Susan Byrnes / Times editorial columnist
Meet the poster child of charter-school hopes

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The perennial opposition to charter schools here is frustrating and odd. It always makes me think about Yvonne Chan.

I met her more than a decade ago in the grubby, sun-baked northeastern edge of the San Fernando Valley, just as she was plunging into the uncertain waters of charter-school reform. As principal of the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, she's the best poster child for the possibility of charter schools.

Chan started California's first urban conversion charter school in 1993. She has used the freedom from Los Angeles Unified School District regulations to turn an impoverished, overcrowded, low-performing elementary school into a thriving neighborhood jewel.

Our state has plenty of bold, compassionate educators itching to start innovative schools where struggling students have a real shot at success. Why do we keep blocking them when we should be clearing their way?

Even if this state's pending legislation passes, it's unlikely the education establishment will embrace charter schools. Ironically, Albert Shanker, the legendary former president of the American Federation of Teachers, was one of the first proponents of charter schools. He believed reforming public schools was worth the risk.

"It's dangerous to let a lot of ideas out of the bag, some of which may be bad," said Shanker in a 1985 speech. "But there's something that's more dangerous, and that's not having any new ideas at all at a time when the world is closing in on you."

Some opponents equate charter schools with vouchers. But the two differ in fundamental ways. Vouchers give students public money to attend private schools. That's not going to fix public schools. Private schools aren't required to accept all students or provide programs for special education or English language learners. Vouchers also allow them to promote religion on the public dime.

Charter schools are public schools. They cannot charge tuition and they must accept all students who apply, regardless of their needs. Pending legislation specifically targets educationally disadvantaged students. Low-performing public schools that convert to charter schools would be required to serve existing students.

Successful charter schools will spread ideas and energy throughout the system.

Chan knew it would take drastic change to better serve her school's population of mostly Mexican immigrants. The school had dismal test scores, high absenteeism and constant teacher and student turnover. Vaughn was so overcrowded, it had to run three different tracks of students on a complicated, year-round schedule.

Chan wanted to lengthen the school year, decrease class sizes and build new buildings. She wanted to hire teachers who were committed to the cause. She knew her students needed preschool, full-day kindergarten and after-school care. She wanted a more-nutritious and culturally sensitive lunch program.

Those kind of changes could not happen within district regulations. The first year of her charter status, she saved more than $1 million through efficiencies. The school has since bought surrounding properties and hired day laborers in the community — many of them fathers of Vaughn students — for construction projects. New buildings include a library, a family center and new classrooms. It's enough space so all students can attend 200 days of instruction on one track.

Test scores are way up, attendance hovers at 99 percent and there's a waiting list of applicant teachers. There is a new middle school on the campus and plans to start a high school.

Chan regularly shares her formulas with her district and the nation. Just last week, Chan explained to her school board how she has funded full-day kindergarten with additional state and federal nutrition funding. She modeled a lunch program that the district uses in its high-poverty schools. She created full-day preschool with a creative blend of state and federal dollars.

Charter schools are not a sure thing. Laws governing charters vary widely and national studies on their success are mixed. But this state owes it to its young people to give charters a limited, carefully watched try. At worst, charter schools will do about the same as their traditional counterparts. At best, they'll be like Vaughn, powerful glints of hope and possibility in the bleak landscape of struggling public schools.

Chan has visited Olympia a few times on behalf of charter schools. She's baffled by the anti-charter sentiment, particularly the argument that reform can happen within the existing system.

"If change can be done, why isn't it done?" Chan asks. "You can't have a ripple effect if the lake is frozen."

Susan Byrnes' column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is sbyrnes@seattletimes.com

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