Tag: texas charter schools

House Pub Ed Hearing on Assessment & Accountability

On Tuesday, House Pub Ed met to discuss assessments and hear the progress of implementing recommendations from the 2016 Commission on Next Generation Assessments and Accountability. Commissioner Morath provided invited testimony. Regarding HB 3906 he said, “The question isn’t whether STAAR is designed to accurately measure student knowledge and skills. We know the answer, and it is yes. The question is whether STAAR can be designed differently to more positively influence instructional practices.”

The next phase: TEA is currently conducting a Through-Year Assessment Pilot as required by HB 3906 for the 22-23 school year that someday could potentially replace STAAR as Texas’s summative assessment.

In a shock to many, only one person registered for public testimony.

TEA & State Updates
  • House Pub Ed announced their final hearing on interim charges will be held Tuesday, September 20. The committee will meet jointly with the Higher Education committee to hear testimony on the following interim charge:

Evaluate the impact of the pandemic on the state’s teacher workforce, and current practices to improve the recruitment, preparation, and retention of high-quality educators. Explore the impact of the educator preparation program regulatory environment. Make recommendations to improve educator recruitment, retention, and preparation throughout the state

  • School choice remained in the news with the release of new polling data. According to a new August poll from UT-Tyler and The Dallas Morning News, 62% of likely voters in Texas support using state funds for children to attend charter or private schools, while 25% oppose it. When asked, “Do you support or oppose school choice, which allows parents to use state funding to send their children to charter or private schools,” 69% of Republicans, 59% of Democrats, and 57% of Independents supported it. Reporting by race showed 67% of Black, 66% of Latino, and 61% of White likely voters support school choice. The full poll and results can be found here.
  • The Generation 28 Open-Enrollment Charter Application is now available. Visit the Charter School Applicants Page at to select the appropriate application. Each page will include all necessary application materials and information specific to that application. Email charterapplication@tea.texas.gov with questions concerning the Generation 28 application process.
  • TEA is offering a series of professional learning modules at no cost to LEAs for counselors, new administrators, and new CTE teachers. Follow the links for registration information:

New CTE Administrator & Counselor Professional Development Modules

New CTE Teacher Professional Development

DOE & National Updates
  • On Thursday, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona issued the following statement on updated guidance from the CDC regarding the pandemic. “This latest guidance from the CDC should give our students, parents, and educators the confidence they need to head back to school this year with a sense of joy and optimism. While COVID continues to evolve, so has our understanding of the science and what it takes to return to school safely. Thanks to vaccines, boosters, new treatments, and commonsense safety precautions – as well as funding from the American Rescue Plan – our schools have more resources than ever before to provide the healthy learning environments our students need to grow and thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.”
  • At a webinar hosted by The Hunt Institute and Trust for Learning early childhood experts reported that longer and unstructured play time is key to early learning. Children’s play should be seen as an important learning tool rather than as a diversion from learning. More here.
Articles of Interest
Important Dates
  • Tuesday, August 23 – Texas Commission on Virtual Education hearing (rescheduled from May) focused on special populations
  • Wednesday, August 24 – Texas Commission on Virtual Education hearing, including public testimony
  • August 30 – September 2 – SBOE Regular Meeting
  • Tuesday, September 20 – House Pub Ed joint hearing with Higher Education committee on the impact of the pandemic on the state’s teacher workforce

Check out more and Subscribe to Amanda List TX Legislative Updates here. 

Texas Senate & House Hold First Hearings About Uvalde Shooting

The Senate Special Committee to Protect All Texans, chaired by Sen. Nichols held hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday. At the hearings, Commissioner Morath promised that TEA will review external entry points of every school in Texas, evaluate school facilities to determine what repairs may be needed to secure campuses, and review each district’s safety protocols. Morath said the agency’s plan should be completed by the end of the summer. Tuesday’s Senate hearing was the Legislature’s first public hearing about the shooting.

