A group of parents wants to start Utah County's first charter high school, but a state limit on the number of new charters could stand in its way.

The Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy would draw from other schools in the area and focus on a classical education, said Steve Whitehouse, one of the school's founders.

The school would be would be modeled after Tempe Preparatory Academy, a charter high school in Tempe, Ariz. Students would learn by the Socratic method.

"Instead of reading about Plato, you go and read Plato, you go and read Socrates, you read Adam Smith, you read Darwin. You read original authors and then, using the Socratic method, which is instructor-led seminar, the students discuss the texts in class and learn from each other. They learn how to speak and think and analyze," Whitehouse said.

The school would enroll 100 students in each grade of nine through 12.

But first, the school would have to be approved by the state Charter School Board. From 18 applications, the board can fill three more spots of five allowed by a law passed during this year's state legislative session. The law provides $150,000 to study how the state funds charter schools, while limiting new charters to five, with 5,000 students total, in 2007-2008.

Robert Henri Academy of Arts in Spanish Fork, which seeks to blend fine arts into education, also will vie for one of the three openings. The state Charter School Board will meet on May 18 to consider the applications and could pass them along to the state Board of Education.

"It's actually caused a lot of people to be quite concerned," Whitehouse said. "The verbal promise is in the next session" state legislators will allow more charter schools, "but there's nothing in statute that requires them to do it."

Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said new legislation would be required to extend the limit into future years. The state study is looking at the funding gap between public schools and charter schools, he said.

"Right now charter schools receive about $800 less per student, so there's a whole range of issues there that legislative leadership wanted to look at," Stephenson said.

As charter schools boom, it's important to streamline their funding, Stephenson said.

"Charter schools are now coming into their own and they're maturing as a concept in Utah, so it's appropriate for the Legislature to rethink the funding mechanism and to see if there's a simpler way of having the dollars follow the students who attend charter schools," he said.

Aside from encouraging discussion among students, the Maeser Preparatory Academy also would employ a program called Winterim. Classes would be suspended between the fall and spring terms, and students would be allowed to earn credit through travel, independent study and other educational pursuits.

Michelle Smith of Lindon, one of the school's founders, said she attended the only other school in the country that conducts Winterim, Maumee Valley Country Day School in Toledo, Ohio.

"It was the most regimented and demanding and rewarding and interesting and growth-filled experience of my education," Smith said. "I simply thought, 'I don't want my children to not have that available.' "

Combining the Great Books curriculum, which requires students to read influential Western literature, and the Socratic seminar method would be groundbreaking for Utah, Smith said.

"This is something that's proven to be successful," she said. "It's just never been done in Utah."

But Smith said she is worried that the state limit on charters will quash students' opportunity for a rigorous educational experience.

"It seems so arbitrary and unfair to have it limited like that," she said. "I think if we have people who are willing to do the work to open the schools and who we have reason to think are going to do a good job, and students and parents want these schools to exist, what a travesty to take that away from them."

Anna Chang-Yen can be reached at 344-2549 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Three informational meetings about the proposed Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy are planned:

May 10, 7 p.m., Timpanogos Academy, 55 S. 100 East, Lindon

May 23 , 7 p.m., Lincoln Academy, 1582 W. 3300 North, Pleasant Grove

June 1, 7 p.m., Odyssey Charter School, 738 E. Quality Drive (700 South), American Fork

The state Charter School Board will meet at 10 a.m. May 18 at the Utah State Office of Education building, 250 E. 500 South in Salt Lake City.