Finally, certain charter schools require tests for admissions, and these tests may unfairly

advantage certain demographics, especially those demographics that have been shown to already

have an advantage regarding test scores. Charter School of Wilmington administers a placement

test that is based on its specialized interest in STEM fields. 40Due to the general nature of the

STEM fields, this test heavily favors students who are already academically successful. In

addition, the admissions process also requires a teacher recommendation and submission of a

students class grades.

41

Unfortunately, even without an admissions test, students and parents are

sometimes pressured by school administrators and faculty to leave a school when a student is not

performing well.42 Delaware law does not address remedies for either unfair consideration of

previous academic performance or improper pressure on families by school officials.

39The low cost provision could have been corrected by an amendment that was stricken. See H.A. 13 to H.B. 165,

147th Gen. Assemb., 1st Sess. (Del. 2013) (stricken), available at

http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/HA+13+to+HB+165/$file/legis.html (requiring charter

schools to provide free or reduced lunches at the rates under which a student qualifies for the federal program).

40See CHARTER SCH.OF WILMINGTON,STUDENT ADMISSIONS POLICY (Sept. 25, 2012), available at

http://www.charterschool.org/aboutus/boardofdirectors/downloads/policies/csw-admissions-policy.pdf.

41

Id.

42Several parents have discussed this situation with me regarding their own children. In one case, a student was

called stupid by a teacher and was bullied by other students for being perceived as not smart enough for the

school. The school administration offered no redress, and the parents eventually withdrew their child from Newark

Charter School due to the harassment by both students and faculty.


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B. School Finances

Charter schools are often considered to receive lower funding than traditional public

schools, although the complexity of school finance prevents accurate comparisons. 43 The

presumed cost-efficiency of charter schools, which is premised on their ability to be governed by

an internal charter rather than state regulation, is a frequently cited by proponents of the charter

school movement. In Delaware, the reported annual financial figures show minimal financial

advantage to charter schools.44 Districts on average spend $12,115 per pupil, while charters

spend $10,895 through public funding (federal, state, and local).45 One reason for the lower

public spending by charter schools is that they pay their teachers less on average than traditional

public schools.46 Another reason is that taxpayer funding cannot be used for major capital

improvements, although funding of capital improvements was significantly expanded by H.B.

165. Delaware law now funds minor capital improvements for charter schools in the same

manner as Vocational Technical School Districts, which is higher than traditional public schools

43See YILAN SHEN &ALEXANDER BERGER,NATL CONF.OF ST.LEGISLATORS,CHARTER SCHOOL FINANCE 4 (Feb.

2011).

44Charter schools are required to submit an annual financial statement by December 1 of each year, although H.B.

165 permits an approving authority to waive this deadline. See H.B. 165, 147th Gen. Assemb., 1st Sess. (Del. 2013),

available at http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS147.NSF/vwLegislation/HB+165.

45See School Profiles,supra note 21. The top charter schools spend $10,485 per pupil, compared to the $11,237 per

pupil spent by the other charter schools.

46MIRON ET AL.,supra note 11, at 52. Part of the reason why charter school teachers are paid less are lower levels of

education and experience and lack of union representation.Id.


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because of the unique needs of Vo-Tech schools.47 Charter schools, however, are owned by

private corporations, and so similar funding for minor capital improvements presents a give-

away of State tax dollars to private entities, for minor capital improvements that do not accrue to

the Delaware taxpayer.48 Additionally, H.B. 165 mandates the same access to conduit bond

financing for charter schools as any other nonprofit organization, which provides new charter

schools a significant advantage over existing charter schools who have already occupying their

buildings.49

Another means of capital funding comes from a loophole over transportation funding

provided to charter schools in the state Annual Appropriations Act. For the past five years, the

Budget Committee has inserted epilogue language into the budget bill that allows charter schools

to keep the difference when actual negotiated or bid costs are lower than the maximu m rate

specified in the Delaware Code regarding reimbursement for transportation funding.50 This


http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS147.NSF/vwLegislation/HB+165. An amendment was introduced to remove

the changes to the minor capital improvement funding,

48Synopsis to H.A. 7 to H.B. 165, 147th Gen. Assemb., 1st Sess. (Del. 2013) (defeated), available at

http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/HA+7+to+HB+165/$file/legis.html. The amendment to

remove funding of minor capital improvements was defeated.

