State panel rejects Austin charter bid

Austin district officials raise concerns about Royal Public Schools

Julie Chang
jchang@statesman.com
Nicole Conley Johnson of the Austin school district, speaking before a committee of the State Board of Education on Thursday, opposed an application by Royal Public Schools to open charter schools in North Austin. [RICARDO B. BRAZZIELL/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]

A committee of the State Board of Education on Thursday voted 3-2 to recommend denial of an application by charter school operator Royal Public Schools to open campuses in Austin and Houston in August 2020.

The full 15-member board will vote on the application Friday.

Thursday's decision came after more than a dozen people, including Austin school district officials, criticized Royal Public School founders for not demonstrating how the charter schools would better educate students than their traditional public school peers.

“Between the success that the district is having and the number of charters that are here, I don’t see that there’s a need in Travis County for a charter,” said board member Matt Robinson, R-Friendswood, who voted against Royal.

The Republican-dominated board in recent years has typically approved most charter proposals.

Soner Tarim, the founder of Royal Public Schools, told the American-Statesman on Thursday that Austin school officials expressed the concerns because they fear the competition.

“That means whatever I have done in the past is working. Competition really hurts them,” said Tarim, who left Harmony Public Schools in 2017 after building the charter network into one of the largest in Texas.

Royal Public Schools aims to open campuses in North Austin, targeting the 3-mile radius around Burnet Middle School, as well as in the Houston area. In their application, Royal officials said high waitlists at other charter schools pointed to demand for more and said several of the Austin district campuses near Burnet Middle School are low-performing, citing a Houston-based nonprofit that grades schools.

Austin school district officials have rarely spoken against charter proposals in the past, but on Thursday, school officials pushed back. None of the campuses identified by Royal as low-performing failed under the state grading system last year, they said.

If Royal were allowed to open, the district could lose an estimated $85 million due to the loss of students to Royal schools over a 10-year period, according to Nicole Conley Johnson with the Austin district. Royal aims to enroll 2,390 students in Austin during that period.

Board member Keven Ellis, R-Lufkin, voted in favor of Royal during the committee meeting because he said he wanted to give Royal officials an opportunity to respond to concerns during Friday’s meeting.

However, Ellis said he doesn’t see how Royal’s proposal to integrate social emotional learning; reading; and science, technology, engineering and math curriculum is unique. Social emotional learning, taught at many Central Texas schools, teaches students to — among other things — self-regulate emotions and behaviors and build positive relationships with others.

Austin school district officials said they are among the pioneers of social emotional learning nationally.

Tarim said there is room for charter schools focusing on social emotional learning.

“I’m very proud that Austin ISD has been doing social emotional learning. I don’t understand why they’re opposing another school to offer that," Tarim said.

Other criticisms of Royal are:

• Seven percent of students will be special education and 25% will be students who did not grow up learning English, far lower than what nearby Austin district schools serve.

• No current board members are from Austin.

• Insufficient counselors to properly implement social emotional learning.

• Between 7 and 34 people attended community meetings about Royal, which critics say demonstrate a lack of interest from the community.

Tarim responded to each criticism, respectively, by saying:

• Those percentages were based off of the student demographics of the schools around Alief and his school would aim to serve the same rate of special needs students as the Austin schools.

• Although not required, his board will include an Austin member if he wins approval from the State Board of Education.

• He denies it and says he will have sufficient counselors and that implementing social emotional learning to the degree he wants to will take time, just as Austin school district has taken.

• The turnout at the meetings do not necessarily show there is not a need for Royal in the community.