The Orleans Parish School Board OK'd five new charters in the spring and, for the first time, opened a second
round of charter applications this summer.
The high court upheld the state school board's ultimate authority to overrule a local district's
rejection of a charter application, saying the provision in the state's charter law did not violate the state constitution.
Increasingly, charter proponents are paying more attention to the critical role of charter authorizers, and suggest that independent state charter boards are an especially promising vehicle to provide careful and fair
review of charter applications and effective oversight once the schools open.
Public hearings are
part of the charter application process, but because Success Academy had originally planned to open in District 2, only parents in that district were given the opportunity to give their input.
A Pennsylvania court held that a school district lacked standing to contest the
grant of a charter application, even though the school district had alleged that the new school would draw students (and thus state funds) away from the district.
Jose Cole - Gutierrez, who heads the district's Charter Schools Division, said the budget crisis was a major factor in the tidal
wave of charter applications.
If an application is denied by a district school board, that school board shall, within 10 calendar days, articulate in writing the specific reasons based upon good cause supporting its
denial of the charter application.
Cerf is leaving office at the end of this month, and he said the
rigor of the charter application process and the work of the charter office in general were among his most significant accomplishments.
Hoover - Smoot, who consistently votes in
favor of charter applications, is being challenged by Morgan Hill board member Claudia Rossi, who's running a grass roots campaign to try to unseat Hoover - Smoot.
Askov sparked a
flood of Charter applications, resulting in thousands of criminal charges being stayed because a trial had not been held within a reasonable time.
Nevertheless, the North Carolina legislation is quite permissive in that it allows any individual or group to apply for a charter and does not require local district
approval of a charter application.
Completed hard
copy of the charter application can be submitted to Charter Institute at Erskine to the mailing address below: 1612 Marion St, Suite 210, Columbia, SC 29201
With Albany basically ordering four city schools to close, the board is grappling with what to do and the current majority of board members voted to ask Albany for another
round of charter applications to open in a year.
By capping the number of charter schools statewide, limiting the annual growth in the number of schools per district, and providing for input from the local district before approval
of charter applications, North Carolina has exercised more control over the establishment of charter schools than some states.
Under the regulations, authorizers must undergo training and create policies and procedures on the review
of charter applications, including a strategic vision for chartering, and transparency in the criteria and evaluation of charter applications, charter performance, renewal, non-renewal, and revocation.
And neither one addresses the issue of binding local find approval
of charter applications, which has been rallying point for charter - school critics.
Completed electronic copy
of the charter application must be submitted to SC State Department of Education and Charter Institute at Erskine between 8:00 am, November 15, 2017, to 5:00 pm, February 01, 2018.