49See id.


http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS147.NSF/vwLegislation/HB+200. The same language has been included in

the annual budget bill since fiscal year 2010. According to attorneys for the Delaware House of Representatives,

these types of provisions are usually incorporated into the actual Delaware Code after one or two years in the

budget. No bills have ever been introduced in the General Assembly to incorporate this language regarding charter

school transportation funding.


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language goes directly against the Delaware Code, which is why the budget provision includes

the language [n]otwithstanding 14 Del. C. 508 or any regulation to the contrary.51Section

508 explicitly says that the State shall reimburse the charter school for the actual bid costs only

if lower than the payment specified and that charter schools shall cooperate to ensure that the

implementation of this chapter does not result in inefficient use of state appropriations for public

school transportation.52 The Delaware Administrative Code also mirrors the language of the

Delaware Code, making clear that [r]eimbursement shall be made only for transportation of

eligible pupils.53 Therefore, although traditional public schools are required to return excess

transportation funding to the state, charter schools can now keep this extra money and spend it

on purposes other than the transportation for which it was intended.54Compounding the problem,

charter schools are not even required to report the actual cost of transportation or the additional

funding that they will spend elsewhere. This is especially important, considering that charter

schools receive almost twice the amount of transportation funding per student than traditional

public schools.55

51Id.

52DEL.CODE ANN. tit. 14, 508 (2013).

5314-1100-1105 DEL.ADMIN.CODE 16.2 (2013). The Delaware Controller General confirmed that the budgetary

language circumvents the usual funding mechanism for Delaware public schools.

54Due to the efforts of a few dedicated legislators, the Budget Committee inserted additional language into the

epilogue language of the budget bill, which requires that charter schools keep the differencefor educational

purposes. See H.B. 200 (emphasis added). This language will have no practical effect, as educational purposes is

not defined and could include all spending by a school.

55Based on the 2010 information received from the Delaware Controller General, charter schools receive between

$833.94 to $919.37 per pupil, depending on the county of residence, compared to the average of $587.53 for

traditional public schools. Charter schools receive more money because their transportation funding is based on a


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Some charter schools will receive increased funding due to the creation of the Charter

School Performance Fund by H.B. 165. Up to $5 million can be appropriated to the fund e ach

year, which will be distributed to schools that [d]eveloped high-quality plans for start-up or

expansion or [s]erve high-needs students, as defined by the Department.56Attempts to amend

the performance fund failed during the debate over H.B. 165, including a bill to remove the fund

and another to limit it to $1 million.57Some legislators also raised a concern that the funds would

be allocated largely to high-quality charter schools, instead of those that serve students with

high-needs, but an amendment to require both criteria to be satisfied also failed. 58The fund was

appropriated $3 million for fiscal year 2014, although that funding was included in the budget

bill months before H.B. 165 (creating the fund) was even passed.59

percentage of the Vo-Tech school transportation funding, which is substantially higher ($1,209.43 in 2010) because

of the long distances that students travel to attend the limited number of Vo-Tech schools. This formulation,

however, ignores the five-mile radius employed by many charter schools for admissions. For example, Newark

Charter School receives by far the largest amount of transportation funding of all charter schools, even though it

uses the five-mile radius.

56See DEL.CODE ANN.tit. 14, 509(m) (2013).

57See H.A. 1 to H.B. 165, 147th Gen. Assemb., 1st Sess. (Del. 2013) (defeated), available at

http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/HA+1+to+HB+165/$file/legis.html; H.A. 10 to H.B.

165, 147th Gen. Assemb., 1st Sess. (Del. 2013) (defeated), available at


58

See H.A. 9 to H.B. 165, 147th Gen. Assemb., 1st Sess. (Del. 2013) (defeated), available at


59H.B. 200, 147th Gen. Assemb., 1st Sess. (Del. 2013), available at

http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS147.NSF/vwLegislation/HB+200. A legislator who supported H.B. 165 even

claimed that the performance fund was necessary precisely because the funds had already been included as language


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Charter schools can also receive private funding, and these additional sources of revenue

are not required to be publicly disclosed.60Traditional public schools are also not permitted to

receive private funding without a reduction in their taxpayer funding. Private sources of funding

for charter schools are not included on the annual financial reports submitted to the Delaware

Department of Education.61 Indeed, Delaware charter school laws do not address the issue of

private funding at all, and neither does the technical assistance manual provided to charter

schools by the Delaware Department of Education.62Despite a lack of information available to

the public, charter schools in Delaware are undeniably benefitted by corporate funding and other

private sources of non-public revenue.

