July 20, 2010
TO THE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:
RE: New Campus Charter Schools Established by Independent School Districts Under Texas Education Code, Chapter 12, Subchapter C – Eligibility to Apply for 2011-2012 Start-Up Funding
Upon award by the United States Department of Education (USDE) of grant funds to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) under Title V, Part B, Subpart 1 – Charter School Programs of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, TEA may award subgrants to eligible charter schools that are scheduled to begin operation in Fall 2011. This letter serves as notice that, upon USDE’s award to TEA, grant funding may be available for new campus charters that are approved no later than October 29, 2010, by a school district’s local board of trustees. No exceptions or extensions to this deadline will be granted. Please note that this letter applies only to new campus charters created in accordance with Texas Education Code (TEC) Chapter 12, Subchapter C, that meet eligibility requirements as outlined in the competitive grant application that TEA will release on or around October 1, 2010. This process has changed in order to allow for newly-created campus charters to be awarded start-up grant funding for planning purposes prior to the start of the 2011-2012 school year. This funding is contingent on the receipt of a new grant award requested of the USDE for the Texas Charter School Program (CSP).
Eligibility to Apply for Funding Under the 2011-2012 Public Charter School Start-Up Grant
To be considered eligible to apply for the federal start-up grant funds, a campus charter school must be approved in accordance with TEC, Chapter 12, Subchapter C; must meet the federal definition of a charter school as outlined in Title V, Part B, Subpart 1 of the NCLB Act, Section 5210 (See Attachment 1.); and must not have previously received public CSP start-up funds. For the purpose of establishing eligibility to apply for 2011-2012 start-up funding, a school district’s local board of trustees must approve the campus charter by October 29, 2010. Approval by the board of trustees means that: (1) the charter application process has been completed according to the local district’s policy for approving campus charter schools, (2) the charter application has been presented to the board for review, and (3) the board subsequently has approved the charter application by the deadline date. Approval by the school district’s local board of trustees should be documented in the approved minutes of the board meeting during which the campus charter was approved. Simply obtaining the local board of trustee’s approval of an entity’s intent to establish a charter will notsuffice as documentation to establish eligibility to apply for funding under this grant for the 2011-2012 school year.
In addition to fulfilling the requirements in TEC, Chapter 12, Subchapter C, school districts must be prepared to submit all information required by federal statute and guidance in the CSP grant application, including documentation verifying the district’s eligibility to apply for these grant funds, once the 2011-2012 funding application becomes available. Attached is an excerpt from Section 5203 of Title V, Part B, Subpart 1 of the NCLB Act, which outlines information required from Charter School Program (CSP) grant recipients. (See Attachment 2.)
Only charter campuses that will have unique county-district-campus numbers and will be designated as campus charters in the Texas Education Directory, AskTED, in Fall 2011 are eligible to apply for funding. Due to reporting requirements to the USDE, a program charter that remains part of another campus and does not have a unique campus number is not eligible to apply for funding.
In its most recent monitoring visit of the Texas CSP, the USDE provided guidance and direction with regard to ensuring that each eligible applicant meets the federal definition of a “charter school” and incorporates the following components into its campus charter:
- A high degree of flexibility and autonomy over the school’s budget, expenditures, personnel, daily operations, and other areas that is above and beyond the degree of flexibility and autonomy afforded to traditional campuses within the district;
- Systems and processes in the local district’s policy for approving campus charter schools that allow for the continued operation of successful Subchapter C charter schools;
- Systems and processes in the local district’s policy for conducting an annual audit of financial and programmatic operations of the campus charter, including the manner in which the campus will provide the necessary data for the school district to report on its locally-developed objectives, as well as to participate in the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS); and
- Evidence that the sponsoring LEA will not deduct any funds from this grant for administrative fees unless the campus charter voluntarily enters into such an agreement.
As a result, these components will be incorporated into the federal start-up grant application used to determine funding eligibility.
