Applicants, protestors at Philly charter school hearing

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The Philadelphia School Reform Commission held hearings Monday on dozens of proposed charter schools in the city.

Protesters were also on hand for the hearing

"Moratorium now! Stop the fraud!" some protesters could be heard to say.

One group wants to reopen the 100-year-old landmark Germantown High, which was shut down in the spring of 2013 because of school district budget cuts.

"We will focus very significantly on character education. We will be implementing the responsive classroom model and restorative justice to teach our students how to handle conflict positively," said Julie Stapleton-Carroll of the Germantown Community Charter School.

86 charter schools are now operating in Philadelphia with 62,500 students attending. They get more than $727 million in school district funding, roughly one-third of the district's budget.

A total of seven charter schools are set to be shut down for reasons ranging from poor student performance to financial issues.

One new applicant is Liguori Academy, being push by Rev. Mike Marrone, a Catholic priest on leave of absence, and Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams.

"You are eight times more likely to go to state prison if you are a high school dropout. Approximately 50% of the high school students in Philadelphia drop out. Even more tragic is that you are 20 times more likely to be a homicide victim in Philadelphia if you are a high school dropout," said Williams.

"We are not looking to be a community charter, but a charter to encompass the entire city of Philadelphia. To empower those students at most risk for dropping out," said Rev. Mike Marrone.

40 organizations have applied and are making their pitch to open a new independent charter school.