63

Charter School of Wilmington, for example, based its

official logo on a hexagon to symbolize[] the six companies that have founded and sponsored

the school: AstraZeneca, Inc., Delmarva Power, Dupont, Hercules Incorporated, Christiana Care,

and Verizon.64 Kuumba Academy is another major recipient of private funding from large

corporate entities. For example, the school recently received a building from Bank of America,

in the proposed budget, which twists the logic of an already distorted legislative process concerning the

appropriation of taxpayer money to a fund that did not yet exist.

60See MIRON ET AL.,supranote 11, at vii (noting that charter schools have [a] number of private funding sources

available, but the sources and scope of private funding is unknown).

61See DEL.CODE ANN. tit. 14, 513 (2013).

62See generallyDEL.CODE ANN. tit. 14, 501-514; DEL.DEPT OF EDUC.,DELAWARE CHARTER SCHOOL

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE MANUAL(July 2012).

63

See MORIN ET.AL.,supra note 11, at 60 ([M]any charter schools are effective in securing private sources of

funding);see also id.at 74 (Through private funding anpartnerships, certain charter schools were able to acquire

facilities at a heavily discounted price).

64Charter School of Wilmington Code of Conduct 2013-2014, DEL.DEPT OF EDUC.(2013),

http://www.doe.k12.de.us/infosuites/students_family/climate/files/conduct/CHRTSCHofWILMINGTON.pdf.


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which will allow the school to add a middle school, and may house three other charter schools.65

The History section of the school website even remarks on its partnership with Vision 2015,

which is part of the Rodel Foundation.66The Rodel Foundation is a major corporate funder in

Delaware education, and its Vision Network frequently partners with charter schools.67

Charter school funding in Delaware is an extraneously complex matter. Overall, neither

charter schools nor traditional public schools seem to have significant advantages. For charter

schools, however, many financial areas come with an inappropriate lack of transparency.

Taxpayer funding for transportation costs and private sources of funding should be fully

disclosed, as should private sources of funding. Additionally, charter schools should not be able

to receive capital funding when the buildings being improved by taxpayer money are not owned

65See Ben Szmidt,Kuumba Academy to Launch New Middle School in Community Education Building, WDDE

(May 24, 2013), http://www.wdde.org/44570-kuumba-middle-school-expansion.

66History, KUUMBA ACAD.CHARTER SCH.,

http://kuumbaacademy.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=146274&sessionid=d0b3672163c17978d0afb13e4b38

78a6&sessionid=d0b3672163c17978d0afb13e4b3878a6 (Kuumba is a premier Vision 2015 Network School of

Choice, currently serving elementary students grades K-5).

67See Suzanne Perry,A Delaware Fund Helps States Schools with Plenty of Hope, Help, and Heat,CHRON.OF

PHILANTHROPY(Apr. 18, 2010), http://philanthropy.com/article/How-a-Delaware-Fund-Helped-the/65097 (detailing

some of the role of the Rodel Foundation in Delaware education). For more information on the Rodel Foundation

and its funding initiatives, see Seed Funding, RODEL FOUND., http://www.rodelfoundationde.org/what-we-do/seed-

funding. The Rodel Foundation exemplifies the strong support of charter schools in Delaware by large corporations,

including their nonprofit foundations. The Rodel Foundation, and its Vision Network, are also particularly focused

on financially supporting Kuumba Academy, which is the recipient of many donations to the Vision Network. See,

e.g., Press Release, Vision 2015 Delaware, Vision 2015 Thanks JPMorgan Chase for Investment in Vision Network:

Funding Will Support Executive Leadership Training (Oct. 25, 2007) (directing funds from a donation to Kuumba

Academy).


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by taxpayers. Finally, a performance fund for charters is not appropriate when the money can go

to already high-performing schools at the expense of schools that serve students with high-needs,

especially when state funding for traditional public schools is being cut each year.

