Sara Nerone is trying to get her daughters, Sophie, 9, and Phoebe, 6, into the Compass School. At home in South Kingstown, above, where the girls help raise goats and chickens, Sara and Phoebe take a break from the chores while Sophie runs by.

The Providence Journal /John Freidah

This spring marks the fourth in a row that Sara and Christopher Nerone will cross their fingers and apply to the Compass School, hoping that their daughter Sophie, 9, will finally be accepted to the free, public charter school in South Kingstown.

The Nerones will also try — for the third year — to get their younger daughter, Phoebe, 6, into the small, environmentally focused school, which emphasizes student projects rather than traditional textbook learning.

Chances are slim. It’s tougher to get into the Compass School than Harvard, which has a 9-percent acceptance rate. For the last couple of years, Compass has received about 200 applicants for 10 available spots, after giving 10 spaces to siblings of current students. The majority are kindergarten spots, plus a few last-minute openings each year in grades 1 through 8.

This year, 234 families have applied. That means more than 200 families will be disappointed when the Compass School holds its annual lottery this Wednesday.

Competition for Rhode Island’s charter schools is fierce. Nine of the state’s 11 charter schools are so popular, they conduct lotteries each spring to fill the few dozen places each has available. Hundreds of students languish on wait lists with little hope of ever getting in.

According to the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools, about 3,100 students attend the 11 charter schools, located in Central Falls, Cranston, Pawtucket, Providence, South Kingstown and Woonsocket. Another 2,500 students applied for just 400 open spots for the current school year, leaving a wait list of about 2,100 students.

Applications for the coming school year are expected to follow a similar pattern, say charter school officials.

SARA NERONE, a biologist with the National Park Service stationed at the University of Rhode Island, says she and her husband, Christopher, a botanist at the university, are realistic about their daughters’ chances of getting into the Compass School, which opened in 2002.

“We won’t get in,” Sara Nerone says with a rueful laugh. Yet the Nerones continue to apply each spring.

Like thousands of other parents, the Nerones are drawn to charter schools’ small size, parental involvement and freedom to create an innovative curriculum and unique school culture.

Their daughters, Sophie and Phoebe, each adopted from Vietnam, attend private Montessori schools. The girls tend to be shy and thrive in a smaller school environment, Sara says. The Nerones are happy with the Montessori schools, but less thrilled with the $20,000 a year it costs to send the girls there.

Friends with children at Compass raved about it, and its new director, Allen Zipke, who came aboard two years ago.

“We want to stay in a school that has a close-knit community and a small student-to-teacher ratio,” Sara says, “and a place that is focused on the individual child and allows the child to move through the grades at their own pace.”

After a couple of bumpy years, Compass now outperforms the district on state testing. On tests taken last October, 90 percent of Compass’ students scored proficient in reading and 84 percent scored proficient in math, compared with 83 percent in reading and 77 percent in math in South Kingstown public schools, which are widely regarded as among the best in the state.

And Compass’ “multi-age grouping,” which combines students from two or three grades in one class, appeals to the Nerones, as does the school’s environmental focus and affiliation with Save the Bay. Also, class size at the school, which is near the URI campus, is capped at 16 for the youngest students, 18 for the upper elementary grades and 20 for the middle school level.

If the girls don’t get in, the Nerones are also considering their local public school, Peace Dale Elementary.

“We feel lucky to have the Montessori schools in our area, and we love them,” Sara says. “And we have friends and neighbors who are very happy at Peace Dale. We know it’s not the end of the world if we don’t get in.”

FOR OTHER families seeking to get their children into charter schools this year, it will feel like the end of the world if they are not among the lucky ones on Wednesday.

“I am a parent on the edge of my seat, waiting to see if my kid gets into the school,” says Joan Ryan Castillo, who hopes her 5-year-old son, Delfin, will be accepted into this fall’s kindergarten class at the Paul Cuffee Charter School in Providence. Hedging her bets, Castillo also submitted applications to two other Providence charters, Highlander Charter (formerly CVS Highlander) and Times² Academy, but she worries her son won’t get into any of them.

