Charter schools concept growing- BESE to decide more institutions' fates
by Mike Hasten - News Star (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE — Charter schools, envisioned in 1995 as places to use innovative teaching methods to reach troubled students but didn't always find success, are making a huge comeback now that the state is taking over failed public schools. The recent revival of charters began in New Orleans after residents who fled Hurricane Katrina began returning and finding that the Orleans Parish School Board didn't have the funds to open enough schools.

Now, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education's declaration of "Academically Unacceptable School" status for schools that repeatedly fail accountability program evaluations has prompted the creation of a significant number of charters and prompted applications for 23 more. "Are charter schools the silver bullet for solving all the problems in public education? No," Caroline Roemer, executive director of the Louisiana Charter School Association, frankly states. "Can they be part of the solution? Yes."

So far, the state has 77 operating charter schools, mostly in New Orleans. The Crescent City currently has 53 charters, many of which are seeking to turn around failed schools, and BESE recently approved another 11 charters to operate under the Recovery School District.