DESE Only Approved 1 New Charter, Not 5

An article in yesterday’s St. Louis Schools Watch e-newsletter states that “the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has approved five more charter schools for St. Louis”. According to a DESE spokesman, that is not true.

In April, the State Board of Education approved Missouri Baptist University (MBU) as the sponsor of the Ethel Hedgeman Lyle Academy, which had been sponsored by Harris-Stowe University. MBU is a new sponsor, but the school is not a new entity.

Earlier this month, the State Board of Education authorized the opening of a new charter school, the Imagine Academy of Environmental Science and Math, which also will be sponsored by MBU. This school is slated to open in 2007-08.

“There are no other applications for new charter schools pending with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education,” wrote Jim Morris, a DESE spokeman, in an email to PUB DEF today. He said he hopes this misunderstanding is corrected so it does not continue to be repeated in the community.