Finishing touches: More than a quarter of all public schools in Arizona are now charter schools. Some districts have lost more than 20 percent of their students to charters. Guess who's concerned? - Forum

Education Next, Winter, 2001 by Robert Maranto

* Providing new curriculum choices. Many school districts facing competition have opened magnet schools, district-sponsored charter schools, or gifted programs in part to compete with charter schools. Often these offer either Montesson or "back-to-basics" curricula, the latter including the Benjamin Franklin program. Mesa had created a Ben Franklin magnet school to respond to the requests of many parents for a more traditional curriculum, but when demand for the school far exceeded the number of available desks, the district refused to expand the program. That's when parents banded together to form a charter school. Now the district has changed its tune regarding expansion. In the coming decade Mesa plans to open five Benjamin Franklin magnet schools to compete with Benjamin Franklin charter schools. In Mesa, Queen Creek, and several smaller districts around the state, the spread of charters forced district schools to conduct in-service teacher training in phonics or Saxon math, curricula that local charter s chools were providing. Queen Creek won back more than a third of the students lost to a charter school when it emphasized phonics and changed district leadership. The operator of an arts academy suggested that her charter served to "protect arts programs all over the district."

* Changing administrators. I conducted fieldwork in four small, relatively isolated districts that lost more than 10 percent of their enrollment to charter schools. Three of the four districts changed school superintendents in the four-year study period, and the fourth nearly did so--a high level of turnover for rural districts. All four districts changed some of their principals, partly in response to charter competition.

* Undermining the competition. Charter operators insist that some districts compete using unethical tactics, One operator claims that district officials spread rumors that he is racist, leading many minority applicants to stay in district schools. Another complained about district officials' alleging he was teaching religion. Some district teachers who decided to teach at or start charter schools reported being ostracized by former colleagues-one says he was slapped and called a traitor. Zoning is also an issue. In 1998 the Tucson city council passed a bill requiring zoning hearings before schools of small size (meaning charters) can open. In 1999, Maricopa County, the state's largest, imposed zoning restrictions on charter and private schools, but not on district schools, as if a school of 100 students causes more disruption than a school of 1,000. Cities are often reluctant to approve expansion plans for charter schools, and city administrators in Phoenix and Gilbert have been accused of harassing charter o perators, in one case even issuing press releases about nonexistent violations of the fire code. In the face of pressure from local district supporters, two housing developments that had planned to provide land for charter schools instead gave it to district schools. Several charter operators complained that district schools told certain students they were expelled and would have to report to charters. This happened just after the 100-day count on which state funding is based, but before standardized testing season.