In the House, the three-person committee investigating the shooting has been privately gathering testimony over the past two weeks. On Thursday, the first joint hearing by the House committees on Homeland Security and Public Safety and Youth Health and Safety was held to review the implementation and impact of Senate Bill 11 (school safety legislation passed in 2019) among other things. The hearing featured testimony by the families of the victims and experts, including a group representing the Texas Police Chiefs Association.

TEA & State Updates

  • TEA announced that 3rd-8th grade STAAR results would be released at the end of this week. Initially, TEA planned to make results available to parents and students on June 24 (last Friday), but there’s been a delay. The agency said that due to the impact of COVID-19, the results need additional analyses and that this is part of their due diligence process.
  • The Strong Foundations Math and Literacy Framework Development Grant application is now open for LEAs, including districts and open-enrollment charter schools. The grant provides technical assistance to support a comprehensive collective learning experience with leaders and staff across the LEA, focused on the TEKS and what research says about how students learn reading and math. This opportunity has two Summer Application deadline options July 29, 2022, and August 26, 2022.

DOE & National Updates

  • In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the DOE released for public comment proposed changes to the regulations that help elementary and secondary schools and colleges and universities implement this legislation. The Department’s proposed Title IX regulations will be open for public comment for 60 days. Additional information on the proposed rule, including a summary with background information and a fact sheet, is available here. The unofficial version of the proposed rule is available here.
  • Republican lawmakers introduced twin bills called The Educational Choice for Children Act for consideration before the midterm elections. The legislation was introduced by Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) in the House of Representatives and by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) in the Senate, and has several high-profile co-sponsors. It would establish a $10 billion federal tax credit program to encourage donations to organizations that award scholarships, which would subsequently be used to pay for costs associated with both public and private K–12 education.
  • In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Maine cannot exclude religious schools from their school choice voucher program which provides funds for students to attend public or private schools.
  • Congress passed their bipartisan gun legislation last week in response to the shooting in Uvalde. The Safer Communities Act now heads to President Biden to sign. Aside from the $300m for school security, it offers $1bn for many different efforts to “support safe and healthy students,” $1bn for school-based mental health support, $240m to train school staff to notice and address student mental health challenges, and $50m for summer and after-school programs for middle and high school students.
  • Congress also reached a deal to extend the use of child nutrition waivers through the summer and upcoming 2022-23 school year. The Keep Kids Fed Act was introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

Articles of Interest

Important Dates

  • Tuesday, June 28 – Senate Finance Hearing on Mental Health Delivery
  • Tuesday, June 28 – Senate Finance Hearing on Federal Funds
  • Wednesday, June 29 – Texas Commission on Virtual Ed meeting
  • Friday, July 22 – SBEC meeting

Check out more and Subscribe to Amanda List TX Legislative Updates here. 

Supporting Robb Elementary & Uvalde

The OneStar Foundation created a page for donations to support families, teachers, & the Uvalde community. Funds will cover healthcare, travel, funeral expenses, & long-term needs to support the community’s recovery.

  • OneStar’s Donate page and select Robb School Memorial Fund in the donation options. (Note: OneStar’s site is receiving heavy traffic so if you encounter issues, you can also donate via OneStar’s PayPal Giving Fund.) 100% of donations received by OneStar will be given directly to the Robb School Memorial Fund.

Recap: Important Meetings

  • Tuesday, May 24 – Senate Education heard invited and public testimony on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the educator talent pipeline, monitoring HB3, HB 1525, and HB 4545, bond efficiency, and the homestead exemption. The committee addressed all of the items on their agenda. There was a significant emphasis on the efficacy of high-quality tutoring, but it was paired with an admission that guidance, implementation, and monitoring have been either confusing and/or inconsistent
  • Tuesday, May 24 – House Public Education was scheduled to hear invited and public testimony on a myriad of interim charges. Due to the tragic events in Uvalde, Chairman Dutton made the difficult decision to adjourn the meeting before all of the items on the agenda were addressed. The committee did hear testimony on mental health and updates on HB3 from Commissioner Morath before the meeting was adjourned. Some members did seem interested in raising the basic allotment. The unfinished agenda will be completed at a future date, likely alongside additional interim charges that have not been scheduled.
  • Wednesday, May 25 – The Texas Commission on Virtual Education canceled its scheduled meeting on the topic of special populations. This topic and the related invited testimony will be rescheduled for a future date.

