Pub. 4 2014-2015 Issue 2

6 BOARD Message The 2015 Legislative session is over and charter schools were well represented and fought for in many, many arenas. It is always interesting to me as a non- political person to see the very complicated process that goes into making and revising our laws. Subtle changes in bill language can make a world of difference. Several bills needed to be modified in order to accommodate education in general and charter schools specifically. Royce Van Tassell, our executive director and lobbyist, spent countless hours reading every bill and contacting bill sponsors to either encourage modifying a bill or expressing support or opposition. Several bills were introduced that never made it to the floor for a vote. Many times this was a direct result of the behind the scenes efforts of your UAPCS representatives. It is impossible to convey to you, our members, howmuch work takes place on our behalf during the legislative session. It is important work that I for one, am grateful I don’t have to try and do myself as an individual school. I want to thank those schools that participated in the Legislative Action Committee. We met every week during the session to get updates as to what was going on at the Capitol and to give Royce input and perspective on the bills affecting charter schools that were introduced or proposed. This kind of involvement is essential to assure that the interests of all charter schools are represented. I encourage all interested school leaders to request to be on the committee for next year. It’s an eye opening experience as to how much work goes on and how critical our association is. We are a force of over 65,000 students in over 100 schools. We need to be a strong united voice in order to protect our interests and make sure every charter school can accomplish their mission. You may have also heard about the one-year extension of the October 1 funding method. There really is more to this. The extension is part of an overall effort to reevaluate the way schools are funded in the State of Utah. HB 444 created a legislative task force to start from the ground up and look at better ways to fund schools. It was essential that charter schools have a place at that table. Due to the efforts of UAPCS we do! During this task force, the interests of charter schools will be represented to ensure that any funding formula represents fairness to all. This is a monumental effort that has not been attempted since the beginning of the charter school movement. Thank you for all you do for students and their families and thank you for your support of UAPCS. Together we are making epic changes in education! UTAH ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS BOARD OF DIRECTORS: BRAD NELSON (Chair) SpectrumAcademy (801) 936-0318 ext. 4009 / (801) 440-3150 bnelson@spectrumcharter.org CHRIS BLEAK Ascent Academy (801) 680-8141 Cbleak@ascentutah.org GERRY HASSELL (TREASURER) AmericanWest Bank (801) 208 4078 / (801) 520-3011 gwhassell@gmail.com PEGGY DOWNS Good Foundations (801) 393-2950 / (801) 603-3116 peggydowns1@msn.com JESSIE KIDD Greenwood Academy (801) 409-0710 / (801) 388-3967 jkforkids@gmail.com TIRZAHANDERSON (Secretary) Thomas Edison (435) 757-8288 / (435) 752-4417 rogerandtirzah@gmail.com STACEY HUTCHINGS UtahVirtual Academy (801) 884-3224 shutchings@k12.com STAFF MEMBERS ROYCEVANTASSELL Executive Director (801) 836-7028 royce@utahcharters.org TINA SMITH Chief Operations Officer (801) 558-7246 tina@utahcharters.org DEBBY LLEWELYN Training Director (801) 318-0911 debby@utahcharters.org JOYLIN LINCOLN Program Coordinator (801) 367-8191 Joylin@utahcharters.org TWITTER: @UTAHCHARTERS FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/UAPCS WWW.UTAHCHARTERS.ORG BY BRAD NELSON, SPECTRUM ACADEMY, BOARD CHAIR UAPCS