New charter will forgo federal funds

A new charter school in Salt Lake City has opted to forgo federal start-up monies to be able to give preference to minorities at a time when charters are being accused of being overwhelmingly white.

Dual Immersion Academy will open next fall without the help of federal funding — money that most charter schools are eligible for in the first three years of operation.

Start-up funding helps schools buy materials such as books, desks, supplies and other items that schools need to purchase in the first few years.

According to data from the Utah State Office of Education, minority enrollment in charter schools is 14 percent while in traditional schools it's just under 20 percent.

But since DIA will be giving priority to Spanish-speaking students, the school will not be eligible for the start-up money. Under the federal law, in order to get those funds, schools must enroll students through a random lottery.

"I commend them because they set out with a plan and they want to accomplish that ... for them to step out and forego federal funds to make sure they can accomplish their goal I commend them wholeheartedly and I hope the community will support them," said Scott Smith, chairman of the State Charter School Board.

DIA is planned as a kindergarten-through-sixth-grade charter school that teaches children to become bilingual and bi-literate in Spanish and English at the ages when their minds have the greatest aptitude for language development, DIA leaders said.

Their plan is to have 50 percent of students coming from families that speak Spanish and 50 percent from families speaking English or another language.

One enrollment lottery will be reserved for students who come from Spanish-dominant homes and the other lottery will be open to all students.

Julia Barrientos, DIA director, said children who are educated under this model have higher standardized test scores and meet higher achievement levels.

"There is a lot of research that backs the model as far as its ability to close the achievement gap for Hispanic students as well as increase the academic abilities for all students," Barrientos said.

"It's ironic that we are ineligible for federal funds when we are going to be addressing these issues that are so pertinent to our community right now in closing the achievement gap as well as providing an academic model where all kids are going to succeed at a higher level," she said.