Charter School Contracting

1. CHARTER SCHOOL CONTRACTING Charter School Contracting Presented by: Nora Flood- Colorado League of Charter Schools Wayne Eckerling-Charter School Institute

2. Today’s Webinar • Introductions • The 3 C’s • Overview of webinar technology • Asking questions • Raising your hand • Muting/unmuting

3. Collaborative Work to Date • Flowchart for Developing Groups • Startacoloradocharter.org • Standard Application, checklist for completeness and review rubric • Model Contract Language- developed at the request of districts. • Used by several districts and CSI • Ongoing vetting by attorneys, authorizers, and the charter school community.

4. Charter School Philosophies • Autonomy in return for accountability • Autonomy and accountability defined through the charter contract • Creative and innovative • Market driven • Outcome, not process, driven • Unique populations • Special student interests • The responsibility to succeed and the right to fail

5. Quality Charter Contracts • Establish a transparent relationship between the parties. • Promote success of the charter school. • Reflect that outcomes are more important than process. • Detail each parties rights and responsibilities • Take into account the authorizer’s and school’s unique circumstances

6. Quality Charter Contracts • Balance oversight and autonomy • Clearly define material vs. non-material changes • Clearly define the range of authorizer interventions and related procedures • Are user-friendly

7. Contract Cautions • Each party needs legal counsel. • There are many ways to say the same thing. • There are different legal views of some common charter contract provisions. • Not every circumstance can be anticipated by a contract – there is no substitute for collaborative problem solving. • New issues do not necessarily require a new contract provision – less can be more. • Contracts with schools should evolve over time as the relationship between the parties matures. • Authorizers should adhere to authorizer quality standards.

8. Sections of the Contract • Section 1: Introduction • Section 2: Establishment of School  • Section 3: Authorizer-School Relationship • Section 4: School Governance • Section 5: Operation of School and Waivers • Section 6: School Enrollment and Demographics

9. Sections of the Contract • Section 7: Educational Program • Section 8: Financial Matters • Section 9: Personnel •  Section 10: Service Contracts with the Authorizer •  Section 11: Facilities •  Section 12: Charter Renewal, Revocation, and School-Initiated Closure •  Section 13: General Provisions

10. Key Sections • Section 3: Authorizer-School Relationship • 3.1 Authorizer Rights and Responsibilities • A. Right to review • B. Complaints • C. School health or safety issues • D. Feedback about progress • E. Access to student records • 3.2 School Rights and Responsibilities • A. Records • B. Notification Provided to the Authorizer • C. Compliance • D. Reports

11. Section 3: Authorizer-School Relationship • 3.3 Indemnification. • 3.4 Procedures for Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws amendments. • 3.5Authorizer-school dispute resolution procedures. • 3.6Other remedies. • 3.7 Authorizer violations of charter school law or this contract

12. Section 3 Contents • Spells out the obligations and authority of each party Charter school obligations: • Maintain records • Notify authorizer when certain conditions arise • Comply with law, the contract, and district policies (unless waived) • Complete listed and other reports on-time Authorizer obligations • Review school operations including records • Notify the charter school when complaints about it are received • Minimize reporting requirements • Provide annual feedback about progress

13. Section 3 Contents • Corrective action (Other Remedies) • Corrective action provides options for authorizers prior to initiating revocation process. • The range of options and the corrective action chosen needs to match the range of possible violations. • Prior to intervening (other than immediate threats to student health or safety), a school should be given notice of the allegations, the evidence supporting the allegation, an opportunity to respond, the time frame for correcting the deficiency, and the expected result.

14. Section 7: Educational Program • 7.1 Vision. • 7.2 Mission. • 7.3 School goals. • 7.4 School objectives. • A. Mission-specific school objectives • B. Authorizer Accreditation Indicators • 7.5 Educational program characteristics. • 7.6 GED and online programs. • 7.7 Curriculum, instructional program, and pupil performance standards. • 7.8 Graduation requirements. • 7.9 English language learners. • 7.10 Education of students with disabilities.

15. Section 7 Contents • Mission and vision are incorporated into the contract body. • Educational program characteristics requiring authorizer approval to change are included in the contract. • Charter school objectives are incorporated into the contract. • Objectives include both school-selected, mission-specific outcomes and authorizer’s school accreditation indicators. • Accreditation indicators should include operations and financial, as well as academic indicators. • For high schools, graduation requirements and diploma details are included in the contract.

16. Section Ten: Service Contracts with the Authorizer • Purchased services agreements are separated from other financial provisions. • Purchased service agreements are completely voluntary, except for special education and central administrative overhead costs. • Agreements are typically negotiated for one-year only with the option to renew the agreement.

17. Other Contract Highlights • Educational Service Provider agreements • Material changes • Waivers • Enrollment of students with disabilities

18. Education Service Provider Agreements • Applicable to both for-profit or not-for-profit providers • Requires that certain provisions must be included in the ESP-charter school contract • Permits charter school board to end the contract either for cause or without cause and without penalty. • Prohibits ESP employees or others with relationship to ESP from serving on the charter board. • Requires school records to be maintained at local school. • Funds are maintained in approved Colorado banks until paid to the ESP. • ESP contract cannot exceed the length of the charter contract. • Charter board must have its own legal counsel. • Charter board must withhold sufficient funds to carry out its oversight functions including independent audit, legal counsel, training, and hiring other identified specialists. • Governance documents should include a required charter board member conflict of interest disclosure.

19. Material Changes • Application is referenced and certain pieces are lifted out and incorporated into the body of the contract or attachments. • “Material changes” are the key, “mission-critical” issues that should require contract revisions. • The contract should delineate those changes that may be made without a contract revision – for example, with notice only or notice and opportunity to comment.

20. Waivers • 5.5 Waivers. • State laws and regulations • Automatic waivers • Additional waiver requests • Procedures for additional waiver requests • Subsequent waiver requests • Authorizer policies • Automatic waivers • Additional waivers • Subsequent waiver requests • Revocation of waivers

21. Waivers • Delineates waivers of state law from authorizer policy because procedures are different. • Does not require the waiver of non-applicable laws or policies or ones that are fully delegated through the contract.

22. Enrollment of students with disabilities • Decisions about whether or not to admit a particular student with disabilities to a charter school should be made after the lottery or other enrollment prioritization process. • A screening team consisting of the School Principal or designee, the School mild/moderate teacher, and an authorizer representative reviews the IEP or Section 504 Plan, and, determines whether the services and space available at the School are sufficient to deliver the program required by the IEP or to provide the accommodations required in the Section 504 Plan. • A student with disabilities in a center-based program or who has intensive service needs as identified by an IEP Team applies for admission into a charter school, the principal of the school shall convene an IEP Team meeting. The application for admission is contingent upon the determination by the IEP Team that the student can receive a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment at the charter school in its existing programs and at its current level of staffing.

23. Next Steps • Continue to vet the model contract language and narrative • Authorizers • Attorneys • Charter school leaders • Fully implement renewal framework and closure protocol • Disseminate replication readiness checklist • Continue to support both authorizer and charter school quality

24. Questions?