Submittal of Campus Charter School Approval Documents
In previous school years, school districts interested in establishing a new campus charter were required to submit various documents to TEA in order to demonstrate that the campus charter met the state and federal requirements necessary to be considered eligible to apply for funding under the federal start-up grant. Upon approval by TEA, the school district would then complete and submit the appropriate funding application to TEA. This request for application (RFA) was non-competitive, and all applications were negotiated and ultimately funded. As referenced earlier in this correspondence, the 2011-2012 Public Charter School Start-Up Grant will be administered via a competitive RFA. As such, all eligibility documents will be submitted in accordance with the RFA. This documentation will likely include, but is not limited to, the following:
- Appropriate authorization to charter, including:
- a copy of the local district’s policy for authorizing campus charter schools; AND
- the petition presented to the board of trustees that was signed by the parents of a majority of the students at the school campus and a majority of the classroom teachers at that school campus requesting a campus charter (TEC §12.052, §12.053); OR
- the contract between the school district and the entity to provide educational services to the district through the campus or program and at a facility located in the boundaries of the district (TEC §12.0521).
- Approved minutes from the local board of trustees meeting in which the charter was granted, OR a board agenda with an action item to consider or approve the campus charter and draft minutes from the local board of trustees meeting in which the charter was granted.
- Attachment 1 signed by the superintendent.
- Campus Charter Information Form. (See Attachment 3.)
- A narrative description on district letterhead signed by the superintendent which contains:
- the mission of the campus charter;
- an explanation of the development of the proposed campus charter and the rationale for the district granting a charter to the new district campus;
- a detailed description, including supporting documentation, of the ways in which the campus charter will be permitted to govern autonomously, as evidenced by the day-to-day decision makers at the campus charter and their input with regard to the school’s curriculum, calendar, budget, and daily operations, and how this autonomy is above and beyond the degree of flexibility and autonomy afforded to traditional campuses within the district;
- a detailed description, including supporting documentation, that explains the ways in which the school district plans to conduct an annual audit of financial and programmatic operations of the campus charter, including the manner in which the campus will provide the necessary data for the school district to report on its locally-developed objectives, as well as to participate in the PEIMS;
- the district’s planned indirect cost agreement with the campus charter; and
- a valid certificate of occupancy, or its equivalent, for the instructional facility, if the location of the campus charter has been determined.
A TETN videoconference has been scheduled for Tuesday, September 14, 2010, from 9:00 a.m. to
12:00 p.m., for school districts that may be interested in creating new 2011-2012 campus charters in accordance with state and federal guidelines and the timeline for funding eligibility under the competitive 2011-2012 Public Charter School (PCS) Start-Up Grant. The amount of available funding for each new charter will be based upon the number of eligible new charters to apply for and receive these grant funds via the competitive RFA process and the receipt of a new grant award requested of the USDE for this project.
If you have any questions regarding the Public Charter School Start-Up Grant, please contact
Arnoldo Alaniz in the Division of Charter School Administration at (512)463-9575 or via email at arnoldo.alaniz@tea.state.tx.us.
Sincerely,
Laura Taylor
Associate Commissioner
Department of Accreditation
LT:aa
Attachment 1
Federal Definition of a Public Charter School
Title V, Part B, Subpart 1, Section 5210 of the No Child Left Behind Act
The term charter school means a public school that—
- in accordance with TEC, Chapter 12, is exempt from significant State or local rules that inhibit the flexible operation and management of the school, but not from any rules relating to the other requirements of this section;
- is created by a developer as a public school, or is adapted by a developer from an existing public school, and is operated under public supervision and direction;
- operates in pursuit of a specific set of educational objectives determined by the school’s developer and agreed to by the authorized public chartering agency;
- provides a program of elementary or secondary education, or both;
- is nonsectarian in it programs, admissions policies, employment practices, and all other operations, and is not affiliated with a sectarian school or religious institution;
- does not charge tuition;
- complies with the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act;
- is a school to which parents choose to send their children, and that admits students on the basis of a lottery, if more students apply for admission than can be accommodated;
- agrees to comply with the same Federal and State audit requirements as do other elementary schools and secondary schools in the State, unless such requirements are specifically waived for the purposes of this program;
- meets all applicable Federal, State, and local health and safety requirements;
- operates in accordance with State law; and
- has a written performance contract with the authorized public chartering agency in the State that includes a description of how student performance will be measured in charter schools pursuant to State assessments that are required of other schools and pursuant to any other assessments mutually agreeable to the authorized public charter agency and the charter school.
