Parents and administrators are breathing a sigh of relief tonight after the commissioner of education offered a financial solution that will keep the Franklin Career Charter Academy open until at least the end of the school year.
In a letter to Gov. John Lynch, Commissioner Lyonel Tracy said he would make available two payments totaling $53,200 to the Career Academy on or before April 1 that represent the final 10 percent of the school's 2008 school year allotment plus the first 30 percent of its allotment for 2009. The payments are based on 35 students.
"This has taken a tremendous load off my family," said Susan Sawyer, whose son is a junior at the Career Academy and who she said was very "stressed out" by the uncertainly of whether or not he would be able to stay in the school for the balance of the semester.
"The many letters and calls [to the Governor's Office] of support from parents, family members and community leaders also helped immensely," said Head of School William Grimm, who also thanked Franklin's three state representatives, Dennis Reed, Jim Ryan and Leigh Webb, Mayor Kenneth Merrifield, former Mayor David Palfrey and former Mayor and current board member Tony Giunta.
Reed, Ryan, Webb and Merrifield met behind closed doors with Lynch shortly after the Career Academy's Board of Trustees announced to the parents and the media that the school would close on April 18 without an infusion of cash.
"I am certainly gratified they will be able to finish the year," said Merrifield. "The benefits to the students and their families is incalculable."
The additional money nearly exhausts the $800,000 bailout provided to the three schools last June in HB-2-FN as part of an agreement hammered out by a legislative committee of conference in an all-night session.
Officials in the Department of Education interpreted the measure as providing a maximum of $4,000 per student per year to each of the three schools and balked at providing the Franklin Career Academy with more money in this school year.
After about three weeks of consulting with the Governor and the Department of Justice, Tracy proposed the early release of next year's money as the workable solution.
Similar payments will also go to the Cocheco Arts and Technology Academy based on its enrollment of 65 students and to the Seacoast Charter School based on its 50 students. All three of these charter schools have exhausted their federal startup grants and, in the case of Franklin, do not receive direct support from their sending district.
Merrifield said the one thing he worries about is the long-term sustainability of the school.
"This resolution certainly questions the ability of the school to open next year," he said.
So far, the state House has passed a $1.5 million appropriation for charter schools next year but the measure has yet to pass in the Senate.
"I would really like to see [the charter school] continue," said Sawyer, who said her son was bored in regular public school. "They challenged him and he met that challenge."
