May 26, 2016

Coalition News

Urgent!

Reminder that the deadline of June 1st is approaching for YOU and a friend to sign up for the 2016 Parent Advocacy Boot Camp in Washington, DC on July 10th - 12!!  We only have 2 spots remaining!! We want YOU to fill one of them!!!

Call Jane at 208-859-9656 today and say, Yes, I want to make sure charter schools remain an option!!! Sign me up for the 2016 Boot Camp!!

Airfare and rooms are paid for you!  Call now!! Deadline is June 1, 2016!

Other news:

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article79468817.html#storylink=cpy

Six Washington charter schools get a second start

(WA) The Olympian | May 25, 2016
Six of Washington’s charter schools will get another lease on life under the state’s new charter law, after action by the Washington State Charter School Commission. The commission, meeting in Tacoma last week, voted to approve five-year contracts with existing charter schools in Tacoma, Seattle and Kent. Contracts are to be signed by the commission chairman, Steve Sundquist, and representatives of the schools by June 2.

Texas students deserve transformational funding reform (Op-Ed)

(TX) Austin American Statesman | May 23, 2016
The Texas Supreme Court’s opinion on school finance got one thing right: Students deserve “transformational, top-to-bottom reforms” for the school funding system. Such reform is especially necessary to address students attending a public charter school. The court rightly acknowledged that charter school students are public school students subject to constitutional protections. However, they altogether dismissed the undisputed fact presented during the litigation that public charter schools receive on average $1,000 less per student than traditional school districts. Public charter school students are not worth less.

Bill provides needed funding for Idaho charter schools.

Bill provides needed funding for Idaho charter schools.

May 16, 2016 Valley Times Page 7

By Tom LeClaire, President, Coalition of Idaho Charter School Families

As a college intern for then-Idaho State Senator Terry Sverdston, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, I worked on an issue regarding transfer students. I learned that schools receiving these students did not get funding until the next fiscal year. At the time, in 1987, the amount of money involved was so low nothing was done.

Imagine my surprise last year when I learned the Coalition of Idaho Charter School Families (CICSF) was supporting funding for schools who receive students during the school year! What was a small problem in 1987 had become a big problem by 2015. These days, there are thousands of “mobile students” because there is more school choice and parents and students frequently decide to change schools to meet their needs during the school year. One school, the Idaho Virtual Academy (IDVA), starts the year with about 2,000 students. For each of these students, IDVA provides a computer and all the textbooks, work books and reading material for an entire year of coursework. IDVA’s costs per student are approximately the same for all of their students, no matter when they enroll. Unfortunately, the State of Idaho does not pay IDVA the complete cost for “mobile students.” By January of each school year, about 500 new students transfer to IDVA. The policy creates a shortfall of approximately $1.8 million of the $2.5 million in costs associated with adding those students. It doesn’t quite put them out of business, but it certainly makes life difficult.

The Idaho Department of Education and State Board of Education studied this issue for years. Whenever they brought “stakeholders” together to talk about it, it became clear the stakeholders were only interested in keeping the status quo. After all, the schools the students were leaving weren’t losing any money. The funding stayed at the school where the student was enrolled in August. If a student moved to another school, the original school had the same money and lower costs. After many years of working on this issue, CICSF asked a handful of dedicated school choice legislators to help resolve the matter in 2015. Their bill passed the legislature but was vetoed. In 2016, those dedicated legislators came back with a modified bill that passed the legislature and was signed by the governor. CICSF sends a big thank you to the legislators who pushed this needed legislation through the Idaho Legislature.

Senator Sverdston is retired now but still an active leader in Idaho as a member of the Idaho Forest Owners Association board of directors in Cataldo. I think he would be proud of inspiring my volunteerism on this issue. By the way, if you support charter schools, join CICSF. I was so impressed with CICSF, I joined the board of directors. Go to http://www.idchartercoalition.org/join/, sign up with our organization and let us know if you want to be on our board

Parent Advocacy Boot Camp 2016

Parent Advocacy Boot Camp 2016

PublicSchoolOptions.org 2016 Boot Camp: July 10th – July 12th, 2016

Residence Inn Arlington Capitol View Hotel (2850 South Potomac Avenue Arlington, VA 22202)

Please note important registration guidelines below: 

FLIGHTS: Recommended that you book flights into Reagan National Airport (DCA) as soon as possible. If attendees have difficulty booking into DCA because of prohibitive flight costs, limited flight routes, etc., attendees should book their flights into Dulles International Airport (IAD, 40 minutes away from hotel) or Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI, 50 minutes away from the hotel). However, we HIGHLY recommend attendees fly in and out of DCA due to its close proximity to the hotel (short 5 minute drive to the airport AND a complimentary shuttle is available!). 

