As Oakland Unified School District board of directors consider the request of two of its elementary schools to turn into charter schools, many within the district are hoping that the trickle of schools not turn into a flood of sites looking to switch.

The potential for more public schools to request a change is no small worry as OUSD moves full steam ahead with its "Restructuring Plan," which calls for a deep transformation of Oakland public schools, including closing additional sites. During this most recent round of closings, many schools openly expressed frustration with the process.

Both of the elementary schools that are hoping to become independently run charters - Ascend and Learning Without Limits - are less than 10 years old and are considered top performing schools.

It was only a few weeks ago that several elementary schools initially filed paperwork to go charter, citing a series of frustrations with district actions. Most of those schools filing charter applications were being considered for closure by OUSD.

Since filing, most of those schools withdrew their applications, but anger from their administrators was felt by the board. With OUSD likely to consider eliminating more schools over the next few years, board directors worry about the charter threat.

"Absolutely I'm concerned," OUSD Board Director Christopher Dobbins said. "There may some schools out there that 'survived' the previous round of cuts and now maybe those schools will take a hard look at becoming a charter. This has been a bit of a wake up call for everyone."

At a recent OUSD meeting on the charter school issue, the elementary schools cite the district's budgetary constraints, lack of autonomy and restraints around hiring as the main reasons they no longer want to be
a part of OUSD.

According to OUSD spokesman Troy Flint, the district would lose between $1 million and $2 million in revenue if the schools are successfully converted to charter. He called the possibility of the schools switching to charter, "disheartening."

"The district is aware of some of the issues that were cited by the schools and we are working to see how we can help with some of those challenges," Flint said.

The district has never faced multiple schools requesting a conversion to charter. Flint said that about seven or eight years ago, Kemp Elementary, which was a part of the district's own charter program, made a move to become independently chartered. He said OUSD does not have a specific policy for charter school conversions and board directors will in fact be relying upon the state's policy on charter schools.

OUSD School Board President Jody London, speaking from a San Diego meeting of the California School Boards Association, said that the role of charters schools and their relationships to public schools is an ongoing conservation with many school board officials.

"I would like to see a break in the charter applications until we can assess what is working and what isn't working," London said.

Experts say that as California schools face a funding squeeze, more public schools may opt to pull the trigger and go charter.

"Clearly, there's widespread support for charter schools among California parents," said Bruce Fuller, a University of California, Berkeley, professor, who studies the charter school movement at the Graduate School of Education.

Fuller said while recent research suggest charter schools do no better than public schools, there's a perception issue tilting in favor of charters.

"A lot of parents, many poor Latino or black, see charters schools as being smaller, safer with more hands-on interaction," he said, adding that he expects more public schools to continue to request a change to charter.

"Charter schools are clearly here to stay," Fuller said.   

Dobbins said that it's more than likely that Ascend and Learning Without Limits will eventually turn charter.

"If legally they've dotted the i's and crossed all of the t's, there's not to stop it," Dobbins said.

OUSD board of directors will vote on the charter applications on Jan. 11.