During a wide-ranging discussion over several sandwiches at the Times-News office Wednesday, Gooding Superintendent Heather Williams and Twin Falls Superintendent Wiley Dobbs explained some of their concerns about charter schools.

Dobbs recently announ-ced forming a committee to examine the idea of converting his district’s elementary schools to charters.

He mentioned a few other options Wednesday, such as converting only one of the schools or even establishing a school-within-a-school system in which the benefits of charter and non-charter schools would be combined.

Some of the charter benefits, Dobbs said, include offering resources currently unavailable to the district’s elementary students — such as foreign-language courses, musical instruments, advanced athletics and specialized art courses.

“It’s really endless, the things you can come up with,” he said, adding that the committee will involve district officials, including Dobbs, as well as parents and possibly grade-school children.

“It’s possible elementary students could serve on it and do a good job,” he said.

Most of the charter discussion revolved around possibilities — because, essentially, the district is looking for answers before moving forward. One obstacle is the state’s current cap on only six new charters established in Idaho per year, but Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna wants to remove the cap. Consequently, unless the limit is repealed by the legislature, any local conversion wouldn’t happen quickly and may require a change in only one school at a time — or, as Dobbs suggested, the school-within-a-school idea.

Dobbs, emphasizing that he merely wants a comprehensive look at what the charter option could offer students, said he has no particular agenda beyond determining which system would benefit students most effectively.

Williams — whose district has been competing with North Valley Academy since the Gooding charter opened in August 2008 — said the smaller charter has received more federal funding per student than traditional Gooding schools, part of a complex formula broken down by “units” of students, but didn’t object to lifting the cap on charters. She said she just wants consistency in terms of evaluating progress and providing services.

“When you start to dilute students, you dilute resources,” she said, mentioning the need for support services such as a social worker in the area that charters may or may not provide.

“We have a high poverty rate. We have a lot of neglect and abuse ... If a charter school doesn’t have the ability to offer a social worker, that resource is lost for the community,” Williams said.

Charter schools, while still accountable to various authorities — federal, state, district — are able to offer specialized curricula and are governed at the school level.

While myriad considerations about charter schools were discussed — including whether they encourage de facto segregation — Dobbs and Williams agreed that the option may allow more room for innovation than the traditional structure.

Dobbs mentioned the refugee population in the area — 26 languages are spoken in the district — and how to better educate those students.

Williams got creative when discussing innovation and mentioned “equestrian-based therapy.”

“I know a couple of kids in the district — with their learning styles, they’d learn better if they were on horses,” she said.

Damon Hunzeker may be reached at dhunzeker@magicvalley.com or 208-735-3204.