Recap: Primary Runoff Elections

SBOE Districts 1, 2, and 4 had Democratic primary runoffs and District 13 had a Republican primary runoff. Here’s a recap of the results:

  • SBOE District 1 (El Paso to San Antonio-lower West Texas): Democrat Melissa Ortega defeated Laura Marquez. Ortega will face Republican Michael “Travis” Stephens, a current San Antonio area high school teacher, in the general. The district has a slight Democratic tilt.
  • SBOE District 2 (Rio Grande Valley through the Coastal Bend): Democrat Victor Perez, a former member of the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD board, defeated Pete Garcia. Perez faces Republican LJ Francis, a Corpus-Christi-based Jamaican-American running against CRT issues, in the general election for this swing district
  • SBOE District 4 (Houston): Democrat Staci Childs, an attorney who created GirlTalk University, defeated Coretta Mallet-Fontenot. Childs will be unopposed in the general.
  • SBOE District 13 (Urban Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington): Republican Kathryn Monette, founder of the Grand Prairie Tea Party and anti-CRT candidate, defeated Denise Russell. Incumbent Aicha Davis (D) is favored to win the general.

Some other runoff results of note:

  • In a tight race with significant implications in South Texas, the race between Democrat U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros is still too close to call. Cuellar led Cisneros by 175 votes, or 0.4 percentage points, out of 45,209 ballots counted as of 2 p.m. on Friday. Many are calling this a fight for the future of the Democratic Party with establishment leadership backing Cuellar and the more progressive wing of the party backing Cisneros.
  • In an even tighter race, progressive Democrat Michelle Vallejo is ahead of moderate Ruben Ramirez by 27 votes for the 15th Congressional District. Republicans see this district as central to their strategy to turn South Texas red. The race is still too close to call. Counties have until Thursday to finalize their results and report them to the state.
  • On the GOP side, three of the four incumbents in the Texas House won their runoff races, with four-term Rep. Phil Stephenson being the lone defeat. Gov. Abbott endorsed the winners in all four of those races, including former Waller Co. Comm. Stan Kitzman who beat Stephenson.

For more information on the runoff elections, look at who’s on the ballot and get further info using the Texas Tribune’s Runoff Voter Guide.

TEA & State Updates

  • After the tragic event in Uvalde and subsequent differences in official reports of what took place with law enforcement, there have been strong calls from Democratic Texas Legislature members for Gov. Abbott to immediately call a special session focused on gun legislation. There have also been a few Republicans joining the Democrats in this request. Gov. Abbott, as he regularly does when pressured to call a special session, stated that “all options are on the table” when pressed for a response. It’s unclear at this point if he will issue a call.
  • The Teacher Vacancy Taskforce will meet this Thursday, June 2, at 8:30 am. They will split up into four working groups: Educator Prep, Strategic Staffing Models, Compensation Models, and Teacher Experience.
  • After significant backlash from parents and many Republicans for not taking action already, the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) cut ties last week with the National Association of School Boards (NASB). This came a few days after the release of an independent review of NASB showed that they planned to ask for the National Guard and the military to be sent to school board meetings. Nearly half of the school board associations in NASB had already left before TASB’s delayed move.
  • Last week, the Texas Supreme Court picked up the Houston ISD takeover case. However, they haven’t posted a date for oral arguments. TEA is asking the court to reverse the court of appeals’ judgment and render judgment dismissing HISD’s claims. Much of the case centers around Wheatley High School, which hasn’t received an acceptable performance rating since 2010. Senate Bill 1365, which allows TEA to appoint a conservator to oversee a failing school’s management, passed the legislature with bipartisan support and took effect on September 1. The bill says that state-appointed conservators have authority over the entire district, not just a single F-rated school. The legislature hopes the new law will help overturn the injunction that currently protects Houston ISD from takeover.
  • In other court news, Texas’ court challenge to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has been scheduled for oral arguments on Wednesday, July 6. The policy’s future has been uncertain since July of last year when a Texas federal judge blocked the government from approving new requests.

