Students at Duncanvilles Advantage Academy follow biblical principles talk openly about faith and receive guidance from a gregarious former pastor who still preaches when he speaks.
But his congregation is a swath of low-income students. And his sermon is an educators mantra about the opportunities of charter schools.
Advantages state-funded campuses showcase the latest breed of charter schools born from faith-based principles and taxpayer funds. More than 20 percent of Texas charter schools have some kind of religious ties. Thats the case for six of the seven approved this year including ones in Frisco and Arlington.
Church-charter partnerships are springing up across the country as private institutions lose funding and nontraditional education models grow in popularity. Their emergence prompts questions about the role religious groups should play in the development of publicly funded schools.
The church-state line is beginning to blur said Bruce Cooper a professor at Fordham Universitys Graduate School of Education who has studied religious charter schools. We may be coming to a midpoint between the best of what is private and the best of what is public.
Critics fear the fuzzy division means taxpayers are footing the bill for religious instruction.
You have to wonder what the impetus is said Dan Quinn a spokesman for Texas Freedom Network an Austin watchdog group focused on church-state issues. What is the catalyst for becoming a charter because at that point theyve abandoned the mission of being a religious institution?
Heavy overlap
Charter schools are public schools run by private groups and approved by the State Board of Education. They are freed of many state rules. But they must adhere to the states accountability tests and maintain a separation of church and state. Religious groups may apply to open a charter school if they establish a separate nonprofit to receive state funds.
Even with a middleman heavy overlap exists between the school and the religious group that supports it. Dozens of Texas charter school leaders or board members hold prominent positions in the church where the schooling sometimes takes place. Parochial schools reinvent themselves as charters often with little guidance on running a public school. And the mission of the school itself typically stems from the values of the religious group.
These close ties stir concern that churches will use state funds to bolster their coffers. In Houston the Rev. Harold Wilcox and several church members were indicted six years ago for embezzling federal and state funds through Prepared Table Charter School. Wilcox paid himself a $210000 annual salary to run the school and received $68000 in rent for classes held in his Baptist church sanctuary.
A decade ago the state launched an investigation into Dallas Rylie Faith Family Academy and discovered dozens of family and church members on the founders payroll. The group installed professional educators and cleaned up its books. Rylie Faith still runs two Dallas charter schools.
A balancing act
Advantage Academy sits in two nondescript one-story buildings on the edge of Duncanville next to a bank and a guarded office complex. Poster board covers the walls inside with stenciled letters that read Character Counts. Reminders of the academys seven pillars including integrity humility and authority hang in classrooms next to pie charts and pictures of President Barack Obama.
Advantage markets its teaching of creationism and intelligent design. It offers a Bible class as an elective and encourages personal growth through hard work and faith in God and country. On a recent morning a dozen uniformed seventh-graders hunched over worksheets turning fractions into decimals.
Allen Beck the academys founder and a former Assemblies of God pastor hopes to instill morals and ethics in students as they learn to count and read. America is in a battle between secularity and biblical thinking he said. I want to fuse the two together in a legal way.
Religiously affiliated charters like Becks tend to emphasize similar themes of developing character and shaping values. His office is filled with books about Abraham Lincoln seminary degrees and a whiteboard that details a path from victim to victory. Education appears as the middle link right before acting in faith.
Its a balancing act he said.
Natural alignment
The ties extend beyond Christian organizations. Houstons highly regarded Harmony Public Schools are run by Turkish Muslims who embody the philosophies of a popular imam. Islamic Relief sponsors Minnesotas Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy whose curriculum emphasizes Muslim culture and Arabic language. Students at Ben Gamla Charter School in Florida eat kosher food in the cafeteria and learn Hebrew.
These charter schools may operate because they say they dont endorse religion they accommodate it.
They also provide space. Charter schools dont receive local property taxes or state funds for construction meaning they must scout their own locations.
Leadership Prep School found its home at Friscos Elevate Life Church. Steve Miner the churchs business administrator calls the relationship a tenant-renter one. Friscos first charter school will open there next fall.
Members of Elevate Life approached church officials a year ago and asked if theyd help establish an alternative schooling option in Collin County.
A lot of community action is happening in our churches Miner said. It seems like a natural alignment.
The school will emphasize leadership one of Elevate Lifes key principles. But pastors wont work there and no religious classes will take place during school hours Miner said.
Parochial to charter
Religious boundaries appear even hazier for former parochial schools whose dwindling resources make charters an ideal option.
Its a large learning curve said David Ray who took over South Dallas St. Anthony School a year after it switched to a charter campus. When I came in they were still doing Catholic curriculum. Everything totally changed with the exception of the building.
St. Anthony Churchs white crosses peek over the schools thick iron gate. Words like risk-taker and confidence are scrawled on cafeteria walls part of an outside program Ray implemented that promotes culture and self-reflection. Only two of the Catholic teaching staff remain.
Ray gets intercepted regularly for hugs when he walks down the schools tiny hallways. About half of the graduating middle school students go on to Dallas magnet schools. Dallas Diocese members make up much of the board but Ray insists the schools operations are separate from those of the church next door.
Lawrence Weinberg who wrote one of the first books on religious charters sees these connections as an inevitable part of public-private relationships. As long as they dont force faith on students he also sees them as hope.
Urban education is in crisis he said. If public schools are not doing their job and religious organizations are willing to make a partnership and educate these kids be happy. Thats the starting point.
