Inquirer Editorial: Charter feud must end

The escalating legal dispute between the Philadelphia School District and charter schools over enrollment could have been avoided with better coordination.

The two sides were bound to clash, given the inherent competition for students and state funding.

Six more charter schools are suing the district over how many students they can enroll.

At a time when every dollar counts, the tension will only worsen as more students flee failing traditional public schools. Charters currently enroll more than 34,000 city students, and many charters have long waiting lists.

But the district has serious concerns about expanding charter-school enrollment. The dispute comes as the district faces a budget deficit that could be as much as $430 million in the next fiscal year. Last fiscal year, the district spent $344 million of its $3.2 billion budget for 67 charter schools.

A recent report that found 70,000 empty seats in city schools makes the issue of charter-school expansion even more pressing. But that should not be the overriding factor in deciding the charters' fate.

State law prohibits districts from imposing caps on charter enrollment. But the district contends the limits are permitted in Philadelphia because they are contained in written agreements signed by the charter schools. The charters believe the district has gone beyond the scope of the law.

Rather than fight, the goal should be for the district and the charters to come together and mutually weigh the impact of each charter's expansion on nearby schools.

Charters should not be subject to arbitrary enrollment caps that limit opportunities for students to seek a better education. But neither can charters be allowed to grow without some oversight.

The dispute over charter-school expansion reveals a fundamental weakness in the 1997 charter law. Pennsylvania is one of the few remaining states that vests charter-school oversight in the host districts.

Charter-school oversight should be shifted to the state Department of Education to better manage competition for public-education dollars.

State oversight could lead to more accountability and more frequent assessments of the charters' academic performance, management, and financial practices.

Some charter schools are highly successful and outperform traditional public schools, but some are mismanaged. Charters with a proven track record should be allowed to expand where it makes sense to accommodate more children who want a better option.