Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers Peggy Young, Director – Education Division Buckeye Community Hope Foundation & President of OACSA
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers 2003 – HB 364 • Eliminated the authority of ODE to authorize charter schools. • ODE responsible for oversight and providing technical assistance to authorizers. • Permitted ODE to assume authorization if a school’s authorizer failed to meet their obligations.
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers 2003 – HB 364 Continued • Permitted all ESCs and 13 state universities or their designees to authorize start-up charter schools. • Permitted federal tax-exempt entities (501(c)3) to authorizer charter schools if they met certain criteria.
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers Who we are…Buckeye Community Hope Foundation 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation – approved to authorize charter schools in 2004. • Education Division • Construction Division • Development/Housing Division • Support Services Division
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers Who we are…Today! • Authorize 47 charter schools Statewide – 2 nd largest authorizer in Ohio. • Portfolio includes: EL, MS, HS, (9) Dropout Recovery Schools, (1) eSchool, and (1) Special Education School. • Staff of 18 experts in various disciplines with (3) main departments: Compliance, Fiscal, & School Improvement.
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers Ohio Authorizing Landscape: • Can only open in “Urban 8” and significantly challenged school districts. • 65 approved authorizers serving more than 120,000 students in 300+ charter schools -- made up of mainly school districts who authorize 1-2 local charter schools.
Ohio Authorizers by Type 501c3 ESC 9% Joint Vocational School District State University 22% State Agency-ODE 62% 1% 3% Career Tech 1% 2% Center Traditional Public School District Source: Ohio Department of Education August 2016
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers Why & How OACSA came together… In 2003 – ODE lost authority to authorize schools due to a performance audit by the Auditor. Charter School Institute was formed and funded by an ODE grant to train new authorizers approved by ODE to open charter schools.
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers After the Charter School Institute was no longer funded -- Authorizers still needed continued support… Group of new and existing authorizers organized to: 1. Drive Quality Authorizing Standards 2. Share Best Practices, Procedures, Documents, and Ideas 3. Collectively Advocate for Quality Authorizing – positively improve the charter school movement by affecting outcomes and change instead of being reactive. Other advocacy groups were forming and speaking publicly to authorizer related issues that weren’t necessarily the position of the active authorizers in Ohio.
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers Through an RFP, ODE contracted with NACSA to provide additional training, support, and assistance to Authorizers in Ohio. NACSA provided the following to OACSA: • Assistance with solidifying the Association: NACSA staff visited Ohio frequently and attended OACSA monthly meetings presenting invaluable information and best practices to the group. • Workshops were provided to Authorizers regarding communication strategies, school closure, application process, and much more. • Assistance with crafting and adoption of Guiding Principals very similar to NACSAs’ with Ohio provisions, as well as, a solid mission for the organization. • Financial assistance in completing a comprehensive Strategic Plan.
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers OACSA Mission : Promote authorizer excellence, effectiveness, and efficiency to create and maintain high-quality charter schools through quality oversight and support. • 501(c)6 – allows us to lobby • (8) members • Advocacy, Legislative testimony, and Share Best Practices both locally and nationally.
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers Accomplishments – What’s Working! • Adoption of Strong Guiding Principles – strengthening movement by reducing “authorizer hopping ”. • Integral part of the development of the Authorizer Evaluation tool used by the Ohio Department of Education to examine the performance and best practices of ALL authorizers in Ohio. OACSA has been at the table providing feedback, suggestions, comments, and pushback regarding the evaluation tool and the measures & metrics that are being used to evaluate authorizer performance since its formation in 2004.
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers Accomplishments – What's Working! • Recognized Strong Voice with Legislature and Ohio Department of Education. OACSA has significantly increased collective advocacy efforts and lobbying. • Strong effect on State Budget Bill outcomes stopping potential catastrophes ensuring financial and academic accountability of authorized schools. • Building a Level of Trust – Members adhere to Quality Authorizing Practices: rigorous application processes, closing poor performing schools, and demonstrating ethical practices in authorizing decisions.
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers Current Challenges • Consensus Not all authorizers agree on a position OACSA may take. Previously OACSA would not take a position unless there was 100% consensus among the membership. This unfortunately led outside entities to believe we agreed on the issue(s) -- no response was an ok. We now move forward with a majority vote and allow those members who disagree to advocate on behalf of their own authorizer interests without interference. • Funding: only source of revenue is membership dues and donations. All work completed by OACSA is on a volunteer basis by its members. Current funding levels through dues do not support permanent staff or continuous lobbying efforts.
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers Current Challenges • Making sure we have a seat at the table as a stakeholder. Although OACSA members are invited to discussions much more than ever regarding charter schools, we are sometimes not thought of as a stakeholder if an issue doesn’t directly affect authorizing. We continue to improve communication with ODE and other entities and offer our assistance and feedback wherever possible. • Not all authorizers are members. OACSA is discouraged that all authorizers do not see the value of coming together on issues facing authorizers, as well as, sharing best practices to strengthen the movement in Ohio. However, the two largest authorizers in the State serve as officers of OACSA and members collectively authorize a majority of the charter schools in Ohio.
Ohio Association of Charter August 26, 2016 School Authorizers Q & A
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