NEWS

Grambling lab schools merging into K-12

Bonnie Bolden
bbolden@thenewsstar.com

The Louisiana Department of Education has granted the three Grambling Laboratory Schools permission to merge into one K-12 Type 2 charter school.

Alma J. Brown Elementary, Grambling Middle Magnet School and Grambling High School will merge under one charter system, said Gordan Ford, president and executive director of the Grambling High Foundation. The changes will take effect for students starting in the 2016-17 school year.

"Everything will be different," Ford said.

Ken Pastorick, media information director for the Louisiana Department of Education, said the department approved the change this week and sent a letter to notify the foundation.

Effectively, he explained, the school will be starting over. If calculations are correct, they should be able to support a larger staff. Ford said administrators have identified some key leaders but plan to have an open hiring process in which current staff and new applicants can take part in. He said they'll pick the best options for the charter school going forward.

Currently, enrollment for all three school, including virtual programs, is about 450. He said discussions with the DOE are underway to determine whether the charter will be able to keep the virtual option. Ford said the school is considering renewing transportation for students outside Lincoln Parish.

One of the most notable changes, Ford said, will be to funding. Laboratory schools are not fully funded under the state's Minimum Foundation Program formula. Charters are, and Ford said the difference could be up to $5,000 per student. As a result, students no longer will pay tuition.

Ford said the schools up to this point have been a major partnership among the town of Grambling, Grambling State University, the school board and the foundation.

GSU had supplemented the schools for many years with higher education funding, but deep cuts to higher ed had endangered public school options in Grambling. The schools were in danger of closing.

"If we had not gotten approval this year," Ford said, "likely we would not have continued next year."

He said this move stabilizes the public school environment in Grambling and ensures it can continue.