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Teachers and parents of the Berkeley site of Hickman Charter School are increasingly concerned about the impact a state Senate bill restricting home-school funding could have on their children’s education. 

SB 740, which was introduced by State Sen. Jack O’Connell, D-Santa Barbara, and approved by the majority of the Assembly Education Committee at a hearing Tuesday, would cut state money for nonclassroom-based instruction by charter schools by 30 percent over the next three years. It would also require home-schooling charter schools to apply every fiscal year to the State Board of Education for the funding. Until now, these autonomously-run public schools received the same amount of state money as regular schools, regardless of whether they only provided resources to parents to teach their children at home, or whether they offered classroom instruction. 

This could directly affect Hickman Charter School. Based in the central valley, the school has a satellite office on Gilman Street, that serves about 100 students from kindergarten to eighth grade in the area. The office works mainly as a resource center for parents who teach their children at home. Parents and students must meet with the school’s teachers on a regular basis to work together on curricular goals, and the children can also benefit from special education services, such as speech therapy or psychological testing.  

O’Connell said he sponsored the bill to fight against charter schools that illegally keep state money meant for children’s instruction. “This bill is designed to eliminate the few bad charter school operators who are knocking the system,” the senator told the Daily Planet Tuesday afternoon. “We are aware of numerous situations where as much as $5,000 per student is going to creative entrepreneurs to run schools that do not exist.”  

O’Connell said the bill wouldn’t penalize schools not involved in fraudulent activities, since the State Board of Education would continue assigning them full funding as long as they prove to be efficient. But like many charter school advocates who attended Tuesday’s hearing, the administrator and teachers of Hickman Charter School say the legislation’s intent to fight the school operators abusing the system would discriminate against institutions providing quality education.  

“I would hope that (the Assembly Education Committee) would look for other ways, and if there are concerns with a few schools come out with solutions that will not negatively affect the schools that are doing a good job,” said Hickman Director Pat Golding in an interview before the bill was brought to the Assembly Education Committee. 

The main worry for educators at Hickman Charter School is that the state funding restrictions would force them to cut special education programs.  

“In our school many families that have students with special needs are looking for an alternative like ours,” said Golding. “You have to have money for all the special education services.” 

Another source of concern for charter school educators is the requirement to annually reapply for funding to the State Board of Education.  

“I find this especially frightening,” said Jane Stenmark, a teacher at the Berkeley site. “(The schools) wouldn’t know if they can stay at the same site. They would have to find a lease on a new site every year and teachers wouldn’t know from year to year if they would be working or not.” But more than about the uncertainty the legislation would bring to schools such as Hickman, Stenmark said she is worried about letting the Board of Education, an entity that does not necessarily support the charter schools, assess the quality of the education they provide. 

Parents are skeptical too. They feel that cutting the funding of nonclasroom-based charter schools may reduce the chance for their children to find the educational alternative that better fits them. 

“I think it’s really sad,” said Tina Rosselle, a mother of three. “Everybody has different needs and charter schools allow us to do what’s better for children on a daily basis.”  

Roselle’s eldest child has been a student at Berkeley’s Hickman Charter School for two years and her second child will be registered next fall. A former teacher, Rosselle wanted her children to be able to learn at their own pace and style and to have a say in their education. To her, home-schooling was the answer. 

“Every child learns in different ways at different times and you can’t accommodate all that in a classroom,” she said. 

The Legislative Assembly will have the final say. The Education Committee voted 10-1 Tuesday to send the bill to the Assembly members, who could vote on it as early as next month.