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Saturday, September 4, 2010

Minnesota Tightens Oversight Of Charter Schools - wcco.com

Minnesota Tightens Oversight Of Charter Schools - wcco.com

Minnesota Tightens Oversight Of Charter Schools

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) ― Daria Adams said she knew her daughter, Kiana, was in the right place as the smiling teen in the dramatic black headscarf picked up her class schedule at the Saint Paul Conservatory charter school.

"This is just a place that is meant for a girl like her. She likes all the arts, she sings, she does theater, she likes to direct films," Adams said. During Kiana's one semester at a suburban public high school, Adams said, her 17-year-old daughter "just wilted."

So when she was told the school for the performing arts was among the dozens of Minnesota charter schools with an uncertain future due to changes in state law, Adams gasped, "Really? Oh, no."

The nation's oldest charter school movement is undergoing one of its biggest shake-ups in years, with some of the state's 152 charter schools likely to close after this school year. It's due to a 2009 state law that forces groups called charter school authorizers to tighten up their oversight of the schools.

Most charter school leaders say it's a welcome reaction to problems. Several charter