Inquirer Editorial: Truth revealed about charters

The latest numbers on charter school performance in Pennsylvania give new meaning to the term

fuzzy math.

After the state Department of Education was forced by federal officials to recalculate performance rates, the percentage of charters that met academic benchmarks plummeted.

Under a new, broader, less-stringent assessment method that the department, without federal approval, used for the first time last fall, 49 percent of the 156 charter schools in the state were said to have met academic benchmarks, based on their students' 2011-12 test scores.

But that already unacceptable rate dropped to an abysmal 28 percent after being recalculated according to federal guidelines. Philadelphia saw its recalculated percentage of charters meeting the standards drop from 54 percent to 29 percent.

The reassessments brought especially grim news for the state's 12 cyber charters, which primarily provide online instruction to students using home computers. None met the benchmarks. Previously, only one met the standards.

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association deserves thanks for challenging the earlier, misleading results and appealing to the U.S. Department of Education, which ordered the state to recalculate the charters' performance.

The revised results give parents a more accurate picture of how well a charter is performing, so they can make their best judgment about where their children should attend school.

The new assessments also support the complaints of critics who have long contended that many charter schools aren't any better academically than the traditional public schools their students are trying to escape. In fact, in many cases, students in traditional public schools are outperforming their peers enrolled in publicly supported charter schools.

Academic benchmarks were set by each state to determine which schools are making adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward the fulfillment of specific goals set under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Only about 50 percent of the state's district-run schools met AYP. And in Philadelphia, only 13 percent of the district-run schools met the benchmarks in math and language arts - a stark reminder of the hard work and investment still needed to improve student achievement.

The discrepancy in the charters' scores cries for state lawmakers to make an overhaul of the 1997 charter law a priority. A more equitable funding formula and better oversight for all charter schools are needed. Districts have shown that they cannot effectively oversee the same charters that they compete with for students and public funding.

State Auditor General Jack Wagner estimates taxpayers would save $315 million a year if the state stopped funding charters and cyber charters at significantly higher levels than their actual costs of educating students. Good charters that produce acceptable academic results can be a viable option in public education. But the numbers must add up.