Part of an occasional series on charter schools in Rhode Island

PROVIDENCE — A moratorium on opening new charter schools is expected to quietly expire next week, clearing the way for more of the alternative public schools to open in coming years.

There are several charter school proposals before the state Department of Education, but no new schools will open this fall because of a lack of state financing.

Under pressure from teachers’ unions, lawmakers suspended charter school openings in 2004, to determine how effective the 11 existing charter schools were before financing more. The moratorium was extended twice, despite growing demand for the schools. Statewide, about 3,100 students attend charter schools. This year, about 2,500 students were turned away on lottery day and were placed on wait lists. The moratorium is scheduled to expire June 30.

Charter school supporters say ending the freeze is a sign the state is willing to support school choice. Teachers’ union officials, on the other hand, say more charters will add to the strain already placed on cash-strapped local school districts, as charters are financed through a mixture of state and local money.

“There’s a problem with the overall allocation of resources — we still don’t have a statewide education funding formula and our communities are struggling under 3050 [property tax cap],” said Robert A. Walsh Jr., executive director of the National Education Association of Rhode Island.

The end of the freeze means two charter school proposals that have already received preliminary approval by the state Department of Education can move forward and the schools could open as soon as the fall of 2009, if money is allocated by the state. Segue Institute for Learning, a middle school that would serve students in Central Falls, would cost about $1.9 million its first year, education officials estimate. Urban League Middle College, a high school for 10th- through 12th-grade students in East Providence, would cost about $850,000 its first year.

The state Education Department, which must approve all charter applications, has also received two more within the past several months — one for an environmentally themed high school in the Exeter-West Greenwich district and another for an elementary school in Warwick.

In addition, a new type of charter school, which lawmakers approved Wednesday night, could also open in 2009, if lawmakers decide to finance the so-called “mayoral academy.” Cumberland Mayor Daniel J. McKee wants to open a regional charter school run by a national nonprofit organization, such as the Knowledge is Power Program. Unlike the state’s existing charter schools, which pay teachers the prevailing wage and grant them the same retirement and tenure benefits as unionized teachers, the mayoral academy would be free set its own benefit and salary structure. As in all public schools, teachers would have to be certified. According to the proposal, McKee would be chairman of a board that oversees the school.

“There is real demand for charter schools and lifting the moratorium gives people real hope that this could really happen and we could have more of them in the near future,” said Steve Nardelli, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools. If the freeze is not extended, existing and future charter schools can apply for federal money, a financing source that has been shut off while the state’s moratorium has been in effect, he said.

Under state law, the number of charter schools is capped at 20, although an earlier provision that limited the number of charters to four in Providence and two in other communities has since been waived. Nardelli said there is no plan at this time to push for the cap to be lifted.

Keith Oliveira, who oversees charter schools for the state Department of Education, said applications are approved or rejected in the order they are received, so if a proposal for a mayoral academy passes muster with the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education, it would have to wait its turn.

And even if final approval is granted to Segue Academy, the Urban League Middle College and a mayoral academy next year, there is still a high hurdle to clear — securing the necessary state financing in what will probably be another fiscally tight year.

jjordan@projo.com