Alabama public school systems have about two more weeks to decide whether to become a charter schools authorizer, and the leader of the Hoover City Schools has made her recommendation: no.
“I hold no assumption that there is a charter school entity out there that can do the work better than we’re doing,” Dr. Kathy Murphy said Tuesday. “I’m not willing to ask our board to guess our way through this process. I guess we’ll get the guidelines. I guess those guidelines will work for us. I guess it’s okay for us to authorize and incur the liabilities for of a governing entity that does not even have to comply with the policies and procedures of this board. That’s way more guessing than I’m prepared to do as a superintendent.”
The Birmingham School Board could take up the issue at its September 8 meeting, according to a board spokesperson. That meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the auditorium of the Birmingham Board of Education building.
Schools systems were asked to apply to become charter authorizers by September 1. State Schools Superintendent Tommy Bice sent a memo Friday extending the deadline to Sept. 15.
Bice said he received several requests for additional time.
Under the state’s new charter school law, systems can apply to become a charter school authorizer for their district. The state’s Charter School Commission takes on that responsibility in districts where the local school board doesn’t.