An Atlanta charter school closes. Short funds, students.
Atlanta’s Tech High is closing. The charter school enrolled 200 students in grades 9 though 12, according to the state DOE
One persistent problem with charter high schools nationwide is that teens want a larger social pool and wider opportunities than many start-up charters can provide.
And the students want the fun stuff, the Friday night football games, the dances, the homecoming parades. It is tough to offer the social and extracurricular extras in schools with 50 kids or fewer per grade level.
Tech High could not draw enough students, partly because of its forsaken location on Memorial Drive. (A father recently told me that he took his child to visit the school, but turned around in the parking lot after seeing the run-down facility)
Probably more disconcerting to many Atlanta parents, Tech High’s math and science scores were not dazzling. On the 2011 state End-of-Course Test, 69 percent of Tech High students failed Math I and Math II, 40 percent failed biology and 58 percent failed economics.
According to the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, 13 students from Tech High took a total of 15 Advanced Placement exams in 2011. Of those 15 AP tests, only one test earned a score of 3 or higher, the threshold for college credit — an AP success rate of 6.7 percent.
Compare Tech High to Atlanta’s 1,500-student Grady High School, which had much lower failure rates on the EOCT in math and science. At Grady, the rate of success of AP tests — tests with scores of 3 or higher — was 65 percent.
Having visited Tech High three times, including an evening award program for the 50 seniors, I can vouch that the school had an incredibly dedicated staff and a lot of enthusiasm. Apparently, that was not enough.
Here is the official release:
Atlanta’s Tech High, the successful 8-year-old math-, science- and technology-oriented charter high school in the Atlanta Public Schools system, is being forced to close its doors amid an unanticipated revenue cut of 16 percent, school Board Chair Kent Antley announced today.
“It is with great sadness and disappointment that the Governing Board has informed families of the unforeseen challenges this promising school has endured over the past 30 days,” Antley said.
“Our talented, dedicated faculty and staff and our parents and students, who have demonstrated unwavering commitment to academic success, now face an obstacle that is impossible to overcome.”
Tech High School opened its doors in 2004 in a renovated section of the SciTrek Science Museum on Piedmont Road next to the Atlanta Civic Center. There were high expectations for the school, which boasted a who’s who of supporters including the downtown business community, the high tech community, civic leaders and unanimous support from the Atlanta school board
“Like the vast majority of charter schools, Tech High has had to operate on a very tight budget,” Antley said. “Our school was especially sensitive to setting an example in demonstrating high accountability and transparency in our spending.”
The Governing Board had delayed implementing next year’s teacher contracts until it received funding projections from APS. But during the summer break the school was notified, after those contracts had been signed, that a combination of factors would reduce funding another $360,000.
“The state’s average funding per student is over $11,000,” Antley noted. “This school, which has overcome so much, simply cannot operate on revenues of $7,411 per student – and that does not include our capital costs. This is a tragic, saddening last financial blow from which we cannot recover.”
One reason for the massive funding cut is APS’ decision to allocate unfunded pension liabilities to charter schools. Tech High, along with several other charters, disagree with the legality of the APS decision. Other charters plan to wage a legal challenge but, “Unfortunately, our families and teachers can’t put their lives on hold to wait for the legal system to resolve this issue.”
The school was forced to move from the SciTrek facility after only one year when SciTrek closed its doors and the City of Atlanta would not continue the lease. The school is currently housed in a building built in 1922, which means ongoing and major maintenance expenses. That, along with the revenue cut, threatened to force a midyear closure and enormous disruption to many already at-risk students. “At all times, our faculty and staff’s greatest concern and commitment are for the best interests of our students.”
“We are enormously proud of the many accomplishments of Tech High and the numerous students we have helped over eight years,” Antley said. “It has been direct reflection of the dedication of our great teachers and leadership. We are heartbroken that we will not be able to continue to be a positive contributor to Atlanta Public Schools.”
Tech High had just announced a strategic partnership with the Technical College System of Georgia and Georgia Tech Research Institute focused on becoming a state and national model for teaching math, science and technology at the high school level. This partnership was going to combine a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) curriculum and problem-based learning with college and career pathway course offerings through Georgia’s technical college system.
Dr. Barbara Christmas, an experienced and respected educator, was Tech High’s first CEO. As with all charter schools, Tech High accepted all students. “We consistently had about one-third of our incoming ninth-grade students reading at the 4th or 5th grade level,” said Christmas. “Their math skills were similar.”