Last year, Cuffee had 538 applicants for 24 spots; Highlander 462 applicants for 26 spots; and Times² 257 for 84 spots. All three schools scored above the district average on the latest round of state testing.

“I won’t send my son to my local public school,” Castillo says. “It’s not meeting the state standards.”

She is also considering sending Delfin to a parochial school, but says she doesn’t know if she and her husband, a chef at the Westin Providence hotel, can afford the $4,100-a-year tuition.

Castillo says she likes the curriculum, class size and school uniform at Cuffee, which opened in 2001 and has 425 students. “They were very welcoming when I visited,” she says. “It’s a smaller scale, and there is more interaction between parents and teachers.”

Castillo says the school feels safe and disciplined.

“Truthfully, they don’t put up with a lot there,” she says. “People know it’s a gift to go there. That’s what it feels like, a gift.”

SINCE THE first charter school opened in Rhode Island in 1997, thousands of parents — particularly in urban districts with high concentrations of poverty and poorly performing schools — have turned to the small community of charter schools to educate their children.

Enrollment in charter schools statewide jumped between 2000 and 2005, growing about 25 percent a year as more schools opened and existing schools expanded. That growth slowed significantly after lawmakers imposed a moratorium on new charters in 2004, partly in response to pressure from unions and partly in response to concerns about how charter schools are financed. As a result of the freeze, the state has lost millions in federal start-up money for new charter schools.

The moratorium expires June 30, and it is uncertain if it will be extended. Even if the moratorium is lifted, it is doubtful any will open next fall. Two schools have received preliminary approval from the state Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education. But with the state facing a $384-million budget deficit for the coming fiscal year, Governor Carcieri, a charter school supporter, did not include $2.7 million to finance them. However, Carcieri did boost the $28-million charter school budget by adding $2.8 million for the expansion of some existing charters in the 2008-2009 school year.

Charter school supporters have pushed for an end to the moratorium. The long wait lists underscore the demand for more charters, they say, and turning away hundreds of students each year places a strain on families and school administrators.

“There has always been an interest in charter schools, and most of them have always had wait lists and lotteries,” says Keith Oliveira, the education department’s charter schools coordinator.

To enter a charter school lottery, parents fill out a basic application. In accordance with federal guidelines, most charters give preference to siblings of current students, in an effort to keep families together. (However, some Rhode Island charter schools are starting to abandon sibling preference because it leaves just a handful of spots open.) The rest of the applicants are entered into the lottery.

Following advice of the state Education Department, most charters have tried to ensure that the accepted students reflect the same demographic makeup of the district as a whole.

Rob Pilkington, president of the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools, says interest in charter schools has grown because parents want more choices. “The charter schools have changed some assumptions about how people view public education,” he says. “They have shown there is a different way of doing things that shows positive results.”

Pilkington, a former Providence English teacher who helped to start Textron, the state’s first charter school, acknowledges the schools benefit from a greater degree of parent commitment, which he calls “the X factor.”

“It is true that kids who go to charters have someone in their lives guiding them into a choice system, and that level of guidance and interest is an advantage,” Pilkington said. “In some cases, the school has a theme that the parents and students like. They may be drawn to the passionate educators and feel their children will blossom there.”

Many of Rhode Island’s charter schools serve low-income minority students. In fact, 78 percent of charter school students come from the urban core: Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence and Woonsocket, and 64 percent qualify for free or reduced lunch, compared with 38 percent of public school students overall. Also, 70 percent are students of color, compared with 31 percent of public school students overall.

Critics say the charters unfairly benefit by attracting more involved parents, which automatically increases a student’s chance of success. In addition, they say charters siphon money away from local districts, which cannot always save money on teachers or programs when they lose children to charter schools, says Marcia Reback, president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers. Charter schools receive a combination of state and local money based on per-pupil cost.

“When charter school funding diverts money way from public schools, they pose a threat to the quality of public education,” Reback says.

At the same time, Reback says she thinks charters are an option families should have.

