Nate, WALL ST. JOUR 9/15/99: Evolution & Religion in Voucher
schools:
TA
September 15, 1999
Many Christian Parents Opt
For Religious Charter Schools
By DANIEL GOLDEN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- At one of America's fastest-growing school
systems, 44% of the teachers come from Bible colleges. Mothers pray in
the school buildings. Students learn about Adam and Eve in science class,
and are asked not to wear costumes to school on Halloween, in deference
to parents who believe the holiday glorifies the devil.
Yet the National Heritage Academies aren't Christian private schools.
Instead, they are a chain of state-funded charter schools offering
back-to-basics education with a religious tinge -- free of charge.
Based in this Bible Belt stronghold, the for-profit National Heritage has
burgeoned from one school with 174 students in 1995 to 22 schools with
8,600 students in two states today -- with a marketing campaign seemingly
aimed at evangelical parents.
"We're like the auto industry in Detroit when the Japanese came in," says
Mark Muller, chairman of the Grand Rapids Christian schools, where
enrollment has fallen nearly 10% in six years. This drop, which he
attributes partly to National Heritage, has prompted layoffs and talk of
consolidation with a Christian-school group in another town.
What galls the Christian schools' faithful is that National Heritage founder
and chairman J.C. Huizenga is one of their own. The soft-spoken,
ruddy-faced businessman and Republican activist-cousin to AutoNation
chairman and Miami Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga, a small
National Heritage investor himself -- attended private evangelical schools
and married a Christian-schools teacher. On occasion, he has helped bring
revivalist crusades to Grand Rapids.
J.C. Huizenga says he never intended to hurt Christian schools. "I'm still a
donor," he notes. But if families can't afford tuition, he says, "I think we're
a reasonable alternative."
Charter schools, which operate independently of local school districts,
were intended to create a choice for parents discontented with traditional
public schools. Under Michigan law, charter schools get almost as much
per capita funding as area public schools -- nearly $6,000 in National
Heritage's case.
It didn't occur to many people that tuition-burdened parents at religious
schools would also welcome an alternative, particularly one featuring small
classes, strict discipline and moral education. But today, charters are
taking market share from fundamentalist schools, their predecessors as the
hottest phenomenon in American education. And charters' smudging of the
separation of church and state has stirred up an unlikely combination of
opponents: private religious competitors and civil-liberties advocates.
"Charter schools are often a ruse for the kind of schooling that the
Supreme Court has said violates the Constitution," says Kary Moss,
executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan,
which is suing National Heritage for promoting religion.
Private-School Transfers
About one-tenth of the nation's 400,000-plus charter-school students
come from private schools. But at National Heritage, 19.7% are
private-school transfers. And that doesn't count any of the 17% or so of
the student body who started at National Heritage in kindergarten, and
might otherwise have opted for private school.
The phenomenon goes beyond National Heritage. At Marvin Winans
Academy, one of several Detroit charters started by ministers, one-fourth
of the students transferred from religious schools. The Rev. Robert J.
Coverson, who runs a small Baptist school in Detroit, says he may have to
close it because he has lost half of his students to charters.
Tom and Kathy Laarman switched three of their four children last year
from Christian schools to Grand Rapids' Excel Charter Academy, National
Heritage's first and largest school, where 28.7% of the students shifted
from private schools. "We couldn't afford Christian schools, plain and
simple," says Mrs. Laarman, a social worker, who would have paid
$18,000 in tuition for all her children. "And the charter schools provide a
very good education. If I was starting all over again with little ones, they
would be the choice."
ACLU's Allegations
One of the children, 12-year-old Carey, returned to a Christian school this
year because she wanted to play sports Excel does not offer. Still, she
says, "Excel was great. Your feelings never got hurt. Everyone was very
respectful."
