June 2017 - Grow Schools

The California Legislature has passed the budget and education trailer bill on to the Governor Brown fulfilling their constitutional mandate to pass it by June 15th. Similar to the past several years, the education community will see robust funding and one-time dollars that can be spent to augment their programs. Now that the measures are on his desk, the Governor will have 30 days to sign or veto them.
The budget was passing along without much fanfare until SB 96 was presented in the State Assembly. Though it is a trailer bill, the measure contains provisions that could make the ongoing recall of Senator Josh Newman of Orange County harder to complete by changing the statutes that govern the state’s recall process. After voting for the transportation tax Senator Newman was targeted by his opponents who began the recall process in his district. SB 96 would alter the process while the recall is ongoing. Though it is has nothing to do with educational policy it makes for great Capitol intrigue.
Much of the funding and policy changes for California’s educational process are contained in the education trailer bill. Below are some of the major highlights:

Provides $1.362 billion for continued implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula to LEAs and charter schools.
Provides $876.6 million in discretionary one-time dollars to LEAs on a per ADA basis.
Increases the maximum charter school grant under the Charter School Facilities Grant Program (SB 740) from $750 per ADA our up to 75 percent of a school’s annual rent and lease costs to $1,117 per ADA or up to 75 percent of its annual rent and lease costs. The bill also applies a cost-of-living adjustments for future years.
Replaces the authority for the Superintendent of Public Instruction to assign the CCEE to assist a charter school, with authority for the CCEE to assist the school after consulting with the Superintendent.
Provides $25 million in one-time dollars to the CTC to fund a second cohort of the California Classified School Employee Teacher Credentialing Program.
Provides $10 million in one-time dollars to allocate to school districts impacted by refugees.
Extends the District of Choice program, with some limitations, through 2022-2023.
Extends the date that LEAs can encumber funds received under Proposition 39 for clean energy projects by one year, until June 30, 2019.
Provides $7 million in ongoing dollars to county offices of education to fund their work on LCAPs.
Updates the standard reimbursement rate and the regional market rate to increase funding for child care providers.

Our last two days at the National Charter Schools Conference were a dynamic mix of great keynotes, our second breakout session and lots of networking at our Booth #501.
Tuesday started-off with a keynote by U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos followed by a Q&A session facilitated by Derrell Bradford, Executive VP of 50CAN. Many charter leaders in attendance were eager to hear how DeVos planned to support charter schools with the current administration’s education budget cuts. DeVos talked about her early experience working to get the first charter school legislation passed in her home state of Michigan, where her husband also started a charter school focused on aviation and STEM.
Her main message to charter school leaders and advocates was to embrace all forms of school choice, including vouchers and tax credits for private schools. “Whatever your own journey looks like, we’re here because we came to the same conclusion that, as a nation, we are simply not doing a good enough job educating our kids,” said DeVos. Critics state that vouchers will divert funds from public schools — both traditional districts and charters.
She also warned against becoming another education bureaucracy resistant to other forms of reform, and that charter schools should not be seen as a “cure-all to the ills that beset education.” DeVos summed up her stance this way, “Education is not a zero-sum game. We should not think of it as such. There is no one right way to help kids learn, and just because a school educates children differently than you might propose to does not make them the enemy. Let’s applaud and encourage others who serve students well. It’s a both/and situation, not an either/or.”
Other speakers from today’s general session included Marc Sternberg, K-12 Education Program Director of the Walton Family Foundation, Margaret Fortune, President and CEO of Fortune Schools, and last but not least, Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix. Although most know him for leading the company that has helped change the way people watch TV and movies, he is also well-known in the charter movement. Hastings has been a board member of KIPP charter schools for 10 years.
Hastings’ speech focused on two current trends in science — artificial intelligence, robotics and how these two areas contribute toward science and society. So how does this apply to charter schools and schools in general?
Hastings thinks that technology will continue to play an increasingly central role in education, in particular around personalization. Personalization in technology is what enables apps and services to offer information, content and products that are customized to fit an individual’s taste. Although he believes we will continue to see improvement, but we need to figure out how to deliver it one by one to people. The same concept applies to education – there is more school choice now than ever before, but more work needs to be done to accommodate the unique needs of every student.
His overall message was hopeful, but also requires a show of patience – “human society does change, but it changes slowly. Together, we have the excitement of changing it together.”
We also held our second breakout session on Tuesday, Digital Marketing 101 for Charter Schools – What You Need to Be Successful, which shared tips and best practices for charter schools who are interested in growing their student enrollment and engaging a community through digital marketing. Our panel of experts covered all bases around digital marketing trends and gave a quick rundown of the many tactics that charter schools can test out; including SEO, social media, PPC, retargeting advertising, video marketing, email marketing, and display advertising.
If you missed this session, or our other breakout session, I Need a Better Facility for My School: Now What?, on-demand recordings and slides are available here. You can also watch the Facebook Live recordings of the sessions here as well as on our Facebook page.
Wednesday’s half-day of sessions and the closing session with National Alliance of Public Charter School’s new VP of Advocacy, Amy Wilkins, provided a great wrap-up of many of the themes focused on this week — education, innovation and engagement. The panel particularly addressed ways to get school board members and legislators to take action on education-related bills and budget. Wilkins had two key takeaways: continue to use personal stories to show members why your students and schools are great, and have the courage to push the people whose lobbying we agree with to keep moving forward rather than just focusing on the opposition.

