Bolling considers on-base charter school - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Bolling considers on-base charter school

Parents and commanders at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., are looking at opening a charter school for children there.

“We bus nearly 300 children off base to schools at a cost of nearly $1 million a year and another 300 are home schooled,” Col. Brian Anderson, commander of Bolling’s 11th Mission Support Group, said during a March 3 meeting with parents that attracted about 160 people. “We want to know if a school on base would be utilized by parents if we had one.”

The idea for a school on Bolling has been around since 1979, but efforts to open one have been stalled by legal and political issues.

Bolling is in southeast Washington, D.C., where schools have a reputation for performing below national standards.

Having their children attend good schools with adequate safety and security is a major concern for parents.

“It’s all about the kids, that is the mission,” Anderson said. “The process is going to be long and arduous, but we are willing to undertake it.”

A charter school is privately run but publicly funded, and open to all students in the school district where it is located. The District of Columbia currently has 55 charter schools authorized and monitored by the D.C. Public Charter School Board, according to the board’s Web site.

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., will be the first Air Force base to host a charter school when the Sonoran Science Academy opens this fall in a building that once housed a public elementary school.