Both the percentage of minorities and low-income students at Tech High have been higher than the average for Atlanta Public Schools. Despite these challenges, Tech High showed an amazing ability to graduate a high percentage of their students. “What I’m most proud of is that not only did we graduate over 90% of our students, but nearly all of them went on to enroll in higher education or the military,” said Christmas
• Four Graduating Classes, averaging a 93 percent graduation rate among seniors
• 78 percent of the graduating class of 2011 were accepted to a two- or four-year college
• Over $1.8 million in scholarships offered to the 2011 graduating class of 40 students
• Some colleges Tech High alums attend: Georgia Tech, Emory, Morehouse, Spelman, Notre Dame, University of Chicago, Brandeis University, College of Wooster, North Carolina A&T, Clark Atlanta University, Georgia State University, and Tuskegee University
• Some Scholarships earned by Tech High Alums: Gates Millennium Scholarship, Posse Scholarship, HOPE Scholarship and Legacy Scholarship
• Tech High has achieved AYP five out of six years the school has been measured
• 2011 Academic Gold Award for Greatest Gains from the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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78 comments Add your comment
economist correction
July 7th, 2012
6:10 pm
Shame on union shills- Georgia is a right to work state. Unions have no influence here unfortunately. The union and their lackeys ? as for drive by slander. The Economist has some pretty impressive financial ties to the educational testing behemoth Pearson who is doing wonders for the educational system across the country. No wonder they don’t do a particularly good job of editing their pieces- neither does Pearson on their exams. Pineapple gate anyone.
living in an outdated ed system
July 7th, 2012
6:17 pm
Diane Ravitch’s viees are poison for public education, because she is still living in an analog, industrial-age world, when the world around her is flat and powered by digital technology. Anyone who agrees with her viewpoints is not thinking about what is best for our children and how to educate them in a digital world.
Ed Johnson
July 7th, 2012
6:30 pm
Very telling that an “Effective Investment Solutions” site presents the Economist’s article…
http://www.myplaniq.com/articles/20120705-education-charting-a-better-course/
Adult Mess Trumps Kids' Success
July 7th, 2012
8:57 pm
A number of thought-provoking comments exist in this blog regarding Tech High School’s closing. However, there is not a large amount of focus on the public education, dependent children being damaged by nonperforming public school systems and education platforms. Tech High School and many other charter schools are a blessing to so many poor, inner city youth in our country and the world. Maureen makes some interesting points in trying to bring what she may consider balance to her article about the closing. However, I want to point out two things related to the test results’ comparison made between Tech High School and Grady. First, I agree with one commenter that Grady and Tech High School are not equal comparisons as Grady in many respects receives far more advanced and affluent students than Tech High School. Several children from influential attorney and political families that I know attend Grady. I would beat that Tech High School does not have a comparison background of students. When being balanced in making a comparison of student performance, let’s be fair to the children and do an “apples to apples” comparison. Of course my children from a $200k income, 2 parent involvement, 2nd generation plus higher education background (and their friends of similar or not similar background) will perform on benchmark tests well above that of your typical Tech High School student. Let’s look at the background and challenges of the typical Grady student versus the typical Tech High student. I can connect my Grady student contact to Ivy League graduates because she wants to go to an Ivy. Will a Tech High student have that privilege?
Secondly, research for years have argued that test scores are not always true predictions of the success of a student in higher education and the work-force and that certain “standardized” tests are biased against certain groups of the population. For starters, lower income students in certain environments often have less exposure to the basic concept of how to properly take a “standardized” exam under time pressure. I cannot in this comment get into all the drawbacks that certain segments of students encounter with benchmark tests. I will say that I am a testament that a “standardized” test did not predict my performance in higher education – a slightly above average test scorer and a 3.9 GPA from a top state higher education institution majoring in a tough quantitative field. Also, remember that top higher education schools look at the full package of the student especially in focusing on getting a comprehensive class.
I am passionate about thinking outside the box to make sure that ALL of our children are afforded the opportunity and environment in which to learn and excel so I can go on for hours with this comment. However, I will finish with one comment which I hope is very though provoking to the readers. Why must our youth continuously pay for the poor decision-making – intentional in some situations and unintentional in others (I hope) – of my generation and the generations before me? Putting a high quality education on the last prong of the importance ladder with underfunded pension bills and high severance payments and bonuses at higher levels is baffling or better yet disrespectful and unfair to the youth. People knew or should have known that parties in pensions were living longer and there would be a large group of retirees exiting the system around the same time. I talk to a large number of youth and can understand their frustration. Why do they have to keep paying for our POOR CHOICES?
Good Mother
July 7th, 2012
10:48 pm
Catlady, APS, Atlanta Public Schools is run for profit. It is illegal but that’s how they run it — within corruption and greed. So to say that charters are for-profit and public schools are non-profit is to say that you don’t know much about Atlanta Public Schools.
Atlanta Mom
July 7th, 2012
11:26 pm
Lets keep in mind here, no one closed this school, not APS, not the state. At the end of the day, the school could not draw enough students to exist. How many 200 student HS do we have in GA?
bootney farnsworth
July 8th, 2012
5:58 am
@ living/outdated
I’m not ususally this rude, but this is the stupidist, most moronic thing aimed my way in my time here. besides the fact you very probably don’t know me and have no basiss to make such a claim, the claim itself shows a profound lack of comprehension capability.
I’ve been in education a very long time. I’ve seen us try trendy “new things” time and time and time again, only to have them fall flat on their faces. usually leaving us worse off than before. and most often they’ve been the latest stupid trend out of California or New England.
to fix a problem, one must first understand the problem.
Fred in DeKalb
July 8th, 2012
7:36 am
Those running the DeKalb School Watch blog will make a once great and informative site irrelevant as they do not allow comments that conform with their way of thinking. It is one thing to censor comments or posters that consistently provide false or inflammatory information. To censor someone simply for having a different point of view because of unique insight is wrong. More and more posters are recognizing that as they correct several of the incorrect allegations made on this site, they are needlessly flamed.
While one can still find good information there, perhaps that site should make their intentions clear so others can determine if it is fair and balanced.
William Casey
July 8th, 2012
8:06 am
@Bootney: persevere. Though I don’t always agree with you, you always bring something to the table. BTW– whenever I hear “best practices,” I run the other way. LOL
atlmom
July 8th, 2012
11:29 am
I know that this was a long time ago, but I took a BC calculus AP class and exam. The teacher thought there were too many students in the class, so he made it extremely difficult.
I did not understand anything that was going on in that class that whole year. It was TOUGH.
(I went to a public school in a very wealthy area, many of my classmates went to ivy league schools).
I was THRILLED when I got a 2 on the AP exam – it meant I understood something!
The point? I have a master’s degree in Applied Mathematics. AP exams don’t always mean anything.
In fact, many colleges *don’t* give credit for a 3. They don’t necessarily give credit for a 5. Just sayin’.
bootney farnsworth
July 8th, 2012
11:37 am
@ William
I knew GPC was in worse trouble than we had been told when out of nowhere the political toadies (are there any other kind?) started spouting “best practices” in meetings, committees, and such.
to me its like when someone calls for thinking outside the box. its a sure sign they don’t have a clue what they’re talking about.
bootney farnsworth
July 8th, 2012
11:39 am
@ adult mess
like anything else in the republic, the ultimate power lies in the hands of the people.
as long as the voters continue to send back the same group of idiots, the kids are getting exactly what their parents are asking for.
catlady
July 8th, 2012
11:42 am
“Thinking outside the box”, “best practices”, “research-based instruction”, “all for the kids”–can anyone else add to the list of phrases that should make you run for the door?
Shame on union shills
July 8th, 2012
12:34 pm
@bootney: Kids/parents getting what they’re asking for? What planet are you posting from?
When parental choice is the norm, that will be true. Right now, it isn’t—except in a very few lucky states/districts where kids are on waiting lists desperately hoping to fill non-traditional school slots.
Perhaps the key point in the Tech High story is that the school was allowed to fail. How many public inner-city schools would be in the same situation if parents really had their say?
MB
July 8th, 2012
12:37 pm
What does “Four Graduating Classes, averaging a 93 percent graduation rate among seniors” mean? If it is that 93% of those who started their senior year there graduated, what was the grad rate as calculated for other high schools? (Just a bit of the apples v oranges potential there…)
The national exam statistics (AP, SAT, etc.) are confusing – wonder how students qualified for Tech, Chicago, and Emory with an average of only one or two AP courses (without passing scores) and those SAT or ACT scores?
How many students from Ron Clark chose Tech High, BTW?
