Volume III, Issue 9,  April 2, 2007

IT'S OFFICIAL: CHARTER CAP LIFTED

On Sunday morning, April 1, the Legislature voted to lift the cap on public charter schools.  Their action ends a nearly two year battle to lift the cap - one of our main goals as an organization spearheaded by Paula Gavin.

There is a saying: "Victory has many parents, defeat is an orphan." Last year when the cap lift did not pass, the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence seemed to be the sole parent of a lost cause. We decided to continue the struggle this year and to redouble our efforts.

There are many people to thank for this success starting with Governor Eliot Spitzer, whose initiative and persistence made this law possible.  Special thanks also to Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith and Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, all of whom stood strong for our cause in Albany as did many other elected officials. 

We also acknowledge the efforts of Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein, who have been great supporters of charter schools in the city. Their leadership has been key in making New York City the leading charter city in the country.

In addition to elected officials, we must commend charter school leaders, parents and stakeholders who supported advocacy efforts throughout the past two years by attending lobbying days, engaging lawmakers and raising the visibility of their schools. Without your collective voices the cap lift would not have been possible, and without continued advocacy and quality results from schools these hard-fought gains may one day come under attack.

It is necessary to view the cap lift not only as a victory, but also as an opportunity and a challenge. There will be new leadership in New York City in less than three years. Our movement has to be strong enough, in terms of results and ties to the community, so that a change in leadership will not stand in the way of our progress. To that end, the Center will continue to assist schools in building their human capital and facilities. We will also work with schools to build community ties so that our base of support in the neighborhoods we serve is broader and deeper.

We look forward to continuing our work with you to serve the children and families of our city.

Sincerely,

Joseph H. Reich, Chairman

On behalf of the Board of Directors

The Charter School Law (Article 56 of the Education Law), which was enacted as part of the 2007-08 State Budget, does the following:

• Raises the cap on public charter schools, from 100 to 200.  Up to 50 of the new schools are reserved for New York City.
• Requires parent notification and a public hearing when a district proposes to have a public charter school share space with a traditional public school.
• Establishes several application timelines and procedural changes, including moving the submission deadline to July; requiring schools approved on or after March 15 to delay opening until the following fall semester; increases the required 60-day comment period on approved charters sent to the Board of Regents to 90-days; requires a 45-day notice pending approval a charter application; and requiring public hearings for charters that are proposed, revised, or renewed.
• Requires charter schools to demonstrate "good faith efforts" to attract and retain students with disabilities and limited English proficient students comparable to the district of location.
• Requires either district support or an authorizer finding of "significant educational benefit" to students in the proposed charter school if it will be located in a district with more than five percent charter school enrollment.
• Requires public charter schools approved after July 1, 2007, whose enrollment exceeds 250 students within the first two instructional years, to unionize all staff in the respective local bargaining organizations.
• Requires that public charter schools report their enrollment to local districts by April 1^st of each year (while allowing districts to continue enrolling after that date).
• Increases from two to three years the leave of absence granted to teachers leaving to work in a public charter school.
• In New York City, establishes a new student enrollment preference based on the student residence in the community school district in which the charter school is located.
• Provides transitional aid to certain school districts with at least two percent of its resident students enrolled in charter schools and two percent of its general fund, beginning in 2007-08 for additional charter school students, equal to 80 percent of the charter payments for those students, phased down to 60, 40 and 0 percent respectively in the subsequent three years.
• Establishes new reporting requirements for the Regents Annual Report on Charter Schools.

OPERATIONS NEWS

Service Provider Marketplace

The New York City Center for Charter School Excellence extends thanks to everyone who attended our Second Annual Service Provider Marketplace. More than 50 vendors from commercial and nonprofit school support organizations as well as approximately 20 schools were in attendance.

This event will set the stage for the development of our preferred vendor list, an internal roster for the charter school community listing school-recommended vendors and providing the opportunity for schools to rate and comment on the quality of services.  Eventually we hope to include pricing information as well.  This is a part of our broader effort to reduce both the time and monetary costs involved in securing products and quality services.

Finally, our events are only as successful as they are helpful to you. Therefore, in an effort to improve next year's Marketplace, we are interested in ways to attract more school staff.  Please send us your feedback at feedback@nycchartercenter.org so that we can incorporate your input into future planning.

