3 charter schools OK'd

The State Board of Education put the final stamp of approval on three charter schools endorsed by the State Charter Board last month, but not before contemplating approving another school and petitioning the Legislature to extend the charter cap for that additional school.

Guadalupe School and Canyon Rim Academy, both in Salt Lake City, and Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy in the Pleasant Grove area will begin operations as charter schools in fall 2007.

But some board members wanted to also approve Edith Bowen Elementary School's charter application since it is already a successful school with a proven track record in Logan.

The Charter Board evaluated charter applications on a point system this year because lawmakers imposed a cap of five charter school approvals for the 2007-08 school year. Two had already been approved and 15 were still waiting in the wings.

Charter leaders say had the cap not been enacted they would have most likely approved eight or nine of the proposed charters. So to be fair they decided to evaluate the schools against each other in a point system.

Edith Bowen was a fraction behind the top three.

All charters ranked behind the top three will still have to reapply for next year. However, charter officials said that those in the higher rankings will not need to make any big changes on their applications.