Pub. 1 2011-2012 Issue 2

15 AMEND E How to Successfully Your Charter By Marlies Burns, Director of Charter Schools | USOE R ay Budde coined the term “charter schools” in the mid-1970s which embodied the idea of teachers being able to make site-based de- cisions regarding the education of students in a specific school building. Although 41 states and the District of Columbia have charter school laws, there were no consistent requirements for what the law contained across states. Each state legisla- ture defined the unique terms of its charter school law, including the rights and privileges of char- ter schools, the funding mecha- nism, waivers from law, and the performance expectations. All of Utah’s charter schools have a charter agreement with its chartering entity. This document defines the school’s promise for performance in return for operating a pub- lic charter school and receiving taxpayer dollars. When a school wants to change the terms of this agreement, it must submit an amendment for consideration by its chartering entity. The chartering entity is responsible for, among other things, annually reviewing and evaluating the performance of charter schools it autho- rizes and holding the schools accountable for their performance. During the amendment process, the State Charter School Board (Board), as a char- tering entity, holds charter school govern- ing boards accountable for the terms of its charter agreement by requesting and reviewing information provided by the school specific to its performance. The information requested includes charter school performance compared to state and federal laws and regulations (e.g., special education, student academic progress), Board minimum standards (e.g., teacher licensure, cash on hand), best practices (e.g., enrollment trends, timeliness and accuracy of required reports), and entity- determined targets which vary from school to school. Prior to submitting an amendment request, I recommend that a school review its char- ter agreement and current performance compared to the board stated goals. This will assist the governing board in deter- mining whether or not the amendment request will help the governing board meet its goals. While it is not required that the charter school meet all goals at the time of the request, schools which have met most goals will more likely receive preference in the amendment request process over those that do not meet the goals. As staff to the Board, I also review the school’s performance compared to its charter agreement. My review is sent to both the Board and the school’s governing board chair and lead administrator prior to the Board meeting. After reviewing my analysis of school per- formance, I recommend that the governing board first, internally address any noted deficiencies with staff and, if warranted, create policy or direct staff to implement a process to resolve these concerns. Second, the governing board should prepare to ad- dress any noted deficiencies with the Board. If the governing board has data supporting school performance in an area noted as deficient (that was not submitted with the amendment request), that data should be shared (it works best if you send it to the Charter School Office in advance of the meeting so it can be distributed to and reviewed by all Board members). Finally, come prepared to the Board meeting to proactively address any deficiencies and share the governing board’s action plan to correct the deficiencies in an appropriate and timely manner. In my experience, governing boards that accept responsibility for deficiencies and have instituted a plan for how and when it will resolve the deficiencies garner Board respect for their stewardship. And, although the amendment request may not be approved at the time, the Board is more likely to reconsider the request at another meeting in the near future. Charter School Office staff are available to assist charter school governing boards with the amend- ment process. Marlies Burns is the Director of Charter Schools for the Utah Office of Education and staff to the State Charter School Board.