MUHSD skeptical of charter school proposal

A proposal to form a charter high school in the Winton community has district officials worried that students would not have the same opportunities they have at Atwater High School.

The governing board of the Merced Union High School District will consider a petition Wednesday night to establish a charter high school in the unincorporated community of about 11,000 northwest of Atwater. District officials have recommended the board reject the proposal, citing about 15 deficiencies with the petition.

“To say, ‘Here’s the keys. Take 800 students we value and provide opportunities for’ without having the confidence that another district can provide what we have – that’s not something we’re comfortable doing,” said Ed Felt, the interim superintendent for MUHSD.

The Winton Educational Foundation is leading the effort to establish the new school. Supporters say it would foster community pride and spur economic growth. They contend the distance between Winton and Atwater poses transportation challenges, hurts students’ academic performance and deprives them of a full high school experience.

MUHSD officials disagree.

“MUHSD and Atwater High are providing a sound, rigorous academic program with extracurricular activities that all Winton students have the opportunity to partake in,” said Richard Lopez, the vice president of MUHSD’s board.

Torrin Johnson, principal of Atwater High, said he hasn’t received any complaints about Winton students’ education from parents. And, school data from last school year shows Winton students are involved in school activities and performing well academically, he said.

About 640 teens from Winton attended Atwater High in 2014-15, and Johnson said the number is about the same for this school year, representing more than a quarter of the total student body.

Last year, students from Winton graduated at about the same rate as other students at Atwater High. Fewer Winton students participated in sports, but overall, Winton students participated in extracurricular activities at the same rate as other students, the school’s numbers show.

Winton parents and community members are concerned for high school students’ safety as hundreds walk to and from Atwater High each morning and afternoon. Winton is within a 2.5-mile radius of Atwater High. Districtwide, students who live within that radius typically don’t receive bus service unless they have to cross a dangerous intersection to get to school. Many students from Winton must cross Santa Fe Drive and a set of railroad tracks to reach Atwater High.

Because of the Santa Fe crossing, MUHSD has one bus pick up students from six stops in Winton in the mornings, and the same bus makes two trips between Atwater High and Winton in the afternoons.

Travis Kirk, MUHSD’s director for facilities and transportation, says the bus fills to only half-capacity in the afternoon. “We are ready, willing and able to transfer any and all kids from the Winton area who choose to take the bus,” he said. “If the demand is there, we supply more buses.”

Juan Martinez, president of the Winton Educational Foundation, contends MUHSD is worried about protecting its state funding, which is based on average daily attendance figures. MUHSD receives nearly $10,000 this school year for each student based on average attendance. If a school were set up in Winton, Martinez said, the state money would follow students there, and organizers hope to have 200 students enrolled in 2017.

Felt said if the charter school is established, there’s no guarantee parents would choose to send their children there instead of Atwater. “You can build it, but they may not come,” he said. “A lot of families want a bigger, comprehensive high school.”

Felt noted the Winton boosters could follow the model set in Delhi, where high school students attended Livingston High before their elementary district became a K-12 district.

Martinez said he approached the Winton School District, which has three elementary schools and a middle school, about becoming a K-12 district, but ultimately the school board rejected the proposal. The Winton superintendent could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

“The politics of education are always going to be there,” Martinez said. “We feel very confident in what we’re doing. The need for this high school cannot be denied.”

This story was originally published October 13, 2015 at 7:34 PM with the headline "MUHSD skeptical of charter school proposal."