You know the importance of authorizing for creating more great charter schools.
Explore the following interactive showcase to learn how other authorizers across the country have tackled obstacles to quality, or jump to its sister showcase on school growth.
THE FUN PART is handing people charter contracts. My job—the part where you get to say, ‘Here’s your new school! Go forth and prosper!’—that’s the fun part. But if that’s not done well, then we have to do a lot more of, ‘Give it back, please. Give us your charter. That didn’t go well.’
Who wants to disrupt that community? That’s the part that is the most heart wrenching. I’m not looking at that school leader. I’m looking at that community, those families, who are about to lose a school that they have chosen among many schools. That is definitely the worst part.
– CHARTER SCHOOL AUTHORIZER
Closing a failing school, and ensuring students move to better schools, can be a game changer for students, parents, and their communities. Of course, without quality alternatives, kids impacted by closure will simply end up in bad schools.
Source: “2013 National Charter School Study,” The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), Figures 43 and 44)
The mere idea of closing a school goes against American tradition. Most public schools operate in a bureaucracy that allows them to continue to exist, even when they become fixtures of failure, pulling down entire communities.
Closure is usually the last thing anyone, especially parents, wants to see happen, which can create pressure to keep a failing school open.
If a charter school, despite the best intentions and well-laid plans, is failing children and communities—academically, financially, or operationally—it can be and should be closed.
A good authorizer makes difficult but necessary decisions to close schools, preferring to work with the charter’s board in a thoughtful process that turns a loss into, ultimately, a gain, for the children and their community.
Charter school authorizers have the power and the responsibility to make closure about what’s best for children. Community-centered closure puts children and families first. It also pays attention to the well-being of teachers.
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It’s not a knee-jerk reaction to a bad situation. It’s legally-grounded and guided by what’s right for students and families. Every school has challenges. When a school cannot fix its academic, financial, or operational challenges, that’s when closure becomes necessary.
This starts when a charter is granted, with clear expectations, transparent consequences, and even dollars allocated. You plan for what you hope will never happen. Then, if a school has to close, particular attention is given to each child’s next school. Are nearby schools—charter or other—prepared to accept additional students?
Parents and communities should never be caught off guard. A school may participate in this communication, but the authorizer makes sure it happens, consistently, throughout the entire process.
In addition to established closure protocols, building in a pre-paid closure account can ensure that closure—if it comes to that—is done thoughtfully.
The Governor John Engler Center for Charter Schools at Central Michigan University includes the language at right in its charter contracts, creating a safety net that can help cover costs associated with the wind down and dissolution responsibilities of a school, if needed.
“If the University Board terminates, revokes or fails to issue a new Contract to the Academy, the Charter Schools Director shall notify the Academy that, beginning thirty (30) days after notification of the University Board’s decision, the University Board shall direct up to $10,000 from each subsequent State School Aid Fund payment, not to exceed a combined total of $30,000, to a separate Academy account (“Academy Dissolution Account”) to be used exclusively to pay the costs associated with the wind-up and dissolution responsibilities of the Academy. Within five (5) business days of the Charter Schools Director’s notice, the Academy Board Treasurer shall provide the Charter Schools Director, in a form and manner determined by the CSO, with account detail information and authorization to direct such funds to the Academy Dissolution Account. The Academy Dissolution Account shall be under the sole care, custody and control of the Academy Board, and such funds shall not be used by the Academy to pay any other Academy debt or obligation until such time as all the wind-up and dissolution expenses have been satisfied.”
Good authorizers use three questions to track and measure a school’s progress against its performance framework—and to decide a school’s future.
ACADEMIC
Is the academic program successful?
FISCAL
Is the organization viable?
OPERATIONAL
Is the school demonstrating good faith in following the terms of its contract and all applicable laws?
Good authorizers give their schools clear and transparent data, and opportunities to improve. Schools have the chance to respond to that information with action.
WE HAD A SCHOOL that wanted to replicate. They were in their third year, and not doing fantastic academically. There were some questions on Special Ed compliance. If their application for replication went public, we would have denied it, and our board would have likely agreed with us. But instead, we had many conversations with them. We said, ‘You can publicly go through this process, but we’re telling you right now, we’re not going to recommend it to our board, and these are the five reasons.’ The school withdrew their application for replication, and instead used the opportunity to improve, and avoid closure down the road.
– CHARTER SCHOOL AUTHORIZER
READ HOW SUNY USES COMMUNICATION TO ENCOURAGE VOLUNTARY SURRENDER
This can include trying to find a replacement operator and project-managing the process to ensure students have access to another school.
“We have a closure team that’s wonderful, that works really hard to ensure families are placed. We have been really, really successful at bringing in new operators to take over schools that we have had to close, be it for academic or financial reasons… so the community has an option in that school building with a new operator, so that their lives won’t be radically disrupted. ….It ends up being an agreement between the board of the school that is being closed, and a new operator… I think that has been great, because at least then students have a choice to continue to go to school in that school building.”
– KATIE DAMMANN, DC PCSB
It can make the difference between a closure that leaves a community fractured and frustrated, or one where a community feels in control and ultimately better off.
FIND OUT HOW MIAMI-DADE KEEPS COMMUNITY AT THE CENTER OF CLOSURES
When closure is done well, students aren’t the only ones who are better off.
LEARN HOW POSTMORTEMS ENCOURAGE CONTINUAL LEARNING AT CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY