Joe Nathan column -- Taxpayers would see much better use of their funds under a new proposal presented last week by Sen. Kathy Saltzman, DFL- Woodbury.

The bill will cut costs as it allows some charter public schools to purchase buildings with public funds. This is good news for the steadily increasing number of Minnesota families sending their youngsters to charters, and for state taxpayers.

Since 1991, Minnesota charter public schools have been allowed to purchase a building, but not use tax funds to do that. Eugene Piccolo, Executive Director the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools calls the bill “an important step forward.”

Spectrum High School in Elk River currently leases its building. (Photo, courtesy of Josh Rueckert, Spectrum High School)

Saltzman’s bill changes that.  She suggests:

• Requiring a charter to demonstrate a strong financial record and academic growth of its students before being allowed to purchase or
construct a building

• Recognizing that over the long run, it is less expensive to purchase a building than pay rent on it, year after year

• Reducing the amount of money that goes to a chartered public school for building costs once it has completed the building purchase. This is key. Since most charters rent space, they have, in some cases, paid more in rent over a number of years than the building would have cost, if they had been allowed to use public funds to purchase it.

• Transferring 6% of money going to charters for building costs so that a new fund can be established that guarantees bonds. This means that charters, like district public schools, can obtain a lower interest rate when they borrow money for buildings – a very important cost savings

• Encourages, but does not require school districts with empty buildings to sell them to charters

• Requiring a fire marshal inspection of a building before a charter begins using it, so the people in the school know about potential
problems ahead of time. Knowing ahead of time about problems allows charters to insist that a building’s owner resolve these problems
before they move in.

Sen. Saltzman readily acknowledges that some features of the bill are still being developed. A key issue is what happens to approximately 25 charters (out of about 150 charters in the state) that have established building companies already, which purchased and in some cases constructed new buildings. It is not easy to transfer bonds already issued and purchased. In some cases, there is a penalty for paying bonds off early. So the transition period between what we have now, and the future needs clarification.

Recently Minnesota’s charter public school law was rated #1 in the country for its effectiveness in producing strong schools by the
Washington DC based National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The National Alliance for Charter School Authorizers gave Minnesota its top award for improvements that Sen.Saltzman and others produced last year. Legislators increased and clarified accountability while reduced conflict of interest problems. The new bill continues that good work, rewarding successful schools and making more efficient use of our taxes.

Joe Nathan, a former public school teacher and school administrator, directs the Center for School Change at Macalester College.  He welcomes reactions, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it