New ethics code would cover charter schools Posted on March 26th
Charter-school administrators would be barred from using school funds, school credit cards, or lines of credit for personal gain under a new ethics code being released today.
The Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools will ask charter schools across the state voluntarily to adopt the new “code of accountability,” which lays out strict performance standards in academics, ethics, governance and finances.
“Ideally, we would like to see every school adopt it and live up to the standards in the next six months,” coalition president Lawrence Jones Jr. said yesterday.
The code represents the first time that charter schools have attempted to police themselves since 1997, when the first such schools opened in the state.
Charter-school operators are to present the document during a media briefing at the Math, Civics and Sciences Charter School at 447 N. Broad St. this morning. Similar events are scheduled for Pittsburgh on Thursday and Harrisburg March 31.
The coalition represents 120 of the 127 charter operators in the state.
The code draws together in one place portions of several state laws and requirements covering charters. It also reflects recent amendments that bar charter-school administrators from collecting salaries from more than one charter school or from any company doing business with charter schools.
The majority of the state’s charter schools probably already abide by the tenets of “trust and transparency” outlined in the code, Jones said. But the new standards were developed in response to allegations of financial impropriety and mismanagement at several charter schools in the Philadelphia area.
“While there have been unfortunate situations that have occurred within a small number of schools, the majority of Pennsylvania’s charter schools have been and remain committed to operating in a trustworthy and transparent environment that puts children first,” said Jones, chief executive of the Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School, 2601 S. 58th St., in Southwest Philadelphia.
At least three Philadelphia charter schools and a cyber charter school in Devon are part of a widening federal criminal probe. The investigation began last spring after The Inquirer reported that the Philadelphia School District’s inspector general was investigating allegations of nepotism, conflicts of interest, and financial mismanagement at Philadelphia Academy Charter School in the Northeast.
The federal criminal investigation is continuing, according to sources with knowledge of the probe.
During a state Senate Education Committee hearing in York earlier this month, Jones announced that the coalition was drafting the code.
Sen. Andrew Dinniman (D., Chester), who had said before the hearing he planned to ask charter operators how they intended to police themselves to prevent further scandals, welcomed the coalition’s action.
The coalition had been discussing the importance of drafting a code for about a year; none of the individual standards was written to address problems at a specific charter school, Jones said.
“We looked for more global standards,” he said, adding that the coalition had reviewed codes adopted by charter groups in other states.
Jones said the coalition had no plans to sanction charters that fall short.
“We would reach out to that school or respond to them reaching out to us to see if there is anything we can do to help them get closer to the mark,” he said.
The code underscores charters schools’ commitment to putting “the best interest of students first,” stresses the importance of high ethical standards, and calls for “prudent financial stewardship” of public and private funds.
The code calls on charter schools’ leaders to allocate necessary resources for student achievement. It would bar charter-school trustees from having financial conflicts of interest with their schools; require charter schools to make their fiscal and annual audits public; and call on charter-school boards to make meeting minutes available for public inspection within 30 days of the meeting.
Contact staff writer Martha Woodall at 215-854-2789 or martha.woodall@phillynews.com.