Just one new state-chartered school will open in New Mexico next year, after the Public Education Commission this week denied eight of the nine applications seeking approval.The approved charter, Health Leadership High School, will be in Albuquerque’s South Valley and will focus on helping students who have struggled in traditional school settings get on track to careers in health professions. It will open next year.
Of the eight school applications that were denied, four had links to out-of-state groups or companies. Those applications were particularly scrutinized by certain public school advocacy groups and by the Legislative Education Study Committee, which raised the spectre of back-door privatization and the loss of local control.
PEC Chair Andrew Garrison said this year’s applications were rejected for a variety of reasons. He said some applicants didn’t seem to have a solid plan, while others were applying to open charters in communities without a clear need.
He said, for example, the PEC rejected two applications for schools that would be based in Taos, because Taos already has numerous charters that aren’t at full enrollment capacity and that offer similar programs to those proposed.Garrison said some commission members were concerned about online schools, particularly those that purchase curriculum from for-profit companies....
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