N.H. charter school sets focus on math and science

By James Vaznis, Globe Staff  |  January 29, 2006

By the time students at the New Hampshire Academy for Science and Design reach their junior year, they will have taken enough rigorous courses at the grades 7-12 school that they can major in a specialized area of math or science, such as aeronautics and aviation; chemistry and biomedicine; or space, astronomy, and astronautics.

The more ambitious student could even pick up a minor or two.

Daniel Webster College in Nashua has proposed opening the academy as a charter school in fall of next year, believing that mathematically and scientifically gifted students across southern New Hampshire need greater opportunities for more rigorous course work and internships at area businesses than what can be offered at many public schools.

''The challenge is to engage them early enough so when they get to college they want to learn in those fields," said Michael Fishbein, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Daniel Webster College.

That way students will be able to better compete in their post-college world with their peers in other industrialized countries, who appear to have an upper hand in math and science, based on standardized test scores that exceed those of American students.

If approved by the state Board of Education, the Academy for Science and Design would be the state's largest charter school, with 450 students. A location has not been chosen yet, but the college has stated the school will be located somewhere between Nashua and the state's capital, Concord. It's anticipated that students will travel as far as an hour away to attend the school.

And students won't have to pay tuition. Charter schools are publicly funded and are intended to specialize in certain academic areas or teaching philosophies that traditional public schools cannot because those schools must cater to a much broader spectrum of students with varied abilities and academic interests.

The academy would be the state's eighth charter school since the first ones opened a year and a half ago. The state, which struggles to fund public education, has experienced difficulty in opening charter schools because many lawmakers, education organizations, and local school leaders don't like that charter schools draw money away from other public schools. So worried were those groups about the potential loss of state aid to local schools, when the Legislature passed the law about a decade ago, charter schools had to receive approval from local voters and school boards in order to open. Every proposal failed.

But the charter school movement received a boost a few years ago after the Legislature created a pilot program -- funded by a $7.5 million federal grant -- that allows the state Board of Education to approve the opening of 20 schools without the consent of local districts.

Financing of charter schools, however, continues to be a concern. The state provides charter schools with only $3,500 per student, which the state generates by diverting money from the local school district to the charter school that a student chooses to attend.

Educating a student costs between $6,000 and $10,000, with high-school students costing the most, leaving charter schools scurrying to make up the difference.

In Massachusetts, which opened its first charter schools in 1995 and now has 57 schools, funding is equally controversial. Like New Hampshire, Massachusetts diverts state aid from a local district to a charter school a student attends. But the Bay State is far more generous in the amount of aid it provides charter schools, doling out anywhere from $7,661 to $23,736 per student in state and local funds.

Still, many Bay State charter schools supplement their budgets with private fund-raising.

Susan Hollins, a school management consultant who co-wrote the New Hampshire Academy for Science and Design proposal, estimates per-student spending at the school to be about $10,000 -- far more than the $3,500 the state will pay per student.

''It's really an embarrassingly inequitable amount," she said of the state allotment.

To cover the shortfall, the academy will launch a high-profile fund-raising campaign, seeking money from federal grants, corporations, and philanthropists with the intent of setting up an endowment, much like public colleges are doing. But organizers believe the extra legwork in raising money is well worth fulfilling the goal of bringing a public school to New Hampshire that focuses strongly on math and science.

''Although some students in some schools have fabulous math and science programs, students at every school don't have access to that quality of program," Hollins said. ''This could be a flagship in setting standards."

Hollins said she hopes the school becomes a resource for other middle and high schools across the state that could send teachers there for training and start similar courses and programs at their schools.

Having a charter school devoted to math and science would be a new turn for the charter school movement in New Hampshire. Most of the other schools are geared toward students who are experiencing difficulties staying in school.

The academy also would be the first charter school affiliated with a college.

The state Board of Education probably will consider the charter school application in the next month or two.

''It's exciting to me," said Roberta Tenney, an administrator for school standards at the New Hampshire Department of Education, who oversees the charter school approval process but hasn't finished reviewing the academy's application yet. ''Charter schools are the research and development arms in public education. They do interesting things."