PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A group representing Philadelphia charter schools is taking the School District of Philadelphia to court, claiming it illegally forces charters to agree to enrollment caps and other conditions to be renewed.
The suit by Philadelphia Charters for Excellence claims the school district, which authorizes the city’s charters, illegally requires them to accept limits on enrollment and agree to surrender clauses if schools fall short of performance targets.
Cassandra St. Vil, CEO of the group representing 70 city charter schools, said in a statement to KYW Newsradio that "schools are told to sign agreements they never agreed to, under conditions the law does not permit," or they risk losing authorization.
The suit filed Wednesday in Common Pleas Court says the state charter school law prohibits districts from unilaterally capping charter enrollment, but the district continues to enforce a cap.
In its own statement to KYW Newsradio, the School Board of Philadelphia said: "The Board of Education has tried to use the tools that are available to us under the charter school law to authorize, evaluate, and hold charter schools accountable."
Last year, the district began a process to overhaul the framework it uses to evaluate charters.
