Ben Kriesch is the Principal at Jackson’s Paragon Charter Academy.
He joined WKHM recently to talk about charter schools. First, we asked what a charter school actually is. “A Charter School is an independently public run school that’s granted greater flexibility. Also, that’s a return for greater accountability.” Kriesch said. He mentioned that charter schools are frequently viewed as entities with no oversight, when in fact, there are many eyes on their activities. “We’re frequently audited by many different departments; USDA, Michigan Department of Education, federal grant dollars that we receive, we’re audited through those things. We’re accountable to the Jackson County ISD, we’re accountable to Grand Valley State University, we’re accountable to our school board, and most importantly, we’re accountable to the students and parents that we serve.” Kriesch said.
If charters are just public schools, what makes them different? “Charter Schools are public schools of choice. We still receive tax dollars for per-pupil funding, however we do not have a geographical region where we draw students. The one geographical region is that you have to have a Michigan address,” Kriesch said. “The state’s charter law here says that we need to be connected to a university. Paragon is authorized through Grand Valley State University. Grand Valley offers wonderful professional development for our teachers. Grand Valley also offers us a lot of oversight and really provides a just great deal of stability for our school as well.”
Paragon does not charge a tuition, however they are in a unique situation when it comes to how they can improve facilities. “We are tuition-free, so the way we’re able to fund the school is through per-pupil funding through the State of Michigan. We do not receive capital funds to support facilities and expenses, so one of the things that’s different from Paragon is that we can’t pass a millage. If we need building upgrades and things like that, we have to utilize our funding through per-pupil funding to schedule out those repairs.”
For more information on Paragon Charter Academy, call 517-750-9500.
