Mayoral Academy Supporters Gather at State House

Municipal leaders, officials from the Rhode Island Mayoral Academies and education stakeholders held a press conference at the State House today to urge Governor Lincoln Chafee to support mayoral academies.

They also voiced their support for the proposed mayoral academy charter school that would serve students from Cranston and Providence. That proposal has been hotly debated before the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education for months and a final decision could be rendered by September.

“From my perspective, I am convinced building a high quality mayoral academy as a public school option would benefit all of Cranston,” said Cranston Mayor Allan W. Fung, who spoke along with Mayors Daniel McKee of Cumberland and Scott Avedisian of Warwick.

Cumberland is home to the state's only existing mayoral academy, .

Maryellen Butke, executive director of the Rhode Island Campaign for Achievement Now, or RI-CAN, said the mayoral academy proposal is “the kind of shot in the arm Rhode Island needs.”

Rhode Island ranks 8th in the country in public school expenditures yet “the return on the investment is troublesome,” Butke said. The 2010 NECAP scores show a 29 percent achievement gap between well-off and low-income students and Rhode Island's Hispanic students rank dead least in the country with the lowest scores in both fourth and eighth grade math and reading tests. There’s also a large achievement gap between white and Latino and white and African American students.

“It’s clear we have a lot of work to do and we can’t afford to leave any options on the table,” Butke said.

If approved, the mayoral academy will eventually consist of five schools, two elementary schools, two middle schools and a high school. Half of the students will be from Cranston and the other half will be from Providence. Students will be selected by a lottery that is weighted toward students that are eligible for free or reduced priced lunch. The school would be operated by Achievement First, a charter school operator that operates 20 schools in Connecticut and New York.

The proposal has drawn harsh criticism from some members of the public and especially from officials in the Cranston school district. They’ve argued the charter school would siphon money away from the district at a time when Cranston schools are underfuned. The opposition has been so strong that supporters of the academy have begun to lose hope that the Regents will support it — part of the reason why the press conference was organized.

Butke said she rejects the “false dichotomy” that pits charter schools against public schools.

“The goal is to transform all schools so that we deliver the best possible options for all students,” she said.

A mayoral academy would have a net positive effect on its host community because it would provide leverage to increase achievement across the board, McKee said.

“For public schools just to meet the national average is costing residents in the state of Rhode Island $300 to $500 million of earning power,” McKee said. “Our inability to just to hit the Massachusetts average is costing residents in the state of Rhode Island $1.7 to $2 billion of earning power. That’s why mayors need to get involved with public schools.”

At Blackstone Valley Prep, McKee said, Cumberland is already seeing achievement rise and partnerships form between the charter school and public school district in a “significant way.”

In response to the assertion by public school officials in Cranston that the city should instead put the energy currently going into the mayoral academy proposal into the existing school district, McKee said he’d tell the district to “work harder.”

“We all need to work harder,” he said. “We do need leverage to push better performance from public schools.”

What’s happened in Hartford, Conn., is the perfect example of how mayoral academies and public schools can coexist and flourish together, said Reshma Singh, senior director of expansion for Achievement First.

There, a “unique program” was developed to recruit and train principals and assistant principals for the district.

“That’s one example of how Achivement First is creating a new paradyne for districts and charters to collaborate. Five years from now, Rhode Island could be recognized for these types of collaborations," Singh said.

In New York, 82 percent of 4th graders in Achievement First Schools reached proficiency in math — double the rate of the host districts. And 100 percent of 10th graders in New Haven, Conn., were at proficiency in writing. That’s 20 percent more than the host district and “above and beyond the wealthiest districts in Connecticut,” Singh said.

Avedisian said he and education officials in Warwick are in the process of putting together their own proposal for a mayoral academy that would serve Warwick students.

He and other leaders met with the governor last week to ask for public support for the mayoral academy proposal. Chafee was unwilling to give that support, Avedisian said, but the governor is “a fair and honest open person” and “we will hopefully continue to bring information to him so that we can at some point all move forward.”

Taxpayers demand accountability, Avedisian said, and the mayoral academy model “gives mayors and councils a real say in what’s going on.” More than half of most city and town budgets go towards education, “so we know accountability is important.” 

George D. Caruolo, the chairman of the Board of Regents and long time public education advocate, said in June that the most important thing he saw as charter schools began to come to Rhode Island was their collaboration between districts. He hoped that would be the case in Cranston, but worried about the contentiousness of the debate.

“My greatest fear is that the fight for reform would take a back seat to the fight for resources,” Caroulo said.

Fung, who has sunk significant political capital into the proposal and been the subject of much criticism, said he has "done his homework" on the issue and is certian the financial impact on the public school district would be positive since the district stands to get more state aid under the new funding formula.

And Providence Mayor Angel Tavares, who has been noticably absent from the debate, will soon be standing by Fung's side.

"He has indicated to me he will be aking a public statement shortly on the proposal," Fung said. "I welcome his participation in this proposal which I know sincerely is a good thing for our respective communities."

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