With a vision of nurturing business and community leaders in Buffalo’s inner city, organizers are seeking approval from the state for a charter school that would be housed in the city’s Fruit Belt.
The proposed Aloma D. Johnson Fruit Belt Community Charter School would add a public educational element to a development project that will include 150 homes, two senior citizen complexes and a hospice facility in a 36-block area.
“We have a significant development planned in our community, and education is a critical element in community building,” said the Rev. Michael Chapman, pastor of St. John Baptist Church, who is the charter school’s lead applicant. “It’s especially important because we don’t have a community school in the Fruit Belt.”
The larger community development project is spearhead by the church’s development arm, but the school would have a separate management team that will strictly adhere to church-state prohibitions included in the state’s charter school law, Chapman said. It would be located at the Rev. Bennett W. Smith Family Life Center, 833 Michigan Ave.
The proposed school will be the subject of a public hearing held by the Buffalo School Board at 6 p.m. today in Futures Academy 37, 295 Carlton St.
Public comments also will be solicited on an application from Pinnacle Charter School, 115 Ash St., for a five-year renewal of its license. Pinnacle has earned favorable reviews from the state and is expected to be granted a renewal.
The Fruit Belt Charter School would open in August 2008 with 180 pupils in kindergarten through second grade and expand to 300 pupils in kindergarten through fourth grade in its third year. The application will be considered by the state Board of Regents on Dec. 14.
In addition to its plans to spark community leaders and enhance neighborhood development, the proposed school is being watched closely because:
• It is the first application for a charter school in the Buffalo area since the State Legislature lifted a cap on new charter school licenses in April. Because of that cap, there will be no new charters opening in Buffalo this year for the first time since 1999.
• The state this year provided the Buffalo schools $15.9 million in charter school transitional aid. That reduces transfer payments from the school district to charter schools to $49.9 million from an anticipated $65 million and softens the district’s financial objections to the growth of charter schools. “It’s still a concern, but it’s not as significant as it once was,” said Gary M. Crosby, the district’s chief operations and financial officer.
• If approved, the school will be a barometer of the demand for charter schools in Buffalo. Sixteen charter schools were established in and near Buffalo since 2000, and they now enroll 6,265 pupils from the city. Charter schools are publicly funded facilities with greater flexibility in programming and scheduling than traditional public schools.
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/150039.html
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