C I T Y O F

P H I L A D E L P H I A
CITY COUNCIL
HELEN GYM
ROOM 592, CITY HALL
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19107
(215) 686-3420 or 3421
Fax No. (215) 686-1930
____________________
COUNCILWOMAN AT LARGE

Councilwoman Gym calls for moratorium on new Renaissance Charter

Schools, citing data that they serve fewer neighborhood students
Tomorrow the School Reform Commission will vote on whether to approve three new
Renaissance charter operators and whether to renew six Renaissance charters started in the 20112012 school year. The SRCs decision tomorrow is significant for several major reasons.
New data shows declining enrollment in neighborhood students at Renaissance charters.
Troubling data just released by the District about the six Renaissance charters up for renewal
raises new concerns about neighborhood kids access to these schools. Over time, these charters
look less and less like neighborhood schools serving neighborhood students.
Against the initiative's own mission, Renaissance charters are overall serving fewer
neighborhood students than prior to the conversion.
The District's charter office has flagged barriers to entry at Renaissance schools for
neighborhood youth (including one school which stated they had no seats then enrolled
students after seeing their transcripts).
Charter operators engage in aggressive out-of-catchment recruitment efforts, causing a
surge in the number of non-neighborhood students, which subverts the neighborhood
focus of the Renaissance initiative.
Stranded costs of Renaissance charters are optional, and thus, inexcusable.
As Renaissance charters pull students from outside their boundaries, the stranded costs of this
experiment increase. Such costs contribute to intolerable situations (overcrowding, split grades,
and curriculum gaps) which must be relieved immediately by the District. Spending on expanded
Renaissance charters is optional; failing to meet state curricular mandates and staffing is not.
1

Moreover, with the recent PA Supreme Court decision, Philadelphia has lost significant control
of charter expansion at the same time that charter growth is projected to lead to a negative fund
balance for the District within three years. The District has already approved three new charters
this year. Further expansion raises questions about the Districts commitment to its mandated
obligations over optional contracts.
In just five short years of the Renaissance charter experiment, we have already seen erratic
academic performance, inconsistent contract terms that lack transparency, and volatile
management turnovers. This year the District recommends the non-renewal of four of six
Renaissance charters; last year two Renaissance charters underwent a turnaround of their
turnaround and one was revoked. Despite significant funding, staff time, and attention, no
consistent track record of success has been established.
The District has previously identified failure by some Renaissance charters to provide necessary
special education or English Language Learner services. Furthermore, the Renaissance
contracting process has stoked neighborhood division and conflict due to the failure of the
District to establish clear policies or codes of conduct for what has become out-of-control
lobbying by applicants.
Renaissance charters are not simply five year deals. Because of the flaws in our state charter law,
a charter that has been issued can last for years beyond a vote for closure.
Despite this, the District has chosen to invite additional Renaissance operators with no guarantee
of greater success or accountability. Additionally, the new operators raise concerns:
One operator has zero pedagogical experience in the type of school they are proposed to
take over and has publicly declared an intent to divert enormous taxpayer funds as a
management fee to its New York-based headquarters[1];
Another operator only met four of 11 required compliance measures at its only existing
charter school[2]; and
Lobbying efforts on behalf of a third Renaissance charter operator have raised questions
of ethics, including conflicts of interest.[3]
[1][1] http://thenotebook.org/uploads/files/701230898645592885-great-oaks-foundationconcerns-letter-helen-gym.pdf Great Oaks Charter chain has been in operation for just five years
with limited data, and has never operated a school serving grades K-5.
[2][2] http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/uploads/lo/XJ/loXJIkxHfABfXrqgZWZjew/2015-ACEGlobal-Leadership-Academy-Charter-School.pdf Global Leadership was deemed non-compliant
in 7 of 11 categories.
[3][3] http://thenotebook.org/articles/2016/02/29/simms-divine-and-the-wister-vote-a-question-of-interestSRC
Commissioner Sylvia Simms sister works for an entity she has refused to disclose, and which Commissioner Simms
herself failed to acknowledge prior to a vote.

At the same time, despite numerous requests, the District has refused to release to the public or
to City Council budget attachments to the Renaissance applications that would allow for full
public review of each operator.
Given this situation and with the new data attached here, I am calling for an immediate
moratorium on the Renaissance Charter process for this year.
We should take no further steps to expand the Renaissance charter program before a
comprehensive evaluation of the overall program has been completed.

