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SRC to vote on more oversight for charters

After talking for weeks about a new policy to increase oversight of the city's 61 charter schools, the Philadelphia School Reform is scheduled to vote on the proposal this afternoon.

After talking for weeks about a new policy to increase oversight of the city's 61 charter schools, the Philadelphia School Reform is scheduled to vote on the proposal this afternoon.

The new policy would give the district the flexibility to consider new charter applications every two years instead of annually and allow the district to visit charter schools more often.

And, when considering charter renewals, the policy spells out that the commission will consider whether the school is meeting academic standards of the federal No Child Left Behind Law.

Many charter administrators have said they fear the new policy will result in the district micro-managing their schools. Several charter operators and parents are scheduled to speak on the proposed policy at today's regular commission meeting scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in district headquarters at 440 North Broad St.

The commission postponed a vote last month after some charter operators said they had not had an opportunity to review the policy.

Also this afternoon, several high school students have signed up to urge the commission to push in upcoming teacher contract negotiations for changes in how teachers are assigned to schools.

Students from the Philadelphia Student Union want the district to negotiate incentives that will attract qualified, experienced teachers to the district's most difficult, hard-to-staff schools. Now, students say, those schools have the least experienced teachers because the seniority system allows seasoned teachers to transfer to other schools, including magnets.