CONFERENCE START/END TIMES: Please ensure you arrive in time on Sunday (7/10) to attend our welcome reception at 7pm. Attendees should expect to arrive back at the hotel on Tuesday (7/12) at 2:00pm following Capitol Hill meetings and lunch, and should book their departing flight accordingly. **Note: Reimbursement for your flight and any related travel costs (i.e. your cab ride to and from the airport) will be arranged through your coalition manager.

HOTEL INFORMATION: Your rooms on the nights of Sunday (7/10) & Monday (7/11) will be reserved and paid for by PublicSchoolOptions.org. However, if you wish to extend your stay beyond these two days at this hotel, please select those additional dates below! You will be responsible financially for those additional nights, and a credit card maybe required at check-in to cover those expenses. 

**Do not call the hotel and book your own room** PSO will be providing the hotel with a master rooming list of all attendees (including additional nights for those who are planning to extend their stay).

In order to ensure space for conference attendees and to guarantee the group’s full participation, conference activities at the hotel and off-site activities Monday night will be restricted to registered conference attendees only. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

After registration, you will begin receiving logistical and conference information from the PSO staff in the weeks leading up to the conference. 

Pleas Click Here to sing up!

Golden Apple Award 2016

May 11, 2016 Announcement

The following Legislators are recipients of the coveted Golden Apple Award for their dedication to expanding school choice in Idaho:

Senator Bob Nonini

Senator Mary Souza

Senator Cliff Bayer

Senator Lori Den Hartog

Senator Jim Patrick

Representative Judy Boyle

Representative Tom Dayley

Representative Steven Harris

Representative Wendy Horman

Representative Julie Van Orden

In addition, the Coalition has awarded the prestigious Champion of School

Choice Award to:

Charter School Commissioner Gayann DeMordaunt for her continued support for school choice.

Alan Reed, Chairman of the Idaho Charter School Commission. Idaho Falls Commissioner Reed served on the Idaho Falls District 91 School Board from 1994 through 2003. For seven of those years, he served as chairman. He attended Ricks College and University of Idaho at University Place in Idaho Falls. Reed is the president and co-owner of Reed's Dairy in Idaho Falls, which is a milking, bottling and sales company that manufactures ice cream and cheese. Reed has shipped his specialty dairy products nationwide and to Japan. He was born and raised in Idaho Falls and married his high school sweetheart, Holly. They have four children, all educated in District 91.

OLIVIA THOMAS: LOTS OF IDEAS→

OLIVIA THOMAS: LOTS OF IDEAS

“I think being able to have the White House on your resume is pretty amazing,” said Thomas, who learned she’d be going to the fair only a few days ago.

“The president is going to be there. He might be able to play my game as well.”

Her passion for contests turned into a love for video games at age 9. Next year it will lead her to Boise State University, where she is planning a double major in computer science and the new College of Innovation and Design’s major in gaming, interactive media and mobile technology. She wants to build games that are instructional and have learning elements.

Using different platforms, she’s invented about 60 games, many of them Nancy Drew-style mysteries. “I’ve done a lot of adventure games,” she said. Her head is packed with stories she wants to put into computer games.

“I made one treasure hunt,” she said. “The players had to go into cases ... to find the treasures.”

Then she got the idea for a game she called “Colorless.” Players learn that certain color blocks have special functions, she said, but when the colors fade players have “to use clues to help them get through the last level.”

Last year she entered her game in the National STEM Video Challenge, and was named one of the winners. “Her game was so interesting,” said Catherine Jhee, a spokesman for Joan Ganz Cooney Center in New York that helps run the challenge. The challenge recommended Thomas and some other entrants for the White House Science Fair.

And even as she prepared to be in the fair, her mind keeps tossing around ideas: “I always wanted to make a history game, something with time travel,” she said. Or a game to help kids solve algebraic equation. Or...

(this article is from the Idaho Statesman published on April 11th

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/education/article71289062.html#storylink=cpy