DOE & National Updates

  • In a report released last week, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) called on teacher prep programs to beef up their math education training. “In spite of allocating more overall time to mathematics preparation, many undergraduate programs are not making optimal use of this instructional time,” the report stated. “The overwhelming majority of graduate programs preparing elementary teachers do not dedicate sufficient time to teaching mathematics content, explaining how 85% of graduate programs earn an F [in our ratings].”
  • Two of the most prominent national teacher’s union leaders gave remarks outside Friday’s National Rifle Association (NRA) meeting in Houston. Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, both spoke on gun safety and how to keep communities and schools safe. They were joined by Ovidia Molina, the president of the Texas State Teachers Association, among others.

Articles of Interest

Important Dates

  • Thursday, June 2 – Teacher Vacancy Taskforce meeting
  • June 14-17 – SBOE meeting
  • Tuesday, June 28 – Senate Finance Hearing on Federal Funds
  • Wednesday, June 29 – Texas Commission on Virtual Ed meeting
  • Friday, July 22 – SBEC meeting

Check out more and Subscribe to Amanda List TX Legislative Updates here. 

Virtual Ed Commission Meeting Recap

Last Wednesday, the Texas Commission on Virtual Education (TCVE) held its second meeting. The focus was on innovative practitioners from within the state and included testimony from Guthrie CSD, Lewisville ISD, Great Hearts Online, Dallas ISD, Texas Tech University, Dr. Danny Lovett (ESC Region 5), and John Watson of the Digital Learning Collaborative. They discussed the unique characteristics of supplemental programs, hybrid schools, and full-time virtual schools, including what current laws provide funding for each.

Key Takeaways
  • Two of the groups invited to testify included students who spoke about why they like the flexibility provided by virtual options. Guthrie CSD senior Coulter Reel shared that she’ll graduate high school with enough credits for an associate’s degree thanks to online access to virtual courses.
  • Every group noted how much their teachers love teaching in virtual ed models and noted it could keep many who might otherwise leave, in the profession.
  • A few members of the Commission inquired about what kind of funding is best for these innovative models, and there seemed to be an openness to exploring unique funding methods.

For recordings of the meetings and to follow TCVE, go here.

TEA & State Updates
  • Governor Greg Abbott and TEA announced that school districts in Texas may be eligible for an adjustment in operational minutes requirements for certain attendance reporting periods during the 2021-2022 academic school year. This means funding will be made available to school systems in Texas that have experienced attendance rate declines because of the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, given an emphasis on in-person instruction. This adjustment would apply to the first four reporting periods of the current school year. Full press release here.
  • TEA is inviting comment on the proposed minimum standards for bullying prevention policies and procedures. The proposed minimum standards are available on the TEA Student Discipline webpage. Public comments will be accepted April 1 through April 30, 2022, and should be submitted to StudentDisciplineSupport@tea.texas.gov with the subject line, “Minimum Standards Public Comment.”
  • ESSER Annual Performance Reporting update: The online system for LEAs to complete this reporting requirement will now close on Monday, April 18, 2022. For help, Visit the TEA ESSER Program page and access recorded trainings and videos on the Grant Compliance and Administration Playlist on the TEA YouTube Channel.
  • Part 1 of the CCMR tracker was released last week. The CCMR Tracker is a tracking tool within the TEA Login (TEAL) Accountability application. This tool provides districts with an early preview of CCMR status for students who were in grades 9-12 during the 2021–22 school year. The CCMR Tracker does NOT contain results from the 2021–22 school year as those data have yet to be reported.
DOE & National Updates
  • The Biden Administration is proposing changes that would make it harder for charter schools to get start-up grants from the federal government. While many charter school supporters welcomed the tougher restrictions placed on for-profit charters, they remained concerned that some parts of the proposal would make it difficult for nonprofit charters to qualify for grant funding. More here.
  • The Biden Administration also unveiled their proposed 2023 Department of Education discretionary budget calling for an increase to $88.3bn, including a $1 billion investment to increase the number of counselors, nurses, school psychologists, social workers, and other health professionals in schools.
  • In a letter last week, Education Secretary Cardona urged schools to protect students with disabilities saying, “To meet the requirements of federal disability rights laws, for example, schools may require teachers and peers to mask around higher-risk students, even if there isn’t a school-wide requirement to do so. As we enter this next phase of pandemic response, we urge schools to lead with equity and inclusion to ensure all students have access to in-person learning alongside their peers.”

