WEEKLYPRESS.COM • UCREVIEW.COM • FEBRUARY 4, 2015 5


Philadelphia sizes up more Science Center program helps middle-school students charter


schools


By Evan Grossman Watchdog.org


T


he School District of Philadelphia could be on the verge of a his- toric expansion of the city’s charter school program. Accepting applications for the first time since 2007, the district received 40 propos- als in October from groups interested in opening new charter schools and it could expand the program, turn- ing almost half of the entire city into charters. There are currently 67,000 students attending 84 char- ter schools in Philadelphia and more than 40,000 names on waiting lists to get into charters, according to Philly School Choice. There is no set number of schools the district must approve or reject.


“It’s been a long time coming,” said Todd Zie- barth, senior vice president of state advocacy and sup- port for the National Al- liance for Public Charter Schools. “We think there is a real possibility of expanding the number of high-quality public school options in the area.”


House Speaker Mike


Turzai, R-Allegheny, last week endorsed expanding the charter program dur- ing a town hall meeting at Mastery Shoemaker School in West Philadelphia with parents who want more school choice options for their children. “We ourselves saw folks that were already running schools that were applying, and they’re already doing a better job than the tradition- al public schools are doing, and we are very hopeful that when the final decisions get made that a significant num- ber of the charter applicants are approved,” Turzai said. The debate over charter schools in Philadelphia has been fierce. The group Pub- lic Citizens for Children and Youth issued a scathing re- port calling for the rejection of all 40 applications and said the district, which is already facing an $80 million budget deficit, can’t afford to add more charters. “District charter payments could grow to more than a billion dollars per year, or 42 percent of the district’s budget; and charter student enrollment would increase to 51 percent of the District’s


total enrollment,” according to the PCCY report. Other data suggests add- ing more charters to the district would be less costly than regular public schools. School choice advocates argue it’s misleading to say charters eat up public school money because they are, in fact, public schools, too. Charters typically spend


15 percent less per pupil than district schools, ac- cording to James Paul, an education policy expert at the Commonwealth Founda- tion. That’s because charters get funding from districts in Pennsylvania on a per-pupil basis, minus several line items. Arguments against char- ter schools in Pennsylvania range from how they are funded to how accountable they are. According to the Penn- sylvania School Boards As- sociation, charter costs for districts around the state have risen from $434 million in 2006-07 to $1.26 billion in 2012-13, and the basis of cal- culating tuition payments to charters is weighted in favor of charter schools. “School districts make payments to charter schools for their resident students who at- tend, and the payments bear no relationship to the actual instructional costs incurred by the charters to educate the student,” according to the PSBA.


In addition, charter op- ponents argue that when a financially challenged school district like Phila- delphia takes money out of traditional public schools to cover the cost of enrollment increases in charters, that money lost contributes to a sizable district deficit. In the 2012-13 school year, Philadelphia spent $14,361 per student, according to the


continued on page 9


amp up their STEM knowledge


E


lectricity, batteries and currents are three concepts that are part of our daily existence but often operate under our radar. That’s all changing for a group of Philadelphia middle-school students. AmpItUp, the University City Science Center’s new- est STEAM Initiatives pro- gram, will give 7th and 8th graders an opportunity to explore the inner workings of the batteries and circuits that power our daily activi- ties. AmpItUp sessions will begin on January 28 and conclude in April 2015 with a project fair and final pre- sentation.


Building on the teamwork and investigation skills they developed in the STEAM Initiatives’ Polymer Play program, 7th and 8th grade students from KiPP West Philadelphia and Samuel B. Huey School will explore the science of batteries. The middle school students will step into the world of electrochemistry and have a chance to tinker with de- signing different types of batteries and experiment- ing with electrical circuits. Real-life lab visits to Science Center-based companies, combined with instruction in soldering irons, multime- ters, laser cutters, and hand tools will provide inspira- tion for the students’ team projects. At the conclusion of the program, an exhibit of the teams’ final projects will to be presented to the public at the Science Center. Thanks to continued sup-


port from Cognizant Mak- ing the Future, the Polymer Play program returns for a third session with students from the City School and


St. Mary‛s


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Morton McMichael School. The program began on Janu- ary 28 and will conclude in May 2015 with a demo day at the Science Center where participants will show off their final projects. Polymer Play continues to emphasize materials science through project-based learning. By making bio-plastics, solving


problems through design projects, and recycling used containers into new prod- ucts, students are using in- novative techniques as they delve deeper into material science and technology, using tools such as laser cutters to create and morph plastics and polymers into their own design.


“This has been a trans- formative experience for Samuel B. Huey Students STEM Scholars. The pro- gramming offered through the Science Center’s STEAM Initiatives has given our stu- dents an opportunity to see and participate in real-life applications of the concepts continued on page 9


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15 minutes from University City 610/623-2548


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