State approves elementary, middle schools for San Jose
Two novel charter schools are headed for San Jose this year, after the California Board of Education on Friday overruled two local school boards and approved the schools’ applications.
The board overwhelmingly approved both Perseverance Preparatory and Promise Academy. Perseverance proposes a rigorous charter middle school, also focusing on community service and leadership, aimed at children in low-income families.
Promise Academy, in a partnership with the Tech Museum of Innovation of San Jose, would target low-income families in the downtown area.
Both schools are looking for campuses and plan to open in August.
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“We’re feeling ecstatic, over the moon,” said Yolanda Bernal Samano, a parent leader with Promise. “We’ve really had a long journey.”
In contrast, the outcome didn’t please officials of San Jose Unified, which last spring had rejected both charters.
“I wonder how the citizens of San Jose feel about state of California running schools in San Jose,” said Stephen McMahon, the district’s deputy superintendent.
The state will not be operating either school, but the state board altered the proposal for Promise, which was originally proposed to include elementary through high school. On Friday, the state board approved only grades from transitional kindergarten through eighth grade.
Parents working with charter advocate Innovate Public Schools have been organizing and lobbying for more than a year to improve educational options for low-income families in the heart of San Jose. The charter proposals drew angry opposition from teachers and their unions, who maintained that the district already offers high-quality education downtown and who doubted the expertise and ability of charter organizers to run schools.
After impassioned public hearings, the San Jose Unified school board, and later by the Santa Clara County Board of Education, rejected both charters last spring.
Susan Ellenberg, San Jose Unified’s board president, was reserved in her response on Friday, saying she was neither surprised nor disappointed. “It’s just a set of facts,” she said about the state board’s decision. She acknowledged that the district could be impacted by any loss of students.
By challenging districtrun school systems, charter schools run afoul of various groups. The host and nearby school districts lose students and state funding, and often must provide a campus for charters. Most charters are not unionized, causing concern among teacher and other labor unions, which see the charter movement as a growing privatization of education, beyond public control.
But for parents living amidst low-performing schools, charter schools offer an attractive option.
“I’m really excited. It’s been a long time coming,” said Debesay Teklemariam, whose children are in first and fourth grade. He plans to enroll them in Promise next school year. A resident of Midtown, he said, “there aren’t a lot of options for a good, high-performing middle school.”