Archived Information

Charter Schools and Students with Disabilities: Review of Existing Data - November 1998

Technical and Business Expertise

A number of investigators have suggested that lack of the technical knowledge and expertise to administer a school and run a business is a critical issue facing charter school operators (Buechler, 1996; Corwin, Carlos, Lagomarsino, & Scott, 1996; McLaughlin, Henderson, & Ullah, 1996). Many operators began their schools out of a desire to create a positive learning environment for students, teachers, and families. Relatively few, however, had received training as educational administrators or small business owners. (In most states, charter school directors are not required to hold principal certification.) Thus, few directors are likely to possess the breadth of knowledge necessary to handle the educational demands or the multitude of business related activities of a school (e.g., personnel, budget, transportation, physical plant).

Given the limited resources available to many charter schools, providing necessary services such as those related to personnel, food, and transportation may present particularly challenging problems for inexperienced management. For example, Urhan and Stewart (1994) found that district-provided transportation was a problem in virtually all of the Minnesota charter schools that were operating or preparing for operation in early 1994. For many schools and districts, tensions resulted from difficulty in coordinating the calendars and schedules of the charter and traditional schools. The problems were more complicated when students attended the charter school from out of district and decisions had to be made regarding whether the school, family, or district was responsible for transportation.

Of particular relevance to students with disabilities was Urhan and Stewart's (1994) finding that many charter school operators were unfamiliar with the special education funding process and were unprepared to provide assessments and recommended services. Many assumed the district would meet the need. Initially, several charter schools had difficult relationships with their local districts due to special education issues involving transportation, funding, and provision of services. Some other preliminary evidence suggests that relatively few charter school operators are conversant in the requirements of IDEA, Section 504, and ADA (Charter schools and special ed, 1997). Few understand the technical aspects of reporting, which are important in obtaining adequate funding. In fact, some schools may have opted not to pursue special education funding because operators consider the process too complicated or time consuming for the return on the dollar (Charter schools: Issues affecting, 1997).
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[Accountability]

[Coordination with LEAs and SEAs]