[CallOutBox bgcolor=”orange”]Texas Fact of the Week

In the 1950s, archaeologists found some of the oldest human remains and tools just 6 miles southwest of Midland, now called the Midland Site. They found a fossilized skull and point used for hunting believed to be in existence long before the Apache and Nde’isdzan, dated back to 11,000 years old or around the Ice Age. Marfa Public Radio has more on the Midland Site and the rest of the Llano Estacado here. [/CallOutBox]

Important Dates
  • April 5-8 – SBOE scheduled regular meeting
  • Wednesday, April 27 – Texas Commission on Virtual Ed meeting
  • Friday, April 29 – SBEC meeting
Articles of Interest

Check out more and Subscribe to Amanda List TX Legislative Updates here. 

For years, I worried about my grandson Dion’s challenges with learning. He did not respond to reading phonics lessons, he had problems deciphering compound sounds, and he struggled to read and write. By seventh grade, I was so concerned about his delays that I put him in a new school: West Hawaii Explorations Academy, a STEM Charter School in Hawaii.

A teacher there, Erik Swenson, assessed Dion’s learning style and brought him to an exciting educational platform. Instead of holding Dion captive in a classroom, where my grandson had always felt unsure of himself, Mr. Swenson took Dion outside to study live marine animals on campus. Mr. Swenson taught my grandson how to make scientific observations after allowing him to visit and feed the animals.

Mr. Swenson - WHEA

When Mr. Swenson worked one-on-one with my grandson, he let him read about marine animals, particularly sharks, an exciting book subject my grandson willingly read out loud.

West Hawaii Explorations Academy - Writing contest winner Dion

Dion not only became a better reader, but he learned to include scientific observations in his writing.  Mr. Swenson gave Dion encouraging feedback rather than focusing on his mistakes whenever my grandson wrote a paper.

Mr. Swenson allowed Dion to experience regular outdoor movement while learning, and he integrated marine science projects into Dion’s classroom assignments. My grandson’s confidence was steadily growing as he read and wrote in ways he had never done before.

Dion joined in with his classroom projects with more enthusiasm, and he began to perceive himself as a capable learner. By the end of the school year, Dion had completed several reports, including marine life anatomical reports with drawings, history reports, science projects, and he won first place in Mr. Swenson’s creative writing contest.

Mr. Swenson changed the trajectory of my grandson’s learning. While Dion may have challenges in his future, he now knows how to rise above them and excel as a unique and capable learner. This is a lifelong lesson that only a gifted teacher can impart.

WHEA Charter School

About Mr. Swenson

Mr. Swenson holds a master’s degree in special education from Chaminade University. He has been teaching for thirteen years. His interests are surfing, diving, fishing, and hiking. Mr. Swenson leads a surf team from West Hawaii Explorations Academy.

