Policy 3.J - CHARTER SCHOOL

Date Adopted: January 27, 2009

Date Revised: November 10, 2009, April 16, 2013, June 25, 2013, April 28, 2015

Monitoring Date: September

The superintendent shall not allow charter school contract applications to be recommended and shall not allow existing charter school contracts to continue if fiscal jeopardy or failure to make consistent progress towards their stated objectives is a likely outcome or is evident. In addition, the superintendent shall not allow existing charter schools to operate in a manner that would jeopardize the learning or wellbeing of their students; such as any condition or procedure that are unclear, unfair, unsafe, untimely, undignified or unnecessarily intrusive. Accordingly, during the charter school application process the superintendent may not:

1. Fail to provide the Board with an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each charter application.
2. Fail to have a standard application format, complete with dates for submittal and expectations of thoroughness that includes and requires documentation of all areas of concern to the Board. The critical questions format used by district staff will be publicly available on the website with the directions for applications.
3. Fail to ensure that members of the Board of Education receive a single completed application and any other relevant information at least two weeks prior to the public hearing for each charter applicant.
4. Fail to ensure that members of the Board of Education receive all revisions to the charter application, answers to questions raised by board members and district staff, and all other relevant information at least two weeks prior to Board action on each charter application.
5. Fail to have the application easily available to prospective applicants by providing phone and e-mail addresses to access an application.
6. Fail to require a detailed and realistic financial plan and analysis by the applicant, which shall include:
   1. Provision for placing three percent of the operating or three percent of the capital budget in a Tabor reserve fund.
   2. Cash flow projections for the first year displayed month by month and a plan to fund any cash flow shortfalls.
7. Fail to assess the viability of a charter school applicant by assuring that the following requirements are appropriately addressed before a favorable recommendation can be given:
   1. An analysis of the monetary impact on the district budget, with the consideration of the impact the new charter school will have on the education of students in other district schools.
   2. An impact statement of the proposed school, given its proposed location, on neighborhood schools and other charter schools.
   3. Documentation that substantiates that current availability to the program is limited and that demonstrates sufficient commitments to attend the school by students who are eligible to attend.
   4. Description of a program of study or curriculum, including whether the program or curriculum currently exists in the district as a whole or in the geographic area of the district where the charter school proposes to locate or is in high demand with little or no space available.
   5. Documentation that the proposed school has located a prospective site or sites that is/are sufficient for the program, is/are financially feasible, and is/are likely to meet the criteria for site development in the county.
   6. A thorough and detailed description of enrollment and lottery procedures, including how the school will use a weighted lottery system to ensure a diverse student population.
   7. Description of how the proposed school addresses the needs of “at risk” students.
   8. Description of how the needs of identified special needs students are sufficiently addressed according to law and policy.
8. Fail to collaborate with new charter applicants to mutually agree to reasonable timelines for consideration of their application.

In regard to existing charter schools, the superintendent may not:

1. Fail to monitor the charter school environment and ensure that their students/public are treated according to policy 3A.
2. Fail to monitor progress toward goals at least twice each year for charters in their first two years of existence and yearly in the school accountability plan of all other charter schools.
3. Fail to require, review, and analyze quarterly financial reports from each charter school, including an annual audit of all of the charter school accounts conducted by a licensed and accredited auditor approved by the district.
4. Fail to inform the Board and place on the consent agenda any loans from the School District to charter schools.
5. Fail to maintain a charter school’s demographics in substantially similar percentages to district managed schools serving the same grade configuration in reasonably close proximity to the charter school.
6. Fail to document, in writing, any discrepancies or deficiencies, whether fiscal, educational, or related to school climate, and the steps and timelines for correction and additional monitoring. Copies shall be provided to the charter school board chairperson and the members of the Board of Education.
7. Fail to assure compliance with the charter school contract.
8. Fail to inform the Board annually of the student achievement attained by charter schools, as well as regular public schools, using the same statistical analyses.
9. Fail to collaborate with existing charter schools applying for a renewal of their contract to mutually agree to reasonable timelines for consideration of their renewal application.
10. Fail to require charter schools to submit revised budgets to the charter school administrator when their official October 1 count of students is more than 5 percent less than the projected student enrollment that has been submitted to the District.
11. Fail to inform the Board of the renewal application timeline and process.
12. Fail to provide to the Board documentation of the revised budgets of charter schools whose official October 1 count is more than 5 percent less than the projected student enrollment that has been submitted to the school district.
13. Fail to maintain a total combined charter school enrollment percentage of 25 or lower relative to the district enrollment as a whole.
    1. a. The Superintendent may, with prior approval of the Board of Education, seek and/or consider a charter application(s) designed to meet specific needs of the District, the result of which would exceed the percentage set forth above.