Fellow panel speakers, Dave Winston, President of The Winston Group, Erik Fatemi, VP of Cornerstone Government Affairs, and Lindsay Fryer, VP of the Penn Hill Group discussed the future of federal education policy. Recognizing that the current atmosphere on Capitol Hill is unsettled and tense since the education budget doesn’t reflect both parties’ desires, the panel discussed ways to stay focused on overall advocacy for charter schools and education.
“We must work hard and we must work together to build long-term, sustainable relationships with Congress,” concluded the Honorable Mary Landrieu, Former United States Senator from Louisiana. Her message to attendees — the more compelling your story and more organized your message, the better.

The Charter School Capital team is packing up and heading to Washington, D.C. next week, June 11-14. We’re proud to once again be one of the Gold Sponsors of the National Charter School Conference — you can find us in Booth #501 in the Exhibit Hall. And, our team is presenting at two breakout sessions as well.
The theme of this year’s conference is Educate. Innovate. Engage. The content presented throughout the conference has a strong focus on what makes charter schools unique as well as new solutions to many of the common challenges all charter schools face. With so much going on, the theme will be well represented throughout the dozens of meet-ups, happy hour events and 100+ breakout sessions.
Solving challenges starts with sharing ideas. This year’s conference has a number of learning and networking sessions designed to break away from the traditional presentation model. The conference officially kicks-off on Sunday, June 11, with the Unconference which is a participant-determined and facilitated experience. With no script or agenda, the topics discussed will be solely determined by those attending. Attendees are invited to share what they’re learning with the hashtag #unconfNCSC.
Also happening throughout the conference, Charter Talks are similar to a Ted Talks style of short presentations focused on a big, compelling idea (in this case charter schools), and will be held in the Exhibit Hall during the lunch hour. Informal meetings will also be happening throughout the day, designed to bring together specific groups, such as charter school teachers, school board members and education leaders from different regions.
Keynote sessions will include presentations from Nina Rees, the President and CEO of the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools, Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix and board member of many educational organizations, Dr. Steve Perry, Head of Capital Preparatory Schools, and Luis A. Miranda, Managing Partner of the Mirram Group.
Learn more about the conference and our two breakout sessions on our website. Hope to see you in D.C. Stop by our Booth #501 and say hi!

We are presenting two breakout sessions at this year’s National Charter Schools Conference. One breakout session focuses on providing solutions to one of the most common challenges charter schools face —finding adequate facilities and the financing to secure them. The second is focused on using digital marketing best practices for student enrollment as well as engaging students and parents.
Our first breakout session is on Monday, 6/12, from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Eastern, I Need a Better Facility for My School. Now What? addresses the challenges many charter leaders face in acquiring adequate charter school facilities. The panel includes Mike Morley, President and CEO at American Charter Development, Kevin Lynch, Senior Director of Cushman + Wakefield, and Michelle Lynch, Director of Regulatory Affairs, California Charter Schools Association. Our President and CEO, Stuart Ellis, will facilitate this session. Charter leaders will take away information around funding options available to charters, how to plan for facilities expansion and best practices for finding a facility that will best suit your school’s needs.
Our second breakout session is happening on Tuesday, 6/13, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. Eastern, Digital Marketing 101 for Charter Schools – What You Need to Be Successful. This panel includes Michael Barber, Founder and President of barber+hewitt and Scott Kauffman, Partner at Lucid Agency as well as our VP of Marketing Kim Brater. In this session, the focus is on best practices in digital marketing designed to aid charter leaders in student enrollment, retention and engaging with students and parents. The speakers will give an overview of the current digital landscape, cover the different types of digital marketing and give actionable tips that charter school leaders can immediately put into practice.
Also happening on Tuesday from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. Eastern are the State Meetings at the conference, when many state associations will gather to network, catch-up and discuss issues and challenges particular to their state.
Our team is excited to take part in this national gathering of charter school leaders, educators and innovators in our nation’s capital.
If you’d like to follow along with what we’re doing at the conference, be sure to “like” our Facebook page. We’ll be live-streaming our breakout sessions outlined above for those not attending the conference. Be sure to also follow our LinkedIn company page and check our Twitter feed, where we’ll be live tweeting from our breakout sessions and other key events with the hashtags #NCSC17 and #GrowCharters.
If you’re at the conference, stop by our Booth #501 and say hi.

The California Legislature’s Budget Conference Committee has wrapped up and produced a budget for both houses to vote on. The vote should occur next week with both houses passing the budget bill and the trailer bills along to the Governor for his signature by June 15th. The trailer bills contain the policy language to implement the budget’s projects and priorities.
There are still a few outstanding issues that the legislature will have to resolve around the use of tobacco tax revenues and the expansion of Medi-Cal. Additionally, not all of the budget trailer bill language is in print yet. Once he receives the budget the Governor will have 30 days to sign or veto the budget. He can also ‘blue pencil’ additional spending that the legislature has added to the budget.
Here are some education highlights from the budget:

The Proposition 98 guarantee is projected to be $74.5 billion.
LCFF implementation will be funded at $1.36 billion.
There will be one-time discretionary dollars of almost $877 million, which should be released at $187 per ADA starting in the 2017-18 budget year.
The District of Choice program will be extended for five years with some reforms preposed, those reforms are not in print yet.
County Offices of Education will receive $7 million to support their work with LCAP review and support.
The COLA for the LCFF base grant remains at 1.56%.
There is $50 million for the After School Education and Safety Program.
The early education compromise would restore the increase in slots and ratio funding that was agreed upon in last year’s budget and provide $25 million to increase eligibility for parents and children. The compromise also creates a working group to study facility changes for child care centers and LEAs who provide care.
$44 million one-time for additional special education costs.
$15 million to restore the CTE Pathways program.