Charter Schools Make Gains On Tests

"We are struggling financially to maintain this 10-to-1 ratio, and Latin and arts and music and physical education," McKay said. "We are competing with schools that have larger pots of money and can pay more."

Test scores have improved, but last year, the school's passing rate was less than half the rate of the city's top charter middle schools.

At charters that have been able to draw students and funding, teachers marvel at the resources.

"I have a copier," said Alexandra Pardo, who previously taught at Roosevelt High and is now principal at Thurgood Marshall Academy, a high-performing charter high school that has gone through a $15 million renovation. "I used to go out to make copies because there was no working copier in the building."

At Roosevelt, she said, "there were mice and rats walking around in my classroom. I had ceiling tiles falling on my students' heads. We had winter days without heat, wearing coats and hats in the classroom."

Some charter schools have been especially successful at supplementing taxpayer funding with charitable grants from donors as large as the Bill and Melinda Gates and Walton foundations and as small as their friends and neighbors.

Thurgood Marshall charter school, founded by Georgetown University's Street Law Program, expects $1.7 million in contributions this year, accounting for 25 percent of overall spending, according to its budget.

Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science pays no rent to the university, saving the charter $1 million a year and allowing it to spend $700,000 in facilities money on school improvements. Each Howard student has a laptop computer to use in class and a notebook computer to take home. The school arranges for Internet access at home for students without it.

Michelle Pierre-Farid, who took over as principal at the Friendship Southeast elementary school last year when she moved from Tyler Elementary, said the additional resources have allowed her to hire people to maintain the building and manage school finances. As a regular public school principal, she said, "I knew every nickel and dime." Now, "I don't even know my budget. . . . That allows me to get back into the classroom and do what I need to do."

Rewriting the Rules

Freed from centralized rules, charter directors have been able to rethink age-old structures, including the Monday-through-Friday, 8-to-3 schedule.

At many charters, students stay until 5 p.m., with the extra hours devoted to more class time and extra tutoring. Many require students to attend Saturday classes and summer school. Schaeffler said KIPP students spend 47 percent more time in class than students do in traditional schools.

It is not uncommon for charters to buy cellphones for the teachers and then tell students and parents to call anytime they need help.