Charter school surviving by running as a business

It’s a Friday in Colleen McPeek’s class at the San Carlos Charter Learning Center. McPeek always tries to keep cooking in the loop during Friday centers, a time in which children are able to work in small groups and try a variety of activities. In this particular center, the students are making green bread.

"The kids just love it,” she said.

Having small group time and being able to assess a student’s individual level of learning is a luxury for many schools right now. In a time of massive budget cuts, the San Carlos Charter Learning Center is making it work on less by looking at education from a business perspective. First, the school generates income through before-, after- and summer-school offerings. But the largest resource is free: Volunteers. The key, officials said, is managing those volunteers throughout the campus to maximize benefits to the school and all the children served. As a result, teachers like McPeek are able to regularly offer smaller, individualized plans for her students.

Serving 260 children in kindergarten through eighth grade with a $2.2 million annual budget has forced a lean operation and thinking outside the box, said Director Christopher Mahoney.

Keeping afloat has meant restructuring education in recent years while becoming a business and offering other programs.

California became the second state to allow charter schools in 1992, behind Minnesota. Originally, a 100-school limit was placed on such schools. San Carlos became the first to open a charter school with the San Carlos Charter Learning Center, which was granted a charter in 1993 and opened its doors to 85 students the following year. It’s funded per student from the state at a level slightly below the district in which it is housed.

Looking at the most recent budgets, the Charter Learning Center is working with $774 less per child. Annually, this difference means just over $216,000 less in federal and state funding. To bridge the gap, that number becomes the first goal for fundraising.

"CLC strives to bridge this gap through revenue derived from Educare summer programs, before-school and after-school programs, as well as fundraising by the school and the San Carlos Education Foundation fundraising efforts,” Mahoney said.

Educare programs are estimated to generate $215,000 for the school this year. This summer, there is hope to add a new Gifted and Talented Education program in hopes of drawing more participants.

Creative fundraising

Where the CLC community is truly getting creative is fundraising. The group’s annual rummage sale is coming up next weekend. But the bigger, more recent addition, to the fundraising lineup is the Run for FUNds. Running from San Carlos to Sacrament to raise funds but also awareness of what’s going on in Sacramento was an idea from McPeek, who is a runner. The event’s debut last year generated $100,000. This year the event should be even bigger as California’s school face larger cuts. The CLC is actually looking financially stable despite having made some major changes last year.

Reconfiguration was a big part of the solution. By working with parents and teachers, the school decided increasing class sizes was necessary to balance the budget. Instead of simply increasing class sizes, the school also changed the way classes were set up. Kindergarten class sizes were decreased while classes for older grades like first and second grade were combined. Releasing kindergarten classes earlier in the day means those teachers can spend afternoons helping other teachers later in the day, explained Mahoney.

Volunteer help

Money is only part of the issue. Harnessing volunteer energy has cut down on costs.

Just the logged volunteer hours from parents last year were equivalent to the work that would be completed by seven to eight full-time employees, said Stacey Emory, director of curriculum and resources.

"Parent involvement, that’s what it’s all about,” said Emory, who added those involved come forward with solutions and take initiative because they’re invested.

New families fill out a survey that helps Emory know more about them: What skills do they have, their occupation and times available to help.

For McPeek, the parents in the classroom makes the individual attention possible.

"I could have the most incredible ideas but I couldn’t do any of them without [the parent volunteers],” she said.

McPeek’s ideas are as small as including cooking in the centers once a week to as large as the annual production. Children get to choose whatever character — literally — who he or she would like to be. Then McPeek and her daughter write a play incorporating everyone. One year, there were ninjas in a reworking of the "Wizard of Oz.” Parents help in every aspect of making that production a reality and a lasting memory with DVDs, she explained.

Parent participation

Parents help in a variety of ways other than the classroom.

There’s a parent group acting as the school’s volunteer tech team, Emory explained. When there’s an issue, these people have various expertise and can work out issues quickly. Families bring in recyclables which another parent takes in and returns the cash generated to the school.

"These are people with day jobs. Even if they’re not working with the children, they’re investing in the children,” said Emory.

Parents often become learners through their experiences volunteering with the school.

Charlene Nelson, a parent of three children at CLC, was initially drawn to the school because of the parent participation. When her children attended other schools, she brought them to and picked them up from campus but spent little time on it.

"I didn’t know how hard or how much teachers work,” Nelson said.

Now, after working in the classroom, Nelson has a new appreciation of the work that goes into her child’s education.

"I don’t know how they do it. But they put their heart and soul into it and the children love it,” said Nelson.

Project-based learning

Nelson has seen a huge benefit to her children from the project-based learning, a large factor on the campus. Children learning about the Gold Rush, for example, will take an overnight trip and live life like those in that time period. That experiential learning is an amazing experience.

Nelson noted how well her children have taken to the type of teaching and has begun to use it at home. Any time one of the kids has a new interest, the family learns about it and makes a project.

"I’m blessed to be a part of such an amazing place,” said Nelson. "It’s been great to be part of it. I love this school. It’s an amazing place.”

For more information about the Charter Learning Center visit http://www.scclc.net/.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by e-mail: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.