C. School Performance

School academic performance data is particularly relevant to charter schools given the

emphasis on accountability for students and teachers as a primary basis of the charter school

movement. In Delaware, however, charter schools perform worse on standardized tests compared

to traditional public schools. On average, 45% of students in charter schools meet or exceed

standards, compared to 58% for traditional public schools.68 While charter schools have

substantial higher amounts of students that exceed standards (18%, compared to 5% for TPS),

they have far lower amounts that fall far below standards (23%, compared to 12% for TPS).69

They also have a much smaller proportionate of students that meet but not do exceed standards

(27%, compared to 53% for TPS).70Charter schools also show less improvement in proficiency.

Between 2011 to 2012, charters increased an average in 8% for reading and 6% for math,

compared to 12% for reading and 10% for math in traditional public schools. 71These overall

numbers are reflected in the performance of each grade as well. Last year, out of the eight years

of test scores (grades 3 to 10), charter schools performed better than the average traditional

68

Based on Academic Performance Framework. See Kelly Sherretz & Jenna Bucsak, Inst. for Pub. Admin., Univ. of

Del., PowerPoint Presentation, Delaware Charters: A Profile (2013).

69Id.

70Id.

71Id.


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public school four times in reading and three times in math, while performed worse twice in

reading and three times in math.72

However, these test scores do not represent the fact that the top charters are almost solely

responsible for the above-average standardized test performance. These are the only schools that

consistently perform better than average, while the rest of the schools perform worse than

average the vast majority of the time.73 In 2013, a total of 79 test averages were reported for

charter schools (when broken down by school and grade).74The top charters were responsible for

76% out of the 33 reading scores that were better than average, and 90% of the 28 math scores

that were better than average.

75

On average, the top charters scored 65.92 points higher in

reading than the other charter schools, and 86.77 points higher in math.76That means that the top

charters averaged 45.14 points higher in reading than traditional public schools and 58.36 points

higher in math, but the other charter schools averaged 20.78 points lower in reading and 28.41

points lower in math.77Academic success in Delaware charter schools is almost solely confined

to the heavily segregated top seven schools.78These schools represent the charters that exceed

72School Test Scores,supranote 10.

73See id.

74Id.(12 for grade 3; 11 for grade 4; 12 for grade 5; 12 for grade 6; 10 for grade 7; 10 for grade 8; 6 for grade 9; 6

for grade 10).

75Id.

76

Id.

77Id.

78The top charter schools are disproportionately white and Asian, except for Kuumba Academy, which is the only

charter school with a predominantly black student population that is academically successful. As discussed earlier,

Kuumba Academy receives substantial funding from private sources, such as large corporate donors and


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Delaware standards, while the majority of charter schools either fail to meet the standards or fall

far below the standards.

Compounding the problems with academic performance at Delaware charter schools,

teachers in charter schools have less experience, have lower degrees, and receive less pay. While

slightly over 20% of traditional public school teachers have 4 years or less teaching experience,

slightly over 40% of charter school teachers have 4 years or less teaching experience. 79Charter

schools do have slightly more teachers with 5 to 9 years of experience, but have lower

percentages of teachers with 10 to 14 years experience, 15 to 19 years, 20 to 24 years, 25 to 29

years, and over 30 years of experience.

80

Similarly, while over 60% of traditional public school

teachers have a masters degree, only slightly more than 40% of charter school teachers have a

masters degree.81 The differences in education level may partially explain why charter school

teachers are also paid less salary on average.82 These disparities exist despite significant

advantages given to charter school teacher recruitment.83Given the disparities in the academic

foundations. Unfortunately, this financial information is not disclosed publicly, and so I can only speculate that the

success of Kuumba is substantially related to its financial advantages.

79See Sherretz & Bucsak,supra note 68 (citing Delaware Department of Education).

80Id.

81Id.

82See MIRON ET AL.,supra note 11.

83For example, teachers are allowed to move to a new charter schools for a year, while retaining their ability to

transfer back to their old position at any time. See DEL.CODE ANN.tit. 14, 507(d). Charter schools are also able to

negotiate differing pay structures to reward teachers than the traditional public school systems because of the lack of

union representation. See 507(b) (removing union representation when a school converts to a charter school).

Finally, charter schools are not required to hire fully certified and licensed teachers, and up to 35% of their teachers

can have merely a bachelors degree in the primary content area they will teach. See 507(c).


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performance of charter schools, these issues with teacher experience, education, and pay will

serve to damage the educational opportunities of students in the low performing charter schools.