Adult Mess Trumps Kids' Success
July 8th, 2012
1:11 pm
Wow bootney, when did the innocent kid become the scapegoat for the sins/problems/choices/issues of the parent(s) who may not make the best choices or are not in the majority to change things with the voting process. Some parents of affected kids are disengaged or absent (physically or emotionally). Thanks that the Warren court did not include Bootney when Brown v. Board of Education was decided.
Without the sarcasm, yes, some voters unfortunately make uninformed decisions. However, we must remember that in politics there are behind the scenes actions that don’t get fleshed out with transparency. Yes, parents have to have accountability, but so does society for the advancement of its next generation. They may be someone else’s kids, but they are still my/our responsibility – in one form or another. We can properly educate now or pay in less constructive and desirable forms later.
Sorry, but I have to log out of the blog for the day since I need to provide some value (if only a little) to society by helping a young person improve his/her knowledge base. Even though the parent of the kid may make choices that don’t reflect what I view as best, I still can help the kid to make better choices.
Freedom of Speech
July 8th, 2012
1:59 pm
Beware everyone. @Maureen does not release comments in a timely fashion, if at all.
Freedom of Speech
July 8th, 2012
2:01 pm
Why are you ripping @Living? Is @Bootney = @Maureen? Maybe @Bootney is afraid of change. What are you afraid of? Tech High had a 93% graduation rate and it’s closing, thanks to people like you. APS just doesn’t get it.
Freedom of Speech
July 8th, 2012
2:03 pm
@Bootney is still living in the world of slide rules and abacases. You will fight every new reform tooth and nail. You read too much of Diane Ravitch’s blog.
Freedom of Speech
July 8th, 2012
2:05 pm
@Bootney, I understand the problem perfectly, and @Living is spot on. You are just incapable of solving the problem.
Freedom of Speech
July 8th, 2012
2:24 pm
One more comment, @Bootney. You show a real unwillingness to change the system. When a school district closes a school that had a 93% graduation rate, there are BIG problems, period. You would be wise to stop following Diane Ravitch and start listening to the winds of change. Public education in Georgia is toxic right now, and if the constitutional amendment doesn’t pass, then we will continue to see the monopolies win. APS has an inept Superintendent and unqualified board, and so do many of the counties in Georgia. Some counties have a 40% graduation rate! And you applaud public charters when they shut down. You are thinking more about yourself and not these beautiful children who had a real chance, and now they go back “into the system” where they will be just another negative statistic.
Prof
July 8th, 2012
3:31 pm
@ Freedom of speech, 1:59 pm, and others who have commented on being held in moderation for awhile (as I was too the other day, for about 4 hours before being released)… As Maureen announced here last week, she’s on vacation for a week at her mother’s house without a computer, so can’t check the bloggers very fast. Given the cruel/ freaky/ libelous comments some post, I can see her reasoning.
Fact Check
July 8th, 2012
4:50 pm
The grad rate last year under the new calculation was 56% so those latching on to the 93% 4 year averaged rate might want to take a deep breath.
It is disturbing that a high school would receive students functioning academically at such a low level but high school teachers all over have been complaining about this for some time. Those complaints are usually dismissed as making excuses, low expectations etc. For some reason when a charter makes the statement it’s received differently. It shouldn’t be. It’s a travesty for the students no matter what kind of school they’re in.
Based on the release and news story, APS did not terminate the charter. The governing board made the financial decision that they could not continue to operate. The release said “one” of the reasons for the cut was a pension payment. News stories have referred to state benefit plan payments, lower property tax revenue than anticipated, and the pension payments. Reports also said the cut applied to all APS schools. So without more info, the facts leading to the decision are a bit unclear.
Freedom of Speech
July 8th, 2012
4:55 pm
@Prof, what is cruel is that we are cheating our children, because the system is broken. Once everyone works together collaboratively to reform a system for the 21st century, then maybe our children will be motivated to learn,because then we will be teaching them using delivery mechanisms that they use in their daily lives.
Tech High could be saved if they shifted to a “blended learning” model. Those schools operate at a fraction of the bloated $15K per pupil of APS. And I know, that includes special ed. Well, blended learning schools operate at about a third of what APS needs.
