Constitution
Meridian Rings Bell On North Star Charter
June 26, 2013 
In a fiscally wise move, the Meridian School Board has rung the bell on the North Star charter school in Eagle which is mired in debt and pulled its charter.
While the North Star charter school is a “public school,” it is not part of the Meridian District, but in essence “licensed” by Meridian. Meridian has no authority over teachers, budget, or curriculum, but has the responsibility to pull the charter if the charter is unable to fulfill its obligations.The GUARDIAN examined some of the legal and constitutional issues previously and found a big split between the educational and financial side of charters.
The short version is North Star is without funds to pay off debt, the school will likely be repossessed by the bondholders who financed it, and Meridian will have to absorb the student body into the existing system.
The only bad guys in the story are the legislators who cave to lobbyists for groups seeking, religious, diverse, patriotic, or some other type of education outside the mainstream. No need to divert public funds to a fragment of the population. We don’t have special police, fire, parks, or sewers which cater to a special interest group.
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Comments & Discussion
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Jun 26, 2013, 9:18 am
Not to mention that one of the people involved with North Star is himself a legislator and on the education committee, which really seems inappropriate to me.
Jun 26, 2013, 10:36 am
Every child should attend a fully funded public school. Every child. Fully funded.
Jun 26, 2013, 8:31 pm
Why don’t the rich in eagle just pony up the cash?
Jun 27, 2013, 2:28 am
To say that the legislature is responsible for the spread of charter schools is ignoring the problems associated with the public schools and type of education they are receiving. The public is voting with their feet and charter schools and home schooling are the beneficiary. Most reported failures of charter schools revolve around mismanagement of money and please don’t tell me that public schools are immune to mismanagement. I live in the Nampa school district.
EDITOR NOTE–Sam, check out any or all of these search hits and then tell me if perhaps it explains why so many of your Idaho Legislators go on free junkets to Turkey.
http://www.google.com/#output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=gulen+schools+in+america&oq=gulen+schools+in+america&gs_l=hp.12..0i22i30l4.1495.1495.0.4554.1.1.0.0.0.0.239.239.2-1.1.0…0.0…1c.2.18.psy-ab.zMt7CegopFc&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48572450,d.cGE&fp=77b1638b0f3e5c6f&biw=1120&bih=805
Folks are being manipulated by special interests of all kinds and the Gulen movement is just one. The group gets charter school laws passed which give public money to the special interest and they use that as political ammo to get a similar law passed elsewhere. (“Even conservative Idaho has a friendship resolution with Turkey and approved our charter school bill”) Give a free trip to a legislator and you get support for publicly funded Islamic schools.
Jun 27, 2013, 11:06 am
Privitization of prisons and schools is wrong and counterproductive, not to mention more expensive.
Jun 27, 2013, 5:08 pm
Mr. Gaurdian
Your reference to the Gulen schools and their Muslim influence remind me of Sen. Hill, McKenzie and McGee and their trip to Turkey a couple of years ago. It is a movement very opposed to our culture. Do you have any information on the Muslim school on Cloverdale road and how it is financed?
EDITOR NOTE–Didn’t know there was such a school and don’t have any info on financing.
Jul 1, 2013, 8:22 am
Is there anyway to obtain financial records on charters? Who the “latest real estate scheme” financiers are? I have seen the place on Cloverdale that you speak of Chicago Sam, not sure it’s a school? But, since the state was putting on workshops on how ANYONE can start a charter school, Idaho is a prime place to come. Gulen charters are the biggest charters in the USA. Family visas are provided to foreigners that “invest” in education. Here is a site that is trying to expose Gulen charters. http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/list-of-us-schools.html Utah has a known Gulen charter, and Idaho seems to follow suit with the state of Utah when it comes to education.
But, regardless of what charter we speak of, it is a money making scheme, and I do not support them. But, when you have a superintendent of schools that does, that follows U.S. secretary of Ed’s, Arne Duncan, that supports charters. The only thing we can do as people, is to keep educated. Clearly, something Tom Luna does not want. Goal of using the common core state standards, for Race to the Top funding, is to close the lowest performing schools, based on testing, and open up charters to replace them. It is already happening in other big cities in the U.S. http://www.broadeducation.org/asset/429-arrasmartoptions.pdf
Jul 1, 2013, 12:55 pm
To clarify a comment by slfisher, who writes “Not to mention that one of the people involved with North Star is himself a legislator and on the education committee, which really seems inappropriate to me.”
Republican Representative Reed DeMordaunt is a founder of North Star Charter School, along with his wife Gayann DeMordant. Rep. DeMordaunt is the chair of the House Education Committee and co-chair (with Sen. John Goedde) of the legislatively appointed interim committee charged with researching this summer ways to improve K-12 education. Gayann DeMordant recently ended her second term as a commissioner on the Idaho Public Charter Schools Commission, in which role she approved applications for charter schools and reviewed charter schools for adherence to state law. Both she and her husband claim not to have served on the board of directors for North Star for “several years” now.
Jul 1, 2013, 8:37 pm
I for one am glad this school is finally coming down to its end. I’ve been attending this school since 1st grade and what started as a really strong school, crashed after changing principles twice more. I watched the school start out strong and have smart determined kids to having druggies, trash and “ghetto” children in it. they have poor security. no dress code or cameras. which is a hazard, there have been so many kids expelled the last two years for sexual harassment and cyber bullying and drugs that I am glad its going down.