Meeting of the Board of Regents | April 2009

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

TO:
FROM:	Johanna Duncan-Poitier
SUBJECT:	Charter Schools: Proposed Revision to the Second Renewal Charter for Amber Charter School
DATE:	April 17, 2009
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1 and 2
AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Decision

 

Should the Regents approve the staff’s recommendation concerning the proposed revision to the second renewal charter for Amber Charter School (New York City)?

 

Reason(s) for Consideration

 

              Required by State statute, Education Law §2852.

 

Proposed Handling

 

This question will come before the EMSC Committee in April 2009 for action.  It will then come before the full Board for final action in April 2009.

 

Procedural History

 

The New York Charter Schools Act of 1998 requires the Board of Regents to review, in accordance with the standards set forth in Education Law §2852(2), proposed charters, renewal charters and revisions to charters and renewal charters that have been approved and submitted by other charter entities.  The Board of Regents may either approve and issue a charter, renewal charter and/or revision as proposed by the charter entity, or return the same to the charter entity for reconsideration with written comments and recommendations. 

 

The Board must act on a proposed revision submitted by SUNY within 90 days of its submission or the proposed revision will be deemed to have been approved and issued by operation of law at the expiration of that period.

If the Board chooses to return the proposed revision to SUNY with comments and recommendations, SUNY must reconsider the proposed revision, taking into consideration the comments and recommendations of the Board.  SUNY may resubmit the proposed revision to the Board without modification, resubmit the proposed revision with modifications agreed to by the applicant in writing, or abandon the proposed revision.

 

The Regents may not vote to return a resubmitted proposed revision to SUNY a second time and the revision will take effect 30 days after resubmission if the Regents do not vote to approve it.

 

Background Information

 

We received a request from the Trustees of the State University of New York (SUNY) to revise the second renewal charter of Amber Charter School (“the School”).  The School seeks to revise its charter retroactive to September 8, 2008.  The School seeks to: eliminate grade six due to the challenges of transition to high schools at the juncture of seventh grade versus sixth grade.  This would change their approved grade configuration from grades kindergarten through six, to serve grades kindergarten through five (See Attachment 1); to enroll a total number of students different from the number set forth in the approved enrollment structure, to allow flexibility to increase enrollment upward to 120 percent or downward to 80 percent of the approved total enrollment or 50 students.

 

The School is located in Community School District (CSD) 4, Manhattan.  The New York City Department of Education (“NYCDOE”) held a public hearing in CSD 4 on Monday, January 26, 2009 regarding the proposed revision.  No public comments were made or received.      

 

Recommendation

 

VOTED:  That the Board of Regents approves the revision to the second renewal charter of the Amber Charter School as proposed by the Trustees of the State University of New York, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly. 

 

Reason for Recommendation

 

              The proposed revisions to the School’s charter, along with the other terms of the charter: (1) 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) are 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

 

The Regents action for Amber Charter School will be effective immediately.

 

 

 

Attachment 1

Amber Charter School Enrollment Plan

Approved enrollment plan
	08-09	09-10
K	100	100
1	100	100
2	92	92
3	86	86
4	30	28
5	23	20
6	23	20
Total	454	446
Revised enrollment plan
	08-09	09-10
K	100	100
1	100	100
2	92	92
3	86	86
4	30	28
5	23	20
Total	425	425