III. Comparisons of Particular Schools

A. Newark Charter School

Newark Charter School is the most successful elementary charter school based on test

score performance. It is also the largest charter school, with 1,347 students.84Newark Charter

presents a useful opportunity to look an individual school demographics, since it uses a five-mile

radius for admissions and is located less than a mile and a half from John R. Downes Elementary

School. Since the schools share a feeder pattern, they should presumably have similar

demographic ratios.

Unfortunately, the schools do not share similar demographics, despite their close

proximity. The greatest racial disparity is in the number of African-American students. While

Downes Elementary is 19.9% black, Newark Charter is only 11.2% black.85Similarly, Downes

Elementary is 9% Latino, while Newark Charter is only 4.2%.86However, Newark Charter does

have higher numbers of white (66% to 62%), Asian (12.5% to 7%), and multi-racial students

(5.9% to 1.1%).87Additionally, Newark Charter has almost one-third the amount of low income

students than Downes Elementary, with only 13.5% of the students being classified as low

84See School Profiles,supra note 21.

85Id.

86Id.

87Id.


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income, compared to 36.2% at Downes Elementary.88All of these disparities are have gotten

worse since the previous year.89

Newark Charter School can also be compared to Newark High School, which is located

less than three miles. Newark Charter School just enrolled a freshman class for a new high

school expansion,90which makes Newark Charter and Newark High the closest high schools to

each other. Despite their proximity, however, their demographics are starkly different. Newark

Charters ninth grade class is 68.9% white, 12.4% black, 11.2% Asian, and 3.1% Latino,

compared to Newark High Schools ninth grade class, which is 30.5% white, 44.6% black, 3.5%

Asian, and 19.2% Latino.

91

Additionally, Newark High Schools ninth grade class has become

significantly more disproportionate since last year, which was 43% white, 38.1% black, 4.5%

Asian, and 13.4% Latino.

Newark Charter School thus has extremely disproportionate demographic ratios even to

schools based in the same locality. Despite supposedly having a random admissions process,

Newark Charter School is largely white and Asian, compared to the far greater percentages of

black and Latino students at Downes Elementary School and Newark High School. Further, the

creation of a high school at Newark Charter School is correlated with a massive increase in the

percentage of black and Latino students at Newark High School.

88

Id.

89Id.

90The Delaware Department of Education recently released parts of the 2013-2014 school profiles. Notably still

missing is the demographic ratios for low income students.

91School Profiles,supranote 21.


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B. Charter School of Wilmington

The Charter School of Wilmington is the highest performing charter high school in

Delaware.92It is also the second largest charter school, and the largest charter high school, with

970 students enrolled. Wilmington Charter is authorized as a charter by the Red Clay School

District.93 Despite being a part of Red Clay, the demographics of Wilmington Charter are

completely disproportionate to the rest of the district. While Red Clay is 45.3% white, 22.9%

black, 5.1% Asian, and 25.3% Latino, Wilmington Charter is 63.6% white, 6.2% black, 26.6%

Asian, and 3.1% Latino. Additionally, while Red Clays students are 52.5% low income, 12.4%

special needs, and 12% English language learners, Wilmington Charters students are 1.6% low

income, 0.2% special needs, and 0% English language learners.

These demographic ratios are drastically disproportionate. Possibly most striking is the

disparity between low income populations. This is made even more striking considering that

Charter School of Wilmington is located in the City of Wilmington, in which 27.6% of the

population are below the poverty line.94Additionally, the City of Wilmington is 58% black and

92Wilmington Charter is also often ranked at the top of national rankings. See Charter School of Wilmington,

Delaware, Has Two, 2012 Presidential Scholars, EXAMINER(May 4, 2012),

http://www.examiner.com/article/charter-school-of-wilmington-delaware-has-two-2012-presidential-scholars.

93

Wilmington Charter is one of three schools not authorized by the Delaware Department of Education. All three

schools are authorized by Red Clay.

94U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 SF1 Data for Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.DEPT OF COMMERCE(2012),

http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_CP03&prodType

=table.


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12.4% Latino, while only 32.6% white and 1% Asian.95The demographics of Charter School of

Wilmington are extremely disproportionate from both the locality in which it is located and the

school district in which it resides.