Recruiting Reception for Operations/Finance Directors - April 12, 2007 (5:00 - 7:00 pm)

On Thursday, April 12 (5-7pm), the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence will host a recruiting reception for charter schools looking to hire operations/finance leaders for the upcoming school year. The event will take place at the Charter Center's headquarters, 111 Broadway, New York, NY, Suite 604.

Invited participants are soon-to-graduate (May 2007) students from top graduate schools in the area who are very interested in challenging and meaningful work in public charter schools. If you are interested in participating, please contact Vinice Davis at vdavis@nycchartercenter.org. 

Good to Great Governance: A Leadership Series for Board Members

View a free Web cast offered by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) entitled "Key Nonprofit Board Legal Requirements" on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 (2:00 - 3:30 pm). Lawyers Alliance will be one of the presenters. Click here for more information: http://www.lisc.org/content/calendar/detail/4884

Fiscal Policies and Procedures Workshop - DATE CHANGE: April 24, 2007 (3:30 - 6:30pm)

Attendees will receive an UPDATED license and electronic template of a charter school policies and procedures manual that can be customized for each school.

New features include: 

• A new, more accessible, chapter format that follows the accounting cycle
• Expanded and new sections on internal controls for charter schools, including a self-assessment check list for internal controls audits and tips for working with auditors describing the school's relationship with a fiscal outsourcing firm, or charter management organization
• Roles and responsibilities of the Board of Trustees
• Month-end closing procedures
• And more!

The workshop will take place at the Center's 111 Broadway offices. Please contact Vinice Davis at vdavis@nycchartercenter.org for further details and to register.

Assisting Schools in finding Board Members

The New York City Center for Charter School Excellence has partnered with the Volunteer Consulting Group, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the personnel on nonprofit boards as well as the implementation of best practices in governance.  Please check their Web site and register if you are interested in recruiting new members to your governing board.

http://www.vcg.org/boardnetusa/net.asp

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES 

Federal Credit Enhancement Grant Application

The New York City Center for Charter School Excellence has partnered with Civic Builders to apply for $8.3 million in funds available under the U.S. Department of Education Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities Program. If successful we will roll out a program over the summer to assist schools in meeting their privately owned or leased facility needs.

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

Professional Development for Guidance Counselors, Social Workers and Deans

In collaboration with Partnership with Children the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence has been conducting Borough Wide professional development workshops for social workers, guidance counselors and deans.  The topics include stress and anger management, pupil personnel teams and child abuse prevention. The workshops are held once a month through June and continue in September and October.  If your school has not yet joined these groups, they are still welcome to sign up by contacting Dr. Arthur Sadoff at asadoff@nycchartercenter.org.

Borough-wide special education cooperatives

Together with our consultants from Educational Support Systems the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence are actively exploring the development of a special education cooperative structure for charter schools.  This is being done by borough and the first meeting of the Brooklyn charter schools with representatives from their Committees on Special Education took place on March 16. The response has been very positive and future meetings will be scheduled after the Spring break.

CURRENT EVENTS

Charter Leader Borough Meetings

Special thanks to everyone who attended our first Charter Leader Borough meeting at International Leadership Charter School in the Bronx - and thanks to the school for hosting.  Notes are available upon request.  We had a lively discussion which we will continue.

The schedule for future meetings goes as follows:
April 17, 2007 (5:15 - 6:30 pm) - Renaissance Charter School, 35-59 81^st Street, Jackson Heights, NY, 11372.

May 2, 2007 (Time TBD) - Carl C. Icahn Charter School, 1525 Brook Avenue, Bronx, NY 10457.

We are still scheduling Harlem/Manhattan and Brooklyn meetings. If you would like to host a meeting please let us know by contacting Dirk Tillotson at dtillotson@nycchartercenter.org

Fundraising Consortium

The New York City Center for Charter School Excellence will host workshops at 111 Broadway, Suite 604, on Thursday, April 12^th, 2007. The morning workshop will cover public and government funding sources; the afternoon workshop focuses on private philanthropy.  We look forward to seeing all Consortium members here at 10 AM (plan to stay until 3:30 or 4:00 PM).  Breakfast and lunch will be provided to attendees.

MISSION

The mission of the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence is to stimulate the supply of high-quality charter schools and support ongoing student excellence in all NYC charter schools, impacting the effectiveness of public education. As an independent nonprofit, the Charter Center is an advocate, bridge and catalyst for the achievement of academic and operational success and sustainability of all NYC charter schools for each young person.