Charter program adopted on 6-3 vote

AUSTIN (KXAN) - With a crowded room that stayed well passed midnight, the Austin school board voted 6 to 3 in favor of the IDEA in-district charter program to run in two East Austin schools.

Several parents and teachers were on hand well into the night as board members made continuous changes to the IDEA contract, which was already revised 7 times before.

During the meeting, "cheers" and "boos" were heard from the group of opponents that had staged outside AISD's board room. When the meeting wrapped up, many of the opponents that were still present began chanting, upset that school board members chose to go with the charter program.

Several protests against the charter program took place throughout the day.

"We do not want this in our neighborhood. If they are going to offer anything, it should not be this," said AISD parent Mary Alvarez. "They should offer more support in our schools. More support for the teachers. More funding to them."

"Charter schools have a tendency to come in and take over entire districts. They're funded by private
resources which have business interests in the schools. And education can not be run like a business," said AISD parent Hillary Procknow.

But not everyone was opposed to IDEA.

"It has a proven track record down in the Rio Grande Valley in delivering excellent education," said Bob Schoolfield for Texans for Parental Choice in Education. "And they're going to be replacing schools that have been chronically failing for years."

IDEA will operate a charter program at Eastside Memorial High School and Allan Elementary. It will be phased in starting next school year to eventually incorporate Kindergarten through 5th grades at Allan Elementary, and 6th through 12th grades in Eastside Memorial. Students will be chosen through a lottery system.

Students who are currently in the Allan Elementary attendance zone and do not end up attending the charter program will be phased into Ortega and Govalle Elementary schools. Eastside Memorial high school attendance zone students will go to Martin Middle School, and Travis High School once the phase-in is complete.

The IDEA charter contract is good for seven years.