Giving Compass' Take:

• Robert Kimball at The 74 argues that through collaboration and connection public charter schools and universities can help each other out and achieve more than they could on their own.

• How can charter school advocates help to grow support for the movement?

• Here are 3 things we need to do to reinvigorate the charter school system. 

In June, five students graduated from Saginaw Covenant Academy in the heart of Saginaw, Michigan. Saginaw Covenant Academy is a newly formed public charter school chartered by Grand Valley State University, serving young adults who’ve experienced severe life challenges that few others have encountered. Before finding Saginaw Covenant Academy, these students had collectively enrolled in 22 other schools and lost 17 of their family members to gun violence. Now, thanks to this school, each student has gone on to college.

These students’ accomplishments are remarkable, not solely because of the adversity they have faced, but also because they occur in the face of increasingly contentious political battles over whether public charters like Saginaw Covenant Academy should even exist.

Stories abound about charter opposition. For example, districts have tried to block the sale of buildings to charters, a large district board tried to stop food service providers from offering school lunch programs to charters, and districts have threatened to exclude vendors if they previously worked with charters. In May, Michigan’s State Board of Education tried to bottle up $47 million in federal grant funds to replicate and expand high-performing charter schools. Most Democratic presidential candidates are either softening their support or struggling to take a clear position on charters. And one candidate, Bernie Sanders, has gone so far as to call for a moratorium to quash charter growth.

Read the full article about achieving more students threw collaboration by Robert Kimball at The 74.