Pub. 3 2013-2014 Issue 2

11 It is critical that charter schools develop a consistent and uniform set of guiding principles for judging legislation. Our support or opposition for legislative proposals should be transparent and clear. In addition, the policy committee allows us to better vet proposals and see landmines or unintended conse- quences that we may not have previously considered. I want to thank all of those people that participated and let you know that if you are interested in participating, please let us know. We want to make sure the policy committee has different voices and points of view from the charter world including board members, directors and business managers. UAPCS wants to make sure that we thoroughly look at legislative issues from all angles and consider the impact it will have on our schools, on our parents and students and on our communities. There were a number of positives that came out of the legislative session. One of our signature bills this year was HB 419, Charter School Revisions, sponsored by Representative Steve Eliason and Senator Howard Stephenson. This bill clarified what is required in the charter application and what elements should be part of the charter agreement. It was our goal to focus the charter on the “what” and not on the “how”. The charter agreement should be the contract on what you will do and the metrics by which you will be held accountable but should not tie your hands on implementation and process. Those decisions are inherently more fluid and are the reason we have governing boards and directors. Allow those people in the trenches to make the appropriate decisions on how best to implement their charter and meet the goals they have outlined. If you are interested in some of the other major bills that were considered or passed this year you can see our entire legislative recap at https://utahcharters. org/2014-legislative-session/ Thank you for your ongoing support. It is critical that we remain focused and vigilant on those issues that will strengthen education in the State and keep unnecessary regulations at bay allowing you to focus on the students and curriculum. It was a major surprise to everyone that nothing was appropriated for education technology and it will be interesting to see who picks up this baton moving forward. Reach your target audience a ordably. advertise get results TOM HANSEN Advertising Sales 855.747.4003 tom@thenewslinkgroup.com