 

Inspirational Teachers - NYOS
Since 2017, Charter School Capital has held an annual essay contest celebrating exceptional teachers. We call it the Dewey Awards, in celebration of Mr. Richard Dewey – a teacher who provided exceptional mentorship to our founder and CEO Stuart Ellis. Every year we get a brilliant selection of stories written by students from charter schools all over the nation. This year’s winners are featured here. But each of these stories is worth sharing.
This week we bring you a story written by Lucas Harman, about his fourth-grade teacher at NYOS Charter School in Austin, Texas.

I remember really wanting to stay in the same teacher’s class as I was entering fourth grade. At our school, NYOS, you had two years with the same teacher in repeat until middle school. I had one teacher in Kindergarten and 1st Grade. Then another in 2nd and 3rd. And finally, one in 4th and 5th. And I really wanted the same teacher. A lot of my friends wanted her, and I wanted to be in their class. Some of their older siblings had been with her and had heard a lot of positive things.

However, while most of my friends ended up in that class, I went to a new teacher’s class. I didn’t really have any familiar friends, and I didn’t know her very well, besides some occasions throughout the last year or so. But instantly I realized, even at the young age of 9 and 10 in 4th and 5th grade, that this new teacher was a phenomenal teacher. Like I said, I didn’t really know anyone in that class, but over those small, quick two years, she instantly bonded us tighter than atoms (which I didn’t learn in her class, more like 7th or 8th grade. If only she did, and I might understand all that stuff a little more.)

I am close friends to many of kids from that class even now almost four years later, and I am very grateful for that. My 4th grade teacher was and I’m sure still is a fantastic teacher. People and teachers always say they try to make learning fun, but I have seen few to actually fully succeed. But she definitely did.

She was very engaging in her lessons and taught me so many things. She also had the perfect level of tolerance. Obviously not comparing her to an old grandmother, but her level of strict well was perfect, and a lot like a classic grandmother. She always expected the best of us, which brought out the best of us, and she made sure we were always kind to each other. Like I said, her lessons were always engaging, but she also made other great activities. I remember she would occasionally have us all make a meal together. We made some killer cheesy orzo, and it was a great teamwork experience. My fourth-grade teacher is a fantastic teacher.

She includes her students, makes them good people, teaches them efficiently and makes it very entertaining, and is like I said, just a plain legit teacher. I have so much respect for her, and I am absolutely positive my classmates do as well. She has definitely shaped me to become as good of a person as I can be. My fourth-grade teacher is great teacher. But an even better person.

 

Texas Charter SchoolsWhat is the State of Texas Charter Schools?

In this CHARTER EDtalk, we were fortunate to be able to sit down with Amanda List from A List Consulting to learn more about the Texas charter school landscape.
Amanda has extensive state government affairs and public charter school experience including strong ties to the Texas Capitol and the Texas Education Agency. She is currently working with the Texas Charter School Association Advocacy Team and the elected member advocacy committee as the association prepares for the next Texas state legislative session in 2019.
Listen as she shares the state of Texas charters with regards to the application process, the three strikes rule, and some amazing success Texas charters are seeing due to the state’s rigorous oversight. The transcript can be found below the video.

Janet Johnson (JJ): Welcome to the next CHARTER ED talk. We are at the National Charter School Conference in Austin, Texas where it’s nice and muggy. We have Amanda List from Alist Consulting who has specialized in charter schools for quite a while and she’s here to answer some questions about specifically Texas. And Ryan Eldridge from Charter School Capital will be assisting and asking the questions of Amanda.
Ryan Eldridge (RE): Thank you, Janet.
JJ: Good morning.

Why do you love charter schools?