Students at Duncanvilles Advantage Academy follow biblical principles talk openly about faith and receive guidance from a gregarious former pastor who still preaches when he speaks.
But his congregation is a swath of low-income students. And his sermon is an educators mantra about the opportunities of charter schools.
Advantages state-funded campuses showcase the latest breed of charter schools born from faith-based principles and taxpayer funds. More than 20 percent of Texas charter schools have some kind of religious ties. Thats the case for six of the seven approved this year including ones in Frisco and Arlington.
Church-charter partnerships are springing up across the country as private institutions lose funding and nontraditional education models grow in popularity. Their emergence prompts questions about the role religious groups should play in the development of publicly funded schools.
The church-state line is beginning to blur said Bruce Cooper a professor at Fordham Universitys Graduate School of Education who has studied religious charter schools. We may be coming to a midpoint between the best of what is private and the best of what is public.
Critics fear the fuzzy division means taxpayers are footing the bill for religious instruction.
You have to wonder what the impetus is said Dan Quinn a spokesman for Texas Freedom Network an Austin watchdog group focused on church-state issues. What is the catalyst for becoming a charter because at that point theyve abandoned the mission of being a religious institution?
Heavy overlap
Charter schools are public schools run by private groups and approved by the State Board of Education. They are freed of many state rules. But they must adhere to the states accountability tests and maintain a separation of church and state. Religious groups may apply to open a charter school if they establish a separate nonprofit to receive state funds.
Even with a middleman heavy overlap exists between the school and the religious group that supports it. Dozens of Texas charter school leaders or board members hold prominent positions in the church where the schooling sometimes takes place. Parochial schools reinvent themselves as charters often with little guidance on running a public school. And the mission of the school itself typically stems from the values of the religious group.
These close ties stir concern that churches will use state funds to bolster their coffers. In Houston the Rev. Harold Wilcox and several church members were indicted six years ago for embezzling federal and state funds through Prepared Table Charter School. Wilcox paid himself a $210000 annual salary to run the school and received $68000 in rent for classes held in his Baptist church sanctuary.
A decade ago the state launched an investigation into Dallas Rylie Faith Family Academy and discovered dozens of family and church members on the founders payroll. The group installed professional educators and cleaned up its books. Rylie Faith still runs two Dallas charter schools.
A balancing act
Advantage Academy sits in two nondescript one-story buildings on the edge of Duncanville next to a bank and a guarded office complex. Poster board covers the walls inside with stenciled letters that read Character Counts. Reminders of the academys seven pillars including integrity humility and authority hang in classrooms next to pie charts and pictures of President Barack Obama.
Advantage markets its teaching of creationism and intelligent design. It offers a Bible class as an elective and encourages personal growth through hard work and faith in God and country. On a recent morning a dozen uniformed seventh-graders hunched over worksheets turning fractions into decimals.
Allen Beck the academys founder and a former Assemblies of God pastor hopes to instill morals and ethics in students as they learn to count and read. America is in a battle between secularity and biblical thinking he said. I want to fuse the two together in a legal way.
Religiously affiliated charters like Becks tend to emphasize similar themes of developing character and shaping values. His office is filled with books about Abraham Lincoln seminary degrees and a whiteboard that details a path from victim to victory. Education appears as the middle link right before acting in faith.
Its a balancing act he said.
Natural alignment
The ties extend beyond Christian organizations. Houstons highly regarded Harmony Public Schools are run by Turkish Muslims who embody the philosophies of a popular imam. Islamic Relief sponsors Minnesotas Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy whose curriculum emphasizes Muslim culture and Arabic language. Students at Ben Gamla Charter School in Florida eat kosher food in the cafeteria and learn Hebrew.
These charter schools may operate because they say they dont endorse religion they accommodate it.
They also provide space. Charter schools dont receive local property taxes or state funds for construction meaning they must scout their own locations.
Leadership Prep School found its home at Friscos Elevate Life Church. Steve Miner the churchs business administrator calls the relationship a tenant-renter one. Friscos first charter school will open there next fall.
Members of Elevate Life approached church officials a year ago and asked if theyd help establish an alternative schooling option in Collin County.
A lot of community action is happening in our churches Miner said. It seems like a natural alignment.
The school will emphasize leadership one of Elevate Lifes key principles. But pastors wont work there and no religious classes will take place during school hours Miner said.
Parochial to charter
Religious boundaries appear even hazier for former parochial schools whose dwindling resources make charters an ideal option.
Its a large learning curve said David Ray who took over South Dallas St. Anthony School a year after it switched to a charter campus. When I came in they were still doing Catholic curriculum. Everything totally changed with the exception of the building.
St. Anthony Churchs white crosses peek over the schools thick iron gate. Words like risk-taker and confidence are scrawled on cafeteria walls part of an outside program Ray implemented that promotes culture and self-reflection. Only two of the Catholic teaching staff remain.
Ray gets intercepted regularly for hugs when he walks down the schools tiny hallways. About half of the graduating middle school students go on to Dallas magnet schools. Dallas Diocese members make up much of the board but Ray insists the schools operations are separate from those of the church next door.
Lawrence Weinberg who wrote one of the first books on religious charters sees these connections as an inevitable part of public-private relationships. As long as they dont force faith on students he also sees them as hope.
Urban education is in crisis he said. If public schools are not doing their job and religious organizations are willing to make a partnership and educate these kids be happy. Thats the starting point.
