Will the Jonesville-Lockhart Charter School effort come to an end this year or continue into 2010?

That’s the question that has divided the JLCS Governing Board, which is split between members who want to try to open a charter school next year and those who feel it is no longer feasible and want to surrender the charter. During an often emotional meeting Thursday, the board debated the issue before deciding to delay action until a meeting can be scheduled to receive public comments on the issue.

The meeting, which will be announced later, will help the board gauge the level of public support for continuing or stopping the effort. The board will then vote on whether or not to work for a 2010 opening or return their charter to the State Charter School District.

Chairman Shirley Cromer is among those advocating delaying the opening of the school. Mrs. Cromer said that while the district does not have the money to open the school this year, she feels the effort should not be abandoned. She said the public needs to be consulted about this matter before the board makes a final decision.

“Currently, we do not have the financial means to open in 2009,” she said. “We want to gather input from the public as to whether or not to continue our efforts into the 2010 school year.”

The school was originally scheduled to open in 2008 but was delayed until this year after funding for land acquisition and facility construction fell through. The district has not been able to secure the required funding since then but Mrs. Cromer said efforts are continuing and continuing into next year would give the district time to secure that support.

The district has been awarded $420,000 from that State Charter School District to cover the cost of furnishing the new school once it is built. It cannot, however, be used for land acquisition, building construction or school operations including hiring teachers and other personnel.

Despite these obstacles, Mrs. Cromer said the charter school concept of parental and faculty control of education remains a worthwhile goal.

“Our effort started to offer choice to parents with children, to offer a small school setting,” she said. “We still want to build our K-12 charter school.”

Vice chairman Mark Sanders was among those arguing that the two years the board has put into the effort has reached a dead end due to the ongoing economic downturn.

“With the economic situation the way it is today and for the foreseeable future, this school is not feasible in my opinion without a major third party subsidy,” he said. “We owe it to the people to be honest with them and tell them the facts.”

Sanders pointed out that, like all school districts in the state, the charter school’s per pupil funding has been cut twice since the fall as the state struggles to balance its budget in the face of the ongoing economic downturn. He said it will probably be years before the state’s revenues reach their previous level and so the funding cuts will not be restored anytime soon.

“This board has to use its experience and education to see what has happened in the past in such downturns,” he said. “This one is probably worse than what any of us have seen in our lifetime. The past indicates it will take beyond 2010 for the state’s revenues in its budget to turn around.”

Sanders and other board members who favor surrendering the charter also pointed out that the new Jonesville Elementary/Middle K-8 School under construction will open this fall. They said that once that happens they believe it is unlikely parents will move their children from there to the charter school.