Charter school not ready to give up in quest for equitable funding
Syringa Mountain School, Blaine County’s only state-funded charter school, is not giving up on its quest to become part of the Blaine County School District, a situation that would greatly improve funding for Syringa’s projected enrollment this fall of 147 students.
On Monday, Syringa Consultant Mary Gervase, one of the founders of Syringa Mountain School, filed a formal response with the district board of trustees, requesting reconsideration of a rejection by the board on May 10 to accept Syringa as an “Innovative School” within the district.
“We are disappointed, to say the least, that no dialogue has occurred to date between our two public education agencies,” Gervase wrote. “We will continue to request that you consider opening up a dialogue with Syringa’s leadership, in good faith, to explore ways we might collaborate on behalf of the Blaine County children and families we mutually serve.”
Syringa Mountain School’s quest to receive what it describes as “equitable funding” from the district was legalized this year when the Idaho Legislature approved HB570, a new law that allows school districts to designate charter schools within their boundaries as Innovative Schools, offering alternative education methodologies. An approved agreement would require that school districts share property tax revenues, which they are allowed to collect but that charter schools are not.
As a consequence, Syringa Mountain School spends about $6,500 per student per year, while the Blaine County School District spends about $16,500 per student per year, the highest amount of any school district in Idaho. Without property tax funding, Syringa operates on state funds from the Idaho State Department of Education and private donations and grants.
Following approval of HB570 in late March, Syringa applied to the school district for Innovative School designation.
The district board of trustees discussed the request with Syringa officials in a public forum on May 3, but denied the request at its regular board meeting a week later. The vote denying the request was 3-2, with Board Chair Shawn Bennion and Trustees Rob Clayton and Carole Freund voting to reject the request and Board Vice Chair Elizabeth Corker and Trustee Cami Bustos voting against the rejection.
An alternative proposal, that a committee comprised of district trustees and Syringa’s board of directors further explore the matter, was proposed by Corker but rejected 3-2.
District officials stated that the main reason for rejecting the request was that providing equitable funding to Syringa would cost the district an additional $1.7 million at a time when the district is trying to cut back on spending. Also, Bennion and Clayton noted that there was “overwhelming opposition” from the public on the Syringa proposal.
Gervase and Syringa Board President Greg Bloomfield told The Weekly Sun that the process used by the district in evaluating the request was not equitable; namely, that there was no dialogue but simply a procedure not unlike a credit application with the result being either yes or no.
HB570 did not establish a protocol for charter schools to become part of a school district. In addition to Syringa, two charter schools in Nampa have started proceedings to become Innovative Schools in the Nampa School District. Gervase and Bloomfield said Syringa will await the result of the Nampa requests to see what lessons can be learned for a second Syringa request to the Blaine County School District.
“The outcome of the BCSD Board was not surprising, even if unpalatable for Syringa,” Gervase said. “Unfortunately and inevitably, the conversation immediately leaped to ‘our funding versus yours.’”
Gervase said Syringa is asking the school district to correct a “Due Diligence Report” that was prepared by district staff for consideration by the school board because Syringa believes that some of the information did not accurately present the state of the school.
Regardless of the student funding differential between Syringa and the district, Syringa continues to grow in popularity. Syringa Director Christine Fonner told The Weekly Sun that school enrollment has increased for the coming school year. There are currently 128 students attending but that number will jump to 147 when school starts in August, a 13 percent increase. Because the school received more requests for enrollment than could be accommodated, Syringa had to hold a lottery to select new pupils since the school is now filled to capacity.
Syringa will begin its third year of operation in August, with grades K-6. In the future, Syringa intends to expand to include seventh and eighth grades.
Syringa Mountain School uses the Waldorf education methodology, which the school describes as educating the whole child through traditional studies combined with education in arts, sustainable living and experiential learning. The methodology minimizes the use of technology at lower grade levels.