C I T Y O F
P H I L A D E L P H I A
CITY COUNCIL
NEW DATA RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT WHETHER
RENAISSANCE CHARTERS SERVE NEIGHBORHOOD KIDS

The office of Councilwoman Helen Gym reviewed the in-catchment and out-of-catchment data
of the six Renaissance charters currently under review. Our findings are as follows:
Renaissance charters are serving smaller numbers of neighborhood students.
By definition, a Renaissance Charter is a school that serves the students in the surrounding
neighborhood or catchment area.1 A review of 2015-16 renewal reports, however, shows
significant declines in the enrollment of neighborhood students. New data released by the
Districts charter office for the first time (in the Charter School Renewal Reports) reported the
percentage of in-catchment students (students who live within the schools neighborhood
boundaries), allowing our office to calculate the number of out-of-catchment students at each
school.
% enrollment WITHIN
attendance zone 2010 (PreRenaissance)

% enrollment WITHIN
attendance zone 2015

Olney (ASPIRA)

90.2%

64.9%

Audenried (Universal)

89.0%

55.8%

Stetson (ASPIRA)

83.2%

83.2%

Vare (Universal)

80.8%

62.7%

Gratz (Mastery)

79.4%

47.6%

Clymer (Mastery)

76.7%

52.9%

School

1 "A Renaissance School is a School District public school that serves the students in the surrounding neighborhood
or catchment area." http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/administration/policies/012.html

For the six Renaissance charters up for renewal in 2016, the data shows that fewer students from
the catchment areas are attending these schools than in the year prior to them becoming
Renaissance charters.
Five of the six charters now serve a lower percentage of catchment-area students.
Four of the six charters are serving smaller numbers of catchment-area students.
We calculated that ASPIRA-Olney showed the largest drop in catchment-area students,
with 253 fewer neighborhood youth or an 18% decrease.
Two others schools Mastery-Gratz and Universal-Audenried saw decreases of 10% or
more.
Renaissance charters show a surge in out-of-catchment students.
Renaissance charter operators are stepping up recruitment and other efforts to increase the
number of students who are outside the catchment area. Our analysis shows that all six
Renaissance charter schools have seen increases in out-of-catchment enrollment compared to the
year prior to their becoming a Renaissance charter operation. In all, the six charters schools now
serve 2,246 students from outside the catchment area, compared to just 664 out-of-catchment
students prior to Renaissance conversion. That's an increase of nearly 1,600 out-of-catchmentarea students to these charter schools.
% enrollment OUTSIDE
attendance zone 2010 (PreRenaissance)

% enrollment OUTSIDE
attendance zone 2015

Olney (ASPIRA)

9.8%

35.1%

Audenried (Universal)

11.0%

44.2%

Stetson (ASPIRA)

16.8%

16.8%

Vare (Universal)

19.2%

37.3%

Gratz (Mastery)

20.6%

52.4%

Clymer (Mastery)

23.3%

47.0%

School

The increase in the number of out-of-catchment area students ranges from 39% growth at
ASPIRA-Stetson to nearly five times the number at Universal-Audenried.
For the six schools, overall out-of-area enrollment was 664 students, or 15% in the year
prior to Renaissance conversion. In 2015, overall out-of-area enrollment was is 39%, or
2,246 students.
Based on the five year trend, the percentage of out-of-area students is likely to continue
to rise.
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Five of the six schools now draw more than one-third of their students from outside the
designated catchment area.
At Mastery-Gratz, the majority of students (52%) now come from outside the catchment.

Renaissance charters are supposed to be more cost-neutral than start-up charters that take
students citywide. But that's not the case if the student population for Renaissance charters is
coming from other schools. If we estimate the average per pupil expense to the District as
approaching $10,000 per additional charter school student, the District's stranded costs for those
1,600 additional out-of-catchment students is thus likely to amount to more than $15 million per
year, just from these six schools alone.
District Charter Office cites barriers to entry at some Renaissance charter schools.
In its renewal reports,2 the Districts Charter Schools Office (CSO) identified troubling barriers
to entry and unfair enrollment practices at several of the Renaissance charters.

The Olney-ASPIRA renewal report shows that the school maintains barriers to entry by
unlawfully requiring student social security numbers, transcripts, and special education
records, along with physical and dental records. The application for enrollment was also
not available online. The Districts report said: calls by the CSO office confirmed
acceptance of students on a rolling basis irrespective of address.
The Mastery-Gratz renewal report shows that the school maintains barriers to entry by
unlawfully requiring special education records. Mastery Gratz staff told the CSOs site
visit team that the school did not [want] to pull students early from catchment schools
and [recruited] instead from K-5 elementary schools. The report goes on to note that
calls by the CSO confirmed that enrollment was not limited to and/or preference was not
given to students residing in Gratz catchment.
The Audenried Universal renewal reports shows that a social security number, while
optional, was requested along with physical and dental records. The CSO reported that
more than one parent/family indicated that they were told no seats were available at
initial application but after providing transcripts were offered admission to the school.
CSO calls confirmed that acceptance to the school occurred on a rolling basis
irrespective of address.

It is critically important for the District to investigate any specific barriers to enrollment or
retention at Renaissance charters, and particularly if students are counseled out of the charters or
otherwise encouraged or told to leave. It is equally important to know whether the decreases in
charter enrollment may also represent a decline in the student-age population or families voting
with their feet to leave these charters.

2 http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/c/charter_schools/renewal-proces
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