State law clearly says charter schools are public

I owe a thank-you to an industrious reader.

Well, not that industrious, but enough to check out what the Illinois School Code had to say about charter schools and whether they're public.

If you're a little lost, I addressed this issue in an earlier column because there appeared to be disagreement over whether the Cambridge Lakes Charter School in Pingree Grove was a public school.

Larry Fuhrer, the executive director of the nonprofit organization that runs the charter school, has said it is a private endeavor, while others, including Community Unit District 300 officials, assert the school is public.

This is what Illinois law has to say on the issue: "A charter school shall be a public, nonsectarian, nonreligious, non-home-based, and nonprofit school."

Elizabeth Evans, executive director of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, addressed the question in an April 2 letter to the editor: "Charters are most certainly public schools, serving only public school students."

To be fair, I should note that charter schools are exempt from many of the laws that govern public schools.

But unless the law changes or a court makes a ruling to the contrary, it's safe to say charter schools are public.

The industrious reader also pointed out an important corollary -- that as public schools, charter schools are also subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

If you're not familiar with that one, it's the nifty little law that allows the public and the media access to most documents showing how public bodies are spending their money.

I haven't yet tested this provision of the charter schools law, but I wouldn't be surprised I have to invoke it sometime in the future.

More to come on contract: If you haven't heard, Huntley Unit District 158 and the Huntley Education Association, which represents more than 500 teachers and support staff in District 158, released their first bargaining update last week.

The document is filled with such vague goals as improving student achievement, and treating teachers with respect.

One goal, however, stood out: District 158's goal of tying teachers' salary increases to inflation. It was one of the few specifics in the page-and-a-half bargaining update.

As I noted in the story, this would be a great deal for the district because teacher salaries have risen faster than inflation in recent years.

It seems unlikely, however, that this proposal would survive months of teacher contract negotiations.

I don't think the teachers union would accept annual raises that, in some cases, would be below 2 percent.

When District 158 pushed for public contract negotiations, one of the reasons was so that the parties would be less likely to present unrealistic low-ball or high-ball offers at the outset.

When I saw the district's proposal, I wondered if this would fall in that category -- that is, an unrealistically low offer.

I don't have a good answer for you. The fact is, teacher contract negotiations are rarely open to the public, so its hard to know what the initial offers were.

But I think I'll be able to give you a clearer picture of how far apart the two sides are when I get the next joint update.

That document should contain both sides' comprehensive contract proposals -- and give an idea of how much bargaining is left to be done.