Charter Schools Take Root In Maryland

St. Mary's Superintendent Michael J. Martirano greets Eve Harding as her mother, Sarah Harding, walks her into Chesapeake Public Charter School. Other charter schools are opening in Baltimore and Prince George's this year. (By Mark Gail -- The Washington Post)

"We wanted something a little bit more challenging," Duarte said. ". . . Basically, it just gives all us parents and students a different option."

St. Mary's parents struggled for months to get the charter approved because of conflict that is all too common between charter schools and local school boards, Berman said.

"We have districts who don't necessarily want charter schools who are the ones who are charged with implementing the program," she said. "For the most part, most of the districts are implementing a law that they didn't want."

Montgomery County school officials successfully fought attempts to bring charters into the county by arguing that low-income students have shown improvement on tests and that charter proposals lacked innovation and adequate financial planning.

And the conflicts don't end when the approval process is over. Problems in Anne Arundel and Prince George's prompted heated exchanges between charter and school system officials. In Anne Arundel County, officials at KIPP Harbor Academy in Annapolis accused the school system of not providing the academy with available building space; school officials countered that they offered portable classrooms, which the law does not require them to do. KIPP Harbor closed at the end of the past school year. In Prince George's, officials shut down Potomac Public Charter School, citing financial and management problems.

The remaining charter schools have had varying degrees of academic and fiscal success. Chesapeake Science Point Public Charter School in Anne Arundel is on probation after questions were raised about its financial health and record keeping.

But KIPP Ujima Village Academy in Baltimore has made adequate yearly progress for the past two years and is deemed fiscally sound. The key to its success, said KIPP Baltimore's executive director, Jason Botel, is good teachers.

"I think constantly focusing on student achievement and doing whatever it takes to maximize student achievement, that's really what's allowed us to be a success," he said.

JoAnne Carter, the state's deputy superintendent for instruction and academic acceleration, said it is too early to assess the performance of charter schools. She said state education officials have been "pleased" with the schools' growth and academic performance so far, noting that parents overwhelmingly trust the charter schools. A 2006 evaluation found that 92.3 percent of charter school parents surveyed were satisfied with the schools.

Still, Carter said, it's unclear whether Maryland's charter schools have yet earned that high level of trust.

Baltimore's Weeldreyer said: "I think we are fortunate to have public perception that, right now, charter means better. But now I think we have to live up to it, and that doesn't mean that we'll always authorize perfect schools."