Both of Jeffrey Seaver's children attend another National Heritage school,
Vanguard Charter Academy in Grand Rapids. He is a plaintiff in the Civil
Liberties Union of Michigan lawsuit, now pending in U.S. District Court in
Grand Rapids. It alleges a pattern of violating the separation of church and
state -- including weekly prayer sessions held by school mothers on site, a
fourth-grade teacher reading the Bible to her class, a Baptist church
holding evening meetings in the school rent-free, and a Baptist minister
delivering a sermon at a staff training session. The goal of the suit is to ban
what the plaintiffs consider overt promotion of religion at the schools.
Mr. Seaver, who used to head Vanguard's moral-focus committee, says
he urged National Heritage to cancel the minister's speech, to no avail.
"The atmosphere has been such that religion is encouraged," he says. "This
is a mission and ideology J.C. Huizenga feels he has the power and the
right to promote."
From Mr. Huizenga down, many National Heritage administrators and
teachers are steeped in evangelism. Still, Mr. Huizenga and other National
Heritage officials say they respect the church-state boundary -- without
being intimidated by it. National Heritage President Peter Ruppert
acknowledges that the Baptist sermon was inappropriate, and the mothers
have temporarily stopped meeting at Vanguard. Still, under an 18-page set
of guidelines drawn up by a National Heritage lawyer, parent groups can
still pray at the schools. Churches may still hold services there -- as long as
they pay rent. "We won't shy away from teaching values just because of
the threat that people will call us a religious institution," says Mr. Ruppert.
Michigan law gives universities the right to grant public-school charters.
Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich., which charters most of
the National Heritage schools, remains unconcerned about their religious
overtones. Pat Sandro, the university's special assistant for charter schools,
says the region's religious culture permeates the traditional public schools
as well. At Grand Rapids public schools, where he used to be
superintendent, "every board meeting opened with a prayer," he says. Mr.
Sandro, whose daughter teaches at Vanguard, adds that National Heritage
"operates some of the best schools I've ever seen."
American Flags
Those schools -- 20 in Michigan and two in North Carolina -- all look
much the same: an L-shaped, wood-frame building with a plastic climbing
structure in the playground. Along the cheerful, well-scrubbed hallways,
the lockers don't have locks and the art features American flags and
medieval knights.
Their knapsacks hanging in a row from the classroom wall, neatly dressed
children -- no blue jeans, miniskirts or dyed hair allowed -- sit with hands
folded at their desks. They address their teachers as "Mr.," Mrs.," or "Dr."
as they are drilled in phonics, math and Core Knowledge, a canon
developed by "Cultural Literacy" guru E.D. Hirsch Jr.
In an Excel conference room, Les Bartell drums his fingers on a wooden
table. "This isn't a marble tabletop," says Mr. Bartell, who has two children
attending the school. "We don't have three shades of terra cotta and brick
outside. But it's a clean, safe, functional facility."
The charter threat has forced many religious schools into a fight-or-switch
dilemma. Some are responding with more marketing. The Grand Rapids
Christian group never used to reveal its scores on standardized tests, citing
religious strictures against boasting. Yielding to competitive pressure, now
it tells prospects that its schools have the second-highest scores in the
Grand Rapids area on the ACT college-admissions test.
On the other hand, Heritage Christian Academy in Denver (no relation to
National Heritage) plans to join the charter tide. The school, which was
affiliated with a predominantly African-American church, shut down last
June and will reopen as a charter in September 2000. According to Pastor
Debbie Stafford, its development director, the new school will have an
"elective hour" when students may attend Bible clubs. "We believe we will
still be able to provide the type of faith/moral environment that will let the
kids know they have a special purpose in life," she says.
Huizenga's Effort
Originally, David Koetje, superintendent of the 11 schools in the Grand
Rapids Christian group, also thought charter schools could be compatible
with Christian education. After Michigan adopted its charter-schools law in
1994, Mr. Koetje approached Mr. Huizenga, offering to staff charter
schools if Mr. Huizenga would pay for the buildings.
Mr. Huizenga expressed serious interest. As owner of American Litho
Inc., a printing-plate maker, he felt public-school graduates were seldom
prepared for the work force. But Mr. Koetje had second thoughts and
backed off, worried that the schools would have to be too secular to
qualify for funding. "Our becoming involved in a public school would tear
our soul out of us," he says.
