Current charter schools won't fall under APS policy.(Midday)

Byline: Susie Gran sgran@abqtrib.com / 823-3682

Existing charter schools are free, for now, from controversial new conditions and guidelines adopted by the Albuquerque Board of Education, an attorney for the state Department of Education says.

This is a relief for the nine Albuquerque charter schools, which have four to five years left on their charter contracts with the state.

Those schools have enrollments of approximately 1,600 students, enough to fill a regular city high school.

"We don't have to worry now until our charters come up for renewal," said Dolly Juarez, co-founder of the Southwest Secondary Learning Center, a charter school …