I have read the federal definition of a charter school and assure TEA that the campus charter identified in Attachment 3 is in compliance with this definition in order to apply for and receive federal start-up funds.
Name of District |
|
County-District Number |
|
Name of Charter School |
|
Typed Name of Superintendent |
|
Superintendent Signature |
|
Attachment 2
Information Required From Recipients of Charter School Program Grants
Title V, Part B, Subpart 1, Section 5203(b)(3) of the No Child Left Behind Act
An eligible applicant desiring to receive a subgrant must submit an application to the state educational agency containing:
(A) a description of the educational program to be implemented by the proposed charter school, including —
(i) how the program will enable all students to meet challenging State student academic achievement standards;
(ii) the grade levels or ages of children to be served; and
(iii) the curriculum and instructional practices to be used;
(B) a description of how the charter school will be managed;
(C) a description of —
(i) the objectives of the charter school; and
(ii) the methods by which the charter school will determine its progress toward achieving those objectives;
(D) a description of the administrative relationship between the charter school and the authorized public chartering agency;
(E) a description of how parents and other members of the community will be involved in the planning, program design, and implementation of the charter school;
(F) a description of how the authorized public chartering agency will provide for continued operation of the school once the Federal grant has expired, if such agency determines that the school has met the objectives described in subparagraph (C)(i);
(G) a request and justification for waivers of any Federal statutory or regulatory provisions that the eligible applicant believes are necessary for the successful operation of the charter school, and a description of any State or local rules, generally applicable to public schools, that will be waived for, or otherwise not apply to, the school;
(H) a description of how the subgrant funds or grant funds, as appropriate, will be used, including a description of how such funds will be used in conjunction with other Federal programs administered by the Secretary;
(I) a description of how students in the community will be —
(i) informed about the charter school; and
(ii) given an equal opportunity to attend the charter school;
(J) an assurance that the eligible applicant will annually provide the Secretary and the State educational agency such information as may be required to determine if the charter school is making satisfactory progress toward achieving the objectives described in subparagraph (C)(i);
(K) an assurance that the eligible applicant will cooperate with the Secretary and the State educational agency in evaluating the program assisted under this subpart;
(L) a description of how a charter school that is considered a local educational agency under State law, or a local educational agency in which a charter school is located, will comply with sections 613(a)(5) and 613(e)(1)(B) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act;
*(M) if the eligible applicant desires to use subgrant funds for dissemination activities under section 5202(c)(2)(C), a description of those activities and how those activities will involve charter schools and other public schools, local educational agencies, developers, and potential developers; and
(N) such other information and assurances as the Secretary and the State educational agency may require.
*Texas did not seek USDE funding to support dissemination activities under section 5202(c)(2)(C); therefore, item (M) under Section 5203(b)(3) does not apply.
Attachment 3
Campus Charter Information Form
2011-2012 Public Charter School Start-Up Grant
The authorization to charter, approved minutes from the local board of trustees granting the charter (OR a board agenda with an action item to consider or approve the campus charter and draft minutes from the local board of trustees meeting in which the charter was granted), and this Campus Charter Information Form (one form per campus) must be included with documentation submitted to TEA via the 2011-2012 Public Charter School Start-Up Grant.
Name of District |
|
County-District-Campus Number |
|
Name of Campus Charter School |
|
Grade Levels Served by Campus |
|
Name of Primary Contact |
|
Title of Primary Contact |
|
Daytime Phone Number of Primary Contact |
|
Fax Number of Primary Contact |
|
Email Address of Primary Contact |
|
Complete Address of Primary Contact |
|