“I think parents perceive charter schools as being safe environments for their children and better maintained in terms of being clean, painted, attractive buildings,” she says. “I do think the physical plant of charter schools — the equipment, materials and supplies — are probably downright better than what you find in the inner-city schools.”

MIRNA YESSENIA GONZALES, an eighth grader at Calcutt Middle School, likes everything she sees at Blackstone Academy in Pawtucket, and has set her heart on starting high school there this fall. The charter high school serves 155 students from Pawtucket and Central Falls, and boasts higher reading scores than the public high schools in those two districts, although Blackstone’s math scores last fall were lower than Pawtucket’s.

“I’ve visited there many times,” says Mirna, who has a relative attending Blackstone Academy. “I like that there are not a lot of people and that there is a lot of learning. The teachers make you have fun with the subjects you are learning.”

The numbers are against her. Blackstone’s director, Carolyn Sheehan, estimates her school will receive more than 100 applications for 45 freshman spots — some of which will go first to siblings — plus several dozen applications for a few openings in the upper grades.

“It’s awful,” Sheehan says about having to tell families the lottery system did not pick them. “It’s very hard because in Pawtucket and Central Falls, there aren’t a lot of other options that don’t include spending money. I wish everyone we want to serve could come. That’s why we opened in the first place. We knew there were too many kids not making it in the big school environment and they needed a more personalized environment to succeed.”

Mirna’s mother, Mirna Hernandez, likes the atmosphere at Blackstone Academy, and feels her daughter, who wants to become a pediatrician, would excel there.

“I like the way they treat the students like young adults, giving them confidence,” she says. “I love the way the teachers just let them be students, and make them feel comfortable. My daughter is really smart and I think she could do well. I want her to be challenged because I know she can do it.”

Hernandez says she doesn’t know what she will do if her daughter fails to get in to Blackstone. Mirna would have to attend Central Falls High School, and neither she nor her mother wants her to go there. Mirna has already asked her mother if they can move if she is not selected in the lottery.

EVEN IN South Kingstown, a district with high-performing schools, charters hold an attraction for many parents.

More than 60 parents attended Compass School’s last open house earlier this month. Two previous open houses attracted 85 parents apiece, according to Zipke, the school’s director. On this night, only 40 fit into the classroom where the presentation was held; the rest spilled out of the room and into the hallway.

The school of 145 students is bursting at the seams. A trailer in the parking lot provides class space for kindergarten through third-grade students because of crowding in the main building. The school would like to grow to 220 students, said Zipke, but plans for an addition have stalled until more financing can be secured.

The school also has few after-school activities and no sports. There’s no cafeteria, and the students run up and down the hallway on rainy days when they can’t go outside for gym.

But the parents, from South Kingstown, Richmond, Charlestown and other parts of Washington County, seemed unfazed by these drawbacks. Instead, they asked about the school’s curriculum and philosophy. Some were interested in the science projects the older students were working on, asking questions about the eel grass and salmon eggs growing in one of the classrooms.

In his presentation, Zipke emphasized the importance of communication with parents — including parent-teacher conferences and periodic progress reports — and that the school’s size and autonomy meant teachers and administrators can address issues quickly.

“If there’s a problem, you have more freedom in terms of making changes and fixing the problem,” Zipke told them. “If something isn’t working well, we can fix it tomorrow.”

Dozens of parents lingered after the presentation, and several said they liked what they had heard.

Jacqueline Stanton, of Hopkinton, said she is very happy with her son’s current school, Ashaway Elementary. But she says she does not want to send him to Chariho Middle School when he enters fifth grade.

“I’m concerned about his social and emotional growth,” Stanton said. “I’m worried he’ll get swallowed up there because it is so big.”

Links:

The Rhode Island League of Charter Schools: www.richarterschools.com

Rhode Island General Laws: Establishment of charter schools: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE16/16-77/INDEX.HTM

Funding of charter schools: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE16/16-77.1/INDEX.HTM

National charter school information: http://www.uscharterschools.org

jjordan@projo.com