RE: Good morning. So Amanda, we’re actually here at the National Charter School Conference as one of the main sponsors and we’re doing a campaign called “We Love Charter Schools”. What is it about charter schools that you love?”
Amanda List (AL): What I love about charter schools is that not every child learns the same. Charters give options for kids. In Texas—and I’m not familiar with other states obviously as I am with Texas.
In Texas, we have different missions and different styles of charters. So, we have the high performing charters which you’ve heard of (IDEA Public Schools and Harmony Schools, etc.). Those are considered our college prep schools. And then you have schools that focus on dropout recovery, credit recovery. Then you have some schools that focus on elementary science, etc.
What I love about it is allowing kids these options that they have because again not everyone learns the same. And it’s personal for me because I went to private school and it was not a model that I learned on. I just didn’t learn. I struggled through school to a point where I graduated high school, I didn’t think I was smart enough to go to college. Going to college and having that direct teach changed my life and I graduated on the Dean’s list.
So it’s very personal for me because I don’t want a child to be struggling in school. Not because they’re not smart which is not the method that they learn, so that’s why. I know that’s a long response, but that’s fine.

The Texas charter school landscape

RE: Can you give us an overview of the Texas charter school landscape?
AL: Yes. Currently, there are 675 charters in Texas. There are 185 operators and so sometimes these two numbers confuse people. So in Texas, you have an agreement with the state and then with that, you can have multiple campuses. So there are 675 charters serving more than 272,000 students with a wait list of about 140,000. So definitely, there is a demand for more charters here in Texas.

What is the “three strikes and you’re out rule”?

RE: What is this “three strikes and you’re out” mean for charters?
AL: Three strikes and you’re out was back in our legislative session of 2013. We had a huge bill passed, Senate Bill 2. It was a huge reform bill. So Senate Bill 2 put the teeth into closing poor performing charters and in that, also created the three strikes and you’re out rule. So three strikes and you’re out means that if you fail the financial ratings which is School First here in Texas or accountability, either of those three, in three consecutive years, then the Commissioner of Education will close you.

Editor’s Note: During the 83rd legislative session, the Texas Education Code was amended to include a statutory provision for the revocation of charter schools that failed to meet academic or financial accountability for the three preceding school years. The law states that failure to meet these standards will lead to mandatory revocation of a school’s charter.
Through that, it really got a lot of teeth into closing bad charters. We are all advocates of choice and we’re all advocates of quality schools, but as you know, there are some people out there that are not running quality schools.

There has been some pushback since that of “Wait a minute. There should be a little bit of lead room in there.” I can see it both ways, but for now, it stands as three strikes and you’re out. So, I think it’s one of the most strict laws in the nation when it comes to closing poor performing schools.
On getting Texas charter schools authorized
RE: Absolutely. And we’ve heard you have a rigorous application process. Can you describe that for us?
AL: Yes. Also in Senate Bill 2, it changed the way that charters were authorized in Texas. As advocates for Texas charters, we want the process to be rigorous. We just don’t want anyone to get a charter. But at the same time, it’s kind of gone to the extreme in that it’s almost so rigorous now and there is a bias towards out-of-state charters coming into Texas.
I’ve actually just completed a paper with Excellence In Education and we’ve covered this topic on how do we look at the Texas landscape and what are the policies that we can put in place to attract the out-of-state performers coming in and then also just attract folks locally or throughout Texas to start schools. But for right now, the process. The application easily 5-700 pages in length and takes months to complete.

Texas charter school success

RE: Now, we’ve also heard you have some of the best charters in the nation. Is that because of all the rigor?
AL: Yes. I think so and just us being Texans, so we’re pretty proud of ourselves. There’s that. But we do. We have seriously some of the best charters that U.S. and World News Report just came about a month ago or so and– up in Round Rock, Texas – Meridian World Charter School was ranked sixth in the nation when it comes to the best high schools.
And, over 70 Texas charters either received the Silver or Gold rankings. So we are very proud of the success that we’re having here in Texas.
RE: Well, now that sounds really great Amanda. Thank you very much for coming today. We really appreciate you sitting down with us.
AL: Thank you both for having me.
JJ: Thank you. It’s been great.

Charter School Capital logoSince the company’s inception in 2007, Charter School Capital has been committed to the success of charter schools. We provide growth capital and facilities financing to charter schools nationwide. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $1.6 billion in support of 600 charter schools that educate 800,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!

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