So Mr. Huizenga forged ahead alone, competing with his might-have-been
partner. National Heritage's recruitment video features a parent who
transferred her children from parochial schools. Its billboard slogan --
"Academic Excellence, Moral Focus, Tuition-Free" -- infuriated the
religious schools. To appease his old friends, Mr. Huizenga softened
"tuition free" to "no cost." National Heritage is also redoing the recruitment
video. But its new mantra, "A Private School Education for the Masses,"
strikes Mr. Koetje as misrepresenting the charters as private schools.
According to Mr. Koetje, some parents at his schools continue to receive
recruitment fliers from National Heritage, despite the company's promise
to remove their names from its mailing lists. National Heritage officials
blame a computer glitch that is being corrected.
National Heritage has also tapped public schools. In 1996, Grand Valley
State approved the opening of two schools in the town of Holland, Mich.,
including Vanderbilt Charter Academy, a National Heritage venture. That
year, the Holland public schools lost so many students, including 110 to
Vanderbilt, that their superintendent persuaded Mr. Sandro to declare
Holland off-limits to new charters. Even so, the Holland schools have
suffered a $3 million funding cut and staff layoffs over three years.
Plans for More
National Heritage plans to open 18 more schools next fall, including four in
upstate New York. Its goal: 200 schools by the year 2006. Most of the
schools are located at the fringe of cities, and their student bodies reflect
an urban-suburban mix: 28% percent are minorities and 20% qualify for
free or reduced-price lunches.
Parental demand is so great that students are selected by lottery at most
schools. Even Mr. Huizenga's son was placed on a waiting list. (Mr.
Huizenga's wife has since decided to home-school him.)
National Heritage has yet to break even; last year, it had a loss of $1.5
million. Each school starts as kindergarten-through-fifth, and adds one
grade each year until the eighth, with maximum enrollment of 650. At that
capacity, according to Mr. Ruppert, the schools turn a profit.
Capital for buildings is National Heritage's biggest hurdle. While its frame
structures are cheaper than typical public-school buildings, they still cost
$2.8 million each, plus an additional $1.2 million for a new wing when
enrollment tops 400.
Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools can't issue municipal
bonds. So Mr. Huizenga has contributed more than $40 million from his
own pocket and in loan guarantees. He has also borrowed $50 million
from family and friends.
National Heritage saves money by forgoing buses and cafeterias. Parents
chauffeur children, who eat at their desks. Teachers, who are nonunion,
are paid less than at traditional public schools; year-end cash bonuses or
stock options worth up to $2,000 depend on student test scores, parent
evaluations -- and staying within budget. Despite parental pressure,
National Heritage has not opened a high school, which would be more
expensive than elementary school.
Longer Days
The schools have seven-hour days, longer than most public schools. Over
the past two years, they have generally surpassed Grand Rapids public
schools on the statewide assessment test, but have mixed results vs. the
rest of the state.
Students are graded on moral focus, and teachers are expected to
"exemplify the moral values we teach kids," says to Mr. Ruppert. Asked if
he would hire an openly homosexual teacher, Mr. Huizenga says,
"Personally, I don't believe a gay teacher is an appropriate teacher for a
child."
National Heritage policy is to treat both evolution and the Biblical creation
story as theories. Carolyn Thompson, a fifth-grade science teacher at
Knapp Charter Academy and an evangelical Christian, says she believes in
"creationism and then evolution from that point on" -- and teaches it that
way in class.
Becky Bullen, a fourth-grade teacher at Knapp, told her students about
dinosaurs last year -- and learned a lesson herself. Some parents protested
that fossil evidence of dinosaurs, which became extinct 65 million years
ago, contradicted their Biblical belief that God created the world 6,000
years ago. Since then, Ms. Bullen has dropped the dinosaurs and says, "I
basically try to steer clear of any hot issues." |
