State Board of Education Considers Renting to Charters
Hoping to tackle the long-standing challenge of financing charter school facilities, the State Board of Education is considering taking on a novel and controversial role for an elected body: landlord.
The proposal, spearheaded by member David Bradley, R-Beaumont, would draw about $100 million from the state’s $23 billion Permanent School Fund to purchase buildings that would be leased back to charter schools. Bradley and Commissioner of Education Robert Scott, both vocal charter advocates, call the arrangement a “win-win,” saying the fund could make money on the investment while at the same time saving charter schools money. The board will ...
Comments (4)
Scott Chase via Texas Tribune on Facebook
For a bunch of small government "conservatives", the SBOE sure seems to want state government in everything dealing with local education.
Tracy Gamble via Texas Tribune on Facebook
What doesn't make sense to me is what Thomas Ratliff points out: "If a charter school has a good business model, than it should be no problem getting a loan in the commercial space. And if not, why would we want to invest?"
tratliff
With the caveat of not knowing all of the details of this idea, my biggest concern is the potential conflict of interest for the SBOE. It isn't hard to envision a scenario where the SBOE is leasing or has loaned money to a charter school for its facility and, at some point in the future, that charter school stops providing a quality education for its students. What does the SBOE do? If they cancel the charter, they have bad debt on their hands. If they don't cancel the charter to preserve the investment, kids don't get the education they need. With a 30% failure rate among charter schools in Texas since the beginning of the program, this isn't a red herring. This is a very real possibility.
I reiterate my position on this issue. Charter schools need help with facilities funding and the legislature, not the SBOE, should take the necessary steps to fix it. Charter schools play an important role in meeting the educational needs across Texas.
This proposal needs to be put on the shelf.
WUSRPH
We can only hope that the SBOE's constitutional fudiciary obligation to protect and increase the Permanent School Fund will block this idea. I would expect their legal counsel to be against it...but a quick mandamus action might be required if they really endanger the PSF and reduce its potential income by adopting this proposal.