In my last post on starting a charter school, I rather lengthily talked about writing the full application. The narrative section of the application is one of the most important pieces of the entire process. In New York State, there are information sessions set up for groups looking to submit applications. You can go here http://www.p12.nysed.gov/psc/documents/NovDecInfosessions.pdf to get the latest information on dates and times for the 2011-2012 cycle of applicants. It would be helpful to review the 2010 and 2011 cycles, which outline the process, and show you how many applicants started the process to how many applicants finished with a NYS Board of Regents approved charter. The guidelines in the kits are strict. Page overages or being under the required pages could end up costing you a spot further along in the process. If you are located outside of New York State (where I am working on our charter application), be sure to take time to review all of the specific guidelines provided by your authorizer.

And don’t forget about the Network of Independent Charter Schools Online Hotline. You can use it ANY TIME, free of charge, to ask questions specific to your charter application process!

After the application narrative is completed, you must spend some time thinking about what attachments you will include to support your narrative.  I’m going to walk through the attachments prepared in the New Dawn full application, which you can find here: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/psc/2011CSFullApplications.html. The first two attachments are standard for the full application. It includes a roster of all the individuals associated with your charter: board members, prospective employees, and community activists. The next is a certification statement that the lead applicant must sign. Those are the “easy” attachments to fill out.

The next attachment is the school schedule. This takes some careful consideration, because you have to think about the needs of your student body and what they will be taking over a period of time. For high schools, the challenge of what new entrants will need vs. a student who needs everything can be tricky. Elementary schools have less struggles with scheduling, just needing to account for scheduling with student/staff projections over the course of the charter. The school calendar must also be included, ensuring the number of days of instruction, along with holidays and school closures are listed over the course of the charter.

The Corporate By-Laws is a legal requirement. The By-laws of your charter establish the name of your school, the mission of the school and the purpose of the charter. This document outlines the roles and responsibilities of the board of trustees. This includes the roles of the board in relation to school governance. Code of Ethics is next.

The next section is dedicated to the proposed employees and board members of the school. With each role, a curriculum vitae is included, which supports the individual’s credentials. This is important, because it provides transparency to the authorizers on the abilities of the team to run a school. The New Dawn applicant group features many talented educators and administrators who have decades of experience with children, managing organizations and designing curriculum for the target cohort of students. Following the credentials of the members, attachments include a Statement of Assurances for each member, along with a signed Request for Information sheet, providing information required on the pages from the charter office. Essentially ,the request for information establishes no conflicts of interest from the board and prospective school employees.

The organization chart is another important component of the attachments. This gives you the opportunity to really think about the structure of accountability and reporting from the student level up to the board of trustees. These relationships establish the basis for school culture and relations within the community with teachers and parents. Following the organization chart is the description of each of the positions listed in the organizational chart. New Dawn chose to have an Executive Director and Principal, so that the Principal would be free to spend time in classrooms and foster a true learning community with feedback regularly taking place in the classroom. The last section is the budget. This shows the fiscal health of the organization and its capacity to serve its students over the life of the charter.

No matter what may be required by your specific Authorizer, these attachments are important, and I would recommend preparing all of them even if they are not legally required by your Authorizer. It shows how the instructional program of the school will be supported through the organization, board of trustees and budget. All of these components demonstrate the health of the organization and the ability to run the school throughout the length of its charter and through renewal to the next charter. Demonstrating sustainability is the key to getting your charter approved.

Next time…preparing for the meeting with your community board.

The views expressed in Charter Notebook blogs represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Center for Educational Innovation-Public Education Association or the U.S. Department of Education.