It is the Friday before Halloween at Forest Ranch Charter school and the excitement is evident on the face of every costumed kid.
For students the pre-Halloween party ranks among the best days of the year, but for many of the adults in this small town every day the school is open is a reason to celebrate.
"It was really important to this community that we had a school because this is really is the heart of our community. There isn't a park up here or a playground, this really is it for the children who live up here," explained Christja Marasco, Director of Forest Ranch Charter School.
In April of 2008 Chico Unified School District announced that Forest Ranch Elementary School would be closed. Enrollment at the school was down and the district was in the middle of a financial crisis.
Rather than accept the closure and move their kids, a core group of parents lead an ambitious effort to turn Forest Ranch into a charter school.
"We charted in record time, almost an impossible feat," said Marasco. "But we had a really strong community behind us and a really strong group of people."
The Forest Ranch success story epitomizes the idea behind the charter school movement: giving parents an alternative to the public education establishment.
"I think it plays to a very important kind of American philosophy that we have choice. Parents should have a choice about where they send their children," said Paul Weber, Principal at Chico Country Day School, Chico's oldest charter.
With school districts everywhere slashing budgets and cutting programs, the charter school choice suddenly looks pretty attractive. This fall saw the largest single year gain in charter school enrollment ever in California
In Chico four charter school applications have come before the school board this year.
At Chico Country Day the waiting list now has more than 100 students on it. Weber believes parents come to his school for smaller classes, fewer cut-backs and less bureaucracy.
"The decisions that are made about our school are made right here at our site, with our school board and our parents and our staff," explained Weber.
Though every charter school has its own governing board that effectively runs the school, ultimately they have to answer to their authorizing agency. In most cases that agency is the local school district. The power-sharing relationship between the two groups can often cause problems.
"Charter schools being authorized by districts is fundamentally kind of a tense relationship. I compare it to a local department store having to ask Wal-Mart permission on how to operate," said Weber.
Just like stores compete for customers, schools compete for students. Both Charter and district schools are funded by the state based on their average daily attendance or ADA."
"The ADA generated by those (charter) students goes directly to the schools. That does not go to the district. That sets up a kind of competition that is unfortunate," said Sara Simmons, the person in charge of coordinating charter schools within CUSD.
Going forward both sides agree the key will be to find a balance where competition encourages improvement but does not cause anyone to lose sight of the larger goal of public education.
"Ultimately as a society it's our responsibility to give everyone the education they deserve," said Simmons.
"No one school, no one district can be everything to every child," said Weber. "So having those choices out there I think will help the entire educational organization, charter, district, all schools improve. "