So sad that you will all continue to look to spin any data to suit your protectionist needs. And I can bet that the majority of the @Profs on here who are protectionist are not under age 35. It’s the digital immigrants that are ruining it for the children who need the help most.
living in an outdated ed system
July 8th, 2012
5:18 pm
Here’s some info for all of you, from a fellow blogger who knows the truth:
“What strikes me is the hostility that is now openly being shown by APS towards the Charter Schools is simply stunning – and the reasons provided are pure BS. Let’s look at the statements made by the APS spokesperson:
Caused by Lower Property Taxes – “two-thirds of the cutback [to Atlanta Tech High] was due to an unexpected drop in property tax revenue” – What cave has this spokesperson been living in? Property taxes are projected to drop 7.4% in FY13 as compared to FY12 – and this has been common knowledge since at least April of this year. Unexpected? Hardly. Two-thirds? BS!
APS Has to Cut Expenses – “Regular Atlanta schools are enduring the same cutbacks” – this is incredible miss-direction! Total revenues from Local and State sources for APS are only down 1.7% as compared to FY12. And yes, APS has to cut expenses – not because its revenues are down – but because it refused to rein in spending in prior years and has been operating with significant budget deficits. The $360,000 decrease in funding for the Charter School is comparable to an $87 million reduction in APS funding. Apples and oranges – or let’s just make up stuff on the fly that sounds good.
“Pension Liabilities Caused Some of the Shortfall” – Some or most? Given that their earlier statements related to revenue and expenses are flat-out wrong or misleading – my sense is the statement is provably false. And to top it off, it now appears that APS is going forward with charging the Charter Schools with the cost of the underfunded pensions. This is a complex issue, but suffice it to say that APS incurred over a $500 million liability as the result of prior Administrations not funding the pensions properly. Since FY06, the annual cost to correct this has been $36-43 million per year – a cost that will continue until 2025. How is this related to the funding of the current Charter Schools? It is not – but it serves as a convenient mechanism to try to kill them off!”
Atlanta Mom
July 9th, 2012
11:27 pm
Freedom of speech, you state : Tech High could be saved if they shifted to a “blended learning” model. Those schools operate at a fraction of the bloated $15K per pupil of APS
So, why didn’t they?
Jovan Miles
July 11th, 2012
8:03 am
Good morning all.
Tech High’s problems did not start because of APS. Tech High’s problems were related to their lack of ongoing fundraising (which explains why they were in that dilapidated building in the first place) and their inability to provide the kind of rigorous and unique academic programs that they claimed they would.
Charter schools receive minimal support from school districts. They are given lots of autonomy in exchange for measurable results. One of the benefits of that autonomy is that they can raise money from private sources. High schools in particular require tens of millions of dollars annually to be run successfully. The average dollar per pupil for high school students that is provided by the state DOE is also quite low when compared to elementary, middle school, and/or special needs students.
The whole notion of charter schools being competitive with traditional public schools requires charters to offer an option that is at least as good as the students’ home schools…if not better.
If you’re a high school student and your school doesn’t have (1) an adequate gyn, (2) a football team, (3) a large student body, (4) transportation, (5) fully functioning science labs (6) a fully stocked media center, (7) update technology resources, etc….then your school isn’t very competitive.
Addressing the old building…the charter school board/administration/management team are responsible for securing a building for the school. In order for charters to be approved by the sate and/or local school board then the proposed charter school founders must show that they have secured a location for their school. It’s like starting a business. The founders are responsible for securing a location. Local school boards have been known to provide some assistance in doing so but it isn’t their responsibility. APS did nothing wrong here.
Tech High was NOT run by the APS board of ed either. It was run by the Tech High Board. APS does, however run two district sponsored charter schools. Those two schools are The B.E.S.T. Academy and Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy.
Tech High’s closure is a sad but it isn’t because of some large conspiracy. The school simply could not do what it set out to do. That’s all. The founders and board agreed to certain things in exchange for their charter. They did not fulfill their part of the obligation/agreement.
And to whomever said that the teachers at Tech who paid into a pension but would not be able to draw money from the pension later is false. All educators in the state of Georgia, including charter school educators, MUST pay into the teacher’s retirement system…and as a result they will be able to receive benefits from the TRS when they retire.
A student
July 12th, 2012
11:23 pm
Tech High was on it’s way to becoming something better, it is the lack of funds that stopped us. Our buliding maybe haven’t look like much, but on the inside, we had the best teachers and they wanted see us to succeed. Yes, i missed out on not having a football team, but hey i have 4 years of college for that. This is my last year as a high school and i didn’t picture it to be like this;I was looking forward to spending it with my graduating class. Eventhough, my school is being close i will forever live by our motto Sucess is the only option