Charter school proposals progress

LYNN – Two out of four proposed charter schools looking to educate Lynn students have been invited to submit final applications to state education officials by Nov. 13.A state review team will pore over applications submitted by the Lynn Preparatory School and Road to Success Charter High School and be interviewed by the state Charter School Office. State officials will schedule public hearings on the charter applications in Lynn, Peabody and Salem, the areas proposed to be served by the schools, and send recommendations to the state Board of Education for approval or rejection in February.Lynn Prep is proposed as a kindergarten through eighth grade school for up to 250 students from Lynn. Founders Mark Hathaway and Joanne Civitarese proposed modeling the school after a private elementary school they operate in Swampscott.Lynn Prep would operate 190 days a year and expand to 500 students with school hours running from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.Road to Success’ founders want to educate up to 400 students from Lynn, Peabody and Salem at a Salem site. The school would serve ninth through 12th grades, providing them with longer school days and strictly structured classrooms for students considered to be at-risk learners.Road to Success would allow new enrollments in the middle of the academic year and break its 40-week academic year into four 10-week sessions.Lynn Prep and Road to Success are among eight charter proposals to be selected for additional state review out of 14 that submitted applications to the Department of Education.Gov. Deval Patrick wants to expand the number of charter schools across Massachusetts from 62 under a plan to lift charter school spending caps in the lowest-scoring 10 percent of school districts from 9 percent to 18 percent The plan would more than triple the number of available slots in these districts from the current 10,000 to over 37,000. Under the governor’s plan, only successful charter school operators with demonstrated records of student achievement would be allowed to open or expand charter schools.Teachers union officials last month tore into Patrick’s plan, claiming it would strip teachers of collective bargaining rights and authorize “unprecedented state control” over schools, including the ability to replace staff and suspend policies. The governor’s plan also calls for providing the education commissioner with the ability to develop a performance contract and an “innovation plan” with local stakeholders. It would also enforce the inclusion of “wrap-around services” to meet social service, health and workforce development needs of students and families.State education officials said the expansion plan’s goal is to match funding standards set for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of “Race to the Top” federal stimulus grants.