Rob Sivak: I’m Maryland Morning senior producer, here with my colleague, producer Kathleen Cahill.
It’s time to reach into the Maryland Morning mailbag. Democratic mayoral candidate State Sen. Catherine Pugh chided Tom Hall in their February 10th interview here when he identified a school that Sen. Pugh had co-founded.
Tom said, “She is one of the founders of the Design School, a charter school in the Station North --" at which point Sen. Pugh interjected, “No, it’s not. It’s not a charter school…. It is a public school!"
Kathleen: We heard from several listeners about this.
Tiffany James’s email was typical. She wrote, “I'm disappointed that Sen. Pugh does not understand that charter schools are public schools. Charters rely on public funding to exist, yet people seem to think charters are not public schools.”
Rob: Kathleen, a lot of people seem to be confused about what the term “charter school” means.
Kathleen: You’re right, Rob. But Maryland’s public charter school law is clear: A public charter school – and I’m quoting here – is a public school that is tuition free and open to all students.
You’ll find a list of the city’s 34 public charter schools on the City Schools’ website. And it’s the School System, after all, that grants the charters to create these schools.
Public charter schools are considered “Operator Schools.” Now, stay with me… Within the Baltimore City Public School system there are five types of Operator Schools. These are public schools that are run under contracts or charters. There are Transformation Schools, like the one Sen. Pugh co-founded, and Contract Schools, such as Bard High School Early College, which is run under a contract with Bard College. There are Charter Schools and Neighborhood Charter Schools and New School Initiative Schools.
And they are all free, public schools. Here is a link to the entire list of Baltimore City Public Schools, including public charter schools, contract schools and all the rest.
Rob: Thanks for the explanation, Kathleen!
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