On state tests last spring, more than 70 percent of students at Propel East Charter School in Turtle Creek scored at or above proficient in math and reading.

So it came as a surprise to Jeremy Resnick, executive director of Propel Schools, when the Woodland Hills School Board this month voted, 5-2, against renewing the charter of the school, which is in its fifth year with 396 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

"There is absolutely no reason for the Woodland Hills School Board not to renew the charter," Dr. Resnick said.

The board plans to conduct a hearing, likely in February, and then vote again, said district Superintendent Walter Calinger.

Dr. Calinger provided a written report to the school board saying that Propel does not meet five reasons under legislative intent for charter schools and that the district's test scores "equal or surpass those at Propel."

That statement is at odds with state math and reading test scores released by the state Department of Education.

State tests in math and reading cover grades 3 through 8; 71.9 percent of Propel East students scored proficient or better in reading and 78.7 percent did so in math in the spring, when Propel had students from kindergarten through grade 7.

In regular public schools in Woodland Hills, 56.5 percent of children in grades 3 through 5 scored proficient or above in reading and 67.5 percent in math.

In grades 6 through 8, the figures were 52.5 percent proficient or better in reading and 50.8 percent in math in the spring.

The performances of all schools can be found at http://paayp.emetric.net.

Dr. Calinger said that looking at grade spans masks the areas in which Woodland Hills is achieving better.

He said it also should be considered that Woodland Hills has a higher percentage of black students than Propel does, putting the district at 64 percent black, with the remaining white and other. Dr. Resnick said Propel East is 61 percent white, 28 percent black and 10 percent multi-racial.

State test results show Propel students scored higher than those in Woodland Hills district schools in 54 of 60 subgroups the state counted for both in grades 3 through 7 for math or reading. The six exceptions were white students in grade 3 in reading and grades 5 and 6 in math; girls in grade 6 in math; and black students in grade 6 in math and reading.

While there was no black subgroup for grade 3 at Propel, Propel black students outscored Woodland Hills black students at every grade level except grade 6.

When Propel East was proposed, the Woodland Hills School Board voted against it. But the state Charter School Appeal Board ruled in favor of Propel. The charter will expire at the end of this school year.

The state charter school law provides six reasons for not renewing a charter, including material violations of the charter, failure to meet required curriculum standards, fiscal mismanagement, conviction of fraud and various other legal violations.

Mr. Calinger is looking at the one that says "violation of provisions of this article" to allege that the school has not met five items in legislative intent, as listed in the law, including improving pupil learning, offering expanded choices and encouraging the use of different and innovative teaching methods.

Dr. Calinger's information to the board also stated that Propel is "selective." Propel's students are chosen by lottery.

Dr. Calinger's information also included a "potential comparison" of the Woodland Hills Academy --which opened this year with more than 300 children in kindergarten through grade 6 and also uses a lottery for enrollment -- and Propel East, located less than a mile from the academy.

On more than three pages, all of the items for the academy were checked and all of those for Propel East were blank.

Dr. Calinger said that doesn't mean that Propel East lacks all of the points, but he wants the two schools to be compared. The points range from requiring students to wear blazers to particular software programs to types of programs.

In his note to the board, Dr. Calinger wrote, "If you do some comparing and contrasting of these two schools, you will find that Propel East is sadly lacking and thus surely does not provide expanded educational opportunities to Woodland Hills students."

Propel Schools Superintendent Carol Wooten, said, "We don't have blazers or a swimming pool, but we have higher test scores, more opportunities for kids. There are 500 kids on the waiting list."

Propel Schools operates four other charter schools in other districts in Allegheny County and plans to open a sixth, Propel Braddock Hills, also in the Woodland Hills School District next fall.

The Woodland Hills board rejected that application, but the state Charter School Appeal Board overrode that.

Students do not pay tuition to attend charter schools, but home districts must pay a fee set by the state. Last year, Woodland Hills reported paying about $4.4 million for its students to attend Propel schools.

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