Meeting of the Board of Regents | October 2007

THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:
FROM:	Johanna Duncan-Poitier
SUBJECT:	Charter School Revisions
DATE:	October 10, 2007
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1 and 2
AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY

 

Issue(s) for Decision

 

Should the Board of Regents approve a request from the Urban Choice Charter School (Rochester) to amend its charter?

 

Should the Board of Regents approve a request from the Board of Education of the Buffalo Public Schools to revise the charter of the Westminster Community Charter School?

 

Reason(s) for Consideration

 

              Required by New York State Education Law §2852.

 

Proposed Handling

 

This question will come before the Regents EMSC-VESID Committee for action at its October 2007 meeting.

 

Procedural History

 

New York Education Law §2852(7) provides that revisions of charter school charters shall be made only upon the approval of the charter entity and the Board of Regents in accordance with the provisions of the law applicable to the issuance of  charters themselves.   With respect to charter schools directly chartered by the Board of Regents (“Board”), the Board may either approve a proposed revision or deny it.  With respect to charter schools chartered by other charter entities, the Board may either approve and issue the revisions as proposed by the charter entity, or return the proposed revision to the charter entity for reconsideration with written comments and recommendations. 

 

Background Information

 

We received a request from the Urban Choice Charter School (Rochester), a Board of Regents-authorized charter school, to amend its charter.

 

Additionally, we received a request from the Board of Education of the Buffalo Public Schools to amend the charter for one of its charter schools, the Westminster Community Charter School.

             

UrbanChoice Charter School:  The School is located in Rochester.  It is starting its third year of operation, and serves 312 students in grades K-6.  The School seeks to amend its charter to provide an after-school program to a maximum of 50 students for four evenings per week beginning in November and ending in May. The program will be  open, on a first come-first serve basis, to students who have been identified as being severely behind in reading.  Staff recommend that the Board of Regents approve the requested revision to the School’s initial charter.

 

              WestminsterCommunity Charter School:  The School is a conversion charter school located in Buffalo.   The Board of Regents issued the School its initial charter on July 21, 2004.  It commenced instruction as a charter school in September 2004 serving 500 students in grades K-8.  During 2007-08, it will serve 550 students in grades K-8.  The School seeks to provide gender-based education in grades 7 and 8.  The School further requests that its charter be amended to provide at least one Saturday preparatory class for targeted students prior to all State assessments. All students scoring at Level 1 or 2 on prior State assessments will be mandated to attend.  Classes will be available to all students in grades 3 – 8 to help them prepare for these tests.     Staff recommend that the Board of Regents approve the requested revision to the School’s initial charter.

 

              Complete copies of the current charters and materials pertaining to the requested revisions to the charters are available from James C. Viola at (518) 474-4817.

 

Recommendation

 

Staff recommend that the Board of Regents take the following actions:

 

VOTED: That the Board of Regents approve the revision to the initial charter of the Urban Choice Charter School,and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.

 

VOTED:  That the Board of Regents approve the revision to the initial charter of the Westminster Community Charter School, as proposed by the Board of Education of the Buffalo Public Schools, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.

 

 

Reasons for Recommendations

             

The proposed revisions to the charter of the Urban Choice Charter School (together with the other terms of its charter):  (1) will meet the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations; (2) will permit the charter school to operate in an educationally and fiscally-sound manner; and (3) is likely to improve student learning and achievement and materially further the purposes set out in subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred fifty of Article 56 of the Education Law.

 

The proposed revisions to the charter of the Westminster Community Charter School (together with the other terms of its charter):  (1) will meet the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations; (2) will permit the charter school to operate in an educationally and fiscally-sound manner, and (3) is likely to improve student learning and achievement and materially further the purposes set out in subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred fifty of Article 56 of the Education Law.

 

Timetable for Implementation

 

Upon approval by the Board of Regents, the above actions will become effective immediately.