Peekskill Residents Start Petition Against Proposed Charter School

In two days, a group of Peekskill residents fighting against a proposed charter school in the city have amassed more than 100 signatures on an online petition.

In New York state, charter schools are publicly funded through their local school district. Charters have freedom to establish their own policies, design their own educational program, and manage their human and financial resources. Any child eligible for admission to a traditional public school is eligible for admission to a charter public school. Admission to a charter school cannot be limited on the basis of disability, race, creed, gender, national origin, religion, ancestry, intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, or athletic ability. If the number of applicants exceeds the number of available seats, a random selection process, such as a lottery, must be used.

The state education department accepted a proposal from a group wanting to start the Guardian Academy Charter School of Peekskill. You can read their full application and proposed budget here.

The Guardian Academy would start out with students in kindergarten through fifth grade, expanding to eighth grade over time. Audrey Warn, who heads the group applying for the charter, wrote in the application that the school’s objective “is to provide a rigorous and flexible academic curriculum supported by our integrated character education program to ensure the academic and personal success of each scholar.”

A school district must turn over money to a charter school for every student from that district that opts for the charter school instead. Therefore, many public-school advocates and officials worry about the financial drain on a local public school district where a charter is operating.

Some of the reasons residents signed the Peekskill Community for Schools’ petition against Guardian Academy were: fear that it would cause school taxes to rise; opposition to tax money going to private profit; and concern that Peekskill school employees would lose jobs if the district shrinks in size.

Speaking in 2013 at an information session, proponents said the school would not be in competition for funding, because school dollars “follow the child.”

You can learn more about the Guardian Academy on its Facebook page.