IV. Conclusion

Delaware charter schools have not demonstrated an ability to increase the educational

benefit of Delaware children. The teachers at charter schools usually have less experience and

education, and they are often paid less for their work. On standardized tests, students at charter

schools perform worse on average than traditional public schools. The success of the third of

Delaware charter schools that consistently perform better than the average traditional public

school correlates with racial, class, and ability segregation. Although all charter schools on

average have disproportionately lower percentages of low income students, special education

students, and English language learner students, the top charter schools have significantly lower

percentages than even the other charter schools. In terms of race, the charter schools that

consistently perform better have significantly higher ratios of whites and Asians than blacks and

Latinos, while the charter schools that perform worse are disproportionately black. The

segregation that exists in Delawares charter schools is wrong, and it most severely damages the

educational opportunities of poor, African American children.

The problems affecting Delawares charter schools are reflected in the national context.

In terms of demographics, charter schools across the national are adding to the increasing racial

95U.S.CENSUS BUREAU,U.S.DEPT OF COMMERCE,DELAWARE:2010:SUMMARY POPULATION AND HOUSING

CHARACTERISTICS:2010CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING(May 2012), available at

http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-1-9.pdf.


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and socioeconomic isolation in our schools.96 Charter schools are more likely to be intensely

segregated, with higher percentages of schools with either 90-100% minority populations or 0-

10% minority populations.97In particular, charter schools have a much higher rate of the extreme

isolation of African-American students than traditional public schools, and have lower rates of

students who are low income, require special education, or are English language learners.98

Charter schools nationwide also reflect similar overall test score patterns to Delawares charter

schools. Similar to Delaware, charter schools have a double-digit percentage of charter schools

that perform significantly better than traditional public schools, but a percentage of schools that

perform significantly worse that is far larger, making the average performance of charter schools

worse than the average performance of traditional public schools.99 Given these overall

similarities, additional empirical research may suggest that the disparities in the success between

charter schools at the national level is similar to the situation in Delawarewhere academic

success is correlated with high ratios of whites and Asians and low ratios of low income, special

need, and English language learner students, while academic failure is correlated to high ratios of

black and low income students.

96SeeNATL COAL.ON SCH.DIVERSITY,FEDERALLY FUNDED CHARTER SCHOOLS SHOULD FOSTER DIVERISTY(Mar.

2011) [hereinafter NCSD, FEDERALLY FUNDED], available at http://www.school-

diversity.org/pdf/DiversityIssueBriefNo2.pdf.

97

SeeNATL COAL.ON SCH.DIVERSITY,MAGNET SCHOOL STUDENT OUTCOMES:WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS(Oct.

2011), available at http://www.school-diversity.org/pdf/DiversityResearchBriefNo6.pdf.

98SeeNCSD,FEDERALLY FUNDED,supranote 96.

99See Press Release, CREDO at Stanford Univ., New Stanford Report Finds Serious Quality Challenge in National

Charter School Sector (June 15, 2009), available at http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/National_Release.pdf.


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Charter schools need to be recognized for both the successes and the failures they have

achieved. In Delaware, they have not saved on the cost of education, and their limited success is

not reproducible because it is based on demographic and financial advantages. Legislative

reform measures have largely not addressed these problems, and the dialogue in the state is

profoundly problematic.100Academic achievement should not be confined to schools that display

disproportionate levels of segregation, especially not along multiple lines. Delaware needs to

take action to combat the severe segregation within its charter schools, or else take a strong look

at the viability of charter schools as an innovative design for Delawares public school system. If

Delaware is representative of other states, then a national dialogue may be necessary as well.

Foremost necessary in any effort for progress are expanded levels of research and statistical

analysis. Far too great a lack of information exists concerning charter schools, charter school

demographics, and charter school academic performance. We need to look seriously at the

rapidly increasing charter school movement and engage in an honest dialogue based on

substantiated factual information.

100The single Delaware state-wide newspaper, The News Journal, printed only a single letter to the editor against

H.B. 165, while printing many more in favor. The rhetoric on both sides of the debate is problematic though.

Opponents of charter schools in Delaware are sometimes too hyperbolic and do not always have the requisite factual

support, despite statistical support for numerous arguments that have been made. Proponents of charters schools in

Delaware, on the other hand, have been highly disingenuous. For example, corporate entities such as Rodel

Foundation and political officials such as the Markell Administration frequently cite Kuumba Academy, Newark

Charter School, and Charter School of Wilmington as success stories to justify expanding charter schools in the

state. However, this ignores the significant advantages that these schools possess, and ignores the serious underlying

issues to those advantages.

delaware charter schools paper /kowalko

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