I am a parent in Bloomington with two children at Jackson Creek Middle School. I do not believe that chartering the Seven Oaks Classical School here in Bloomington is needed or desirable for our community. There are already PLENTY of options for parents here in Bloomington such as: St. Charles, The Prep School, Lighthouse, Clear Creek Christian, Pinnacle, The Project School, Bloomington Montessori, Harmony, Wings of Love, Grace Baptist Academy, Adventist Christian Academy, homeschooling, and having their children transferred to another MCCSC school if they are not happy with their home school. And now with vouchers, these options are more affordable than ever. I am fine with all of these existing school choices for parents, but ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. The law of diminishing returns means that each new school that is opened is less valuable to the community than the last one that opened.
My understanding is that the new school you are considering chartering would have approximately 378-486 students and that our local school corporation will lose over two million dollars of funding due to the loss of these students if they are drawn from the corporation. That loss of funding will negatively affect the thousands of students in MCCSC. It is very difficult for me to understand why a group of people that are not voted on by our community (like the local school board is) gets to make a decision that will take funding away from our local school corporation without our community getting an opportunity to vote for or against that funding.
Our community voted for a referendum to provide the funding that MCCSC needs so that our kids can go to Bradford Woods in the 5th grade, have school librarians, study Spanish in middle school, march in band competition in high school, participate in Science Olympiad, and many other such programs. These are the types of programs that may have to be cut due to loss of funding caused by Grace College, an outside private entity, deciding for us that a new charter school for 400 kids is more important than existing opportunities for thousands of kids. This is wrong and I strongly urge you not to charter a new school in Bloomington. You will not have the support of the larger community in this endeavor.
Given the many issues with the charter proposal that caused the Indiana Charter School Board to make the rare move to not approve it, and not approve it twice, it seems quite obvious that this particular charter school will not be successful even if it does manage to shop around and get a charter. Yes, Grace College stands to make a nice profit of 3% of whatever the state gives to Seven Oaks, and all parties get to keep the taxpayer's money even if the school fails, and even if it does not open. But I find it hard to believe that Grace College wants that money so much it is willing to risk its reputation as a moral institution to get it. If Grace College grants this charter, takes the money, and the school fails, this will be used as an example of how people are scamming the system to steal money from the taxpayers. It could even be the straw that breaks the camel's back and be used to write legislation to prevent private colleges from chartering schools. Such a law could be known as "The Grace College Law." In other words, please think carefully about all the possible negative impacts of approving this particular charter both on this community and for your institution.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
My understanding is that the new school you are considering chartering would have approximately 378-486 students and that our local school corporation will lose over two million dollars of funding due to the loss of these students if they are drawn from the corporation. That loss of funding will negatively affect the thousands of students in MCCSC. It is very difficult for me to understand why a group of people that are not voted on by our community (like the local school board is) gets to make a decision that will take funding away from our local school corporation without our community getting an opportunity to vote for or against that funding.
Our community voted for a referendum to provide the funding that MCCSC needs so that our kids can go to Bradford Woods in the 5th grade, have school librarians, study Spanish in middle school, march in band competition in high school, participate in Science Olympiad, and many other such programs. These are the types of programs that may have to be cut due to loss of funding caused by Grace College, an outside private entity, deciding for us that a new charter school for 400 kids is more important than existing opportunities for thousands of kids. This is wrong and I strongly urge you not to charter a new school in Bloomington. You will not have the support of the larger community in this endeavor.
Given the many issues with the charter proposal that caused the Indiana Charter School Board to make the rare move to not approve it, and not approve it twice, it seems quite obvious that this particular charter school will not be successful even if it does manage to shop around and get a charter. Yes, Grace College stands to make a nice profit of 3% of whatever the state gives to Seven Oaks, and all parties get to keep the taxpayer's money even if the school fails, and even if it does not open. But I find it hard to believe that Grace College wants that money so much it is willing to risk its reputation as a moral institution to get it. If Grace College grants this charter, takes the money, and the school fails, this will be used as an example of how people are scamming the system to steal money from the taxpayers. It could even be the straw that breaks the camel's back and be used to write legislation to prevent private colleges from chartering schools. Such a law could be known as "The Grace College Law." In other words, please think carefully about all the possible negative impacts of approving this particular charter both on this community and for your institution.
Thank you for your time and consideration.