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State of Missouri gets into charter school business

By AP/KWMU

Jefferson City, MO – The state Board of Education voted Thursday for the first time to become the sponsor of a charter school.

There are 22 charter schools operating in the St. Louis and Kansas City school districts, all sponsored either by universities or local school districts. Four new charter schools have won state approval to open in this fall.

Charter schools get public money, but they're run by independent boards and don't have to follow some state regulations that regular public school districts do.

The state board voted Thursday to sponsor CAN! Academies. The new charter school plans to open in St. Louis for the coming school year, starting with about 400 students who have dropped out or are at risk to do so. The school eventually could handle about 600 students.

CAN! Academies started in Texas in 1985. The program operates 10 charter schools in Texas and is branching out to four other states: Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana and Missouri.

The St. Louis School District, which lost accreditation and will be taken over and run by an appointed board in mid-June, objected to creation of another charter school in the area.

Critics say the move by the state board is just another attempt to undermine the city school district.

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