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

 

TO:	The Honorable the Members of the Board of Regents
FROM:	James A. Kadamus
COMMITTEE:	Full Board
TITLE OF ITEM:	Charter School Proposed Charters
DATE OF SUBMISSION:	July 12, 2004
PROPOSED HANDLING:	Approval
RATIONALE FOR ITEM:	Statutory Authority to Act on Charter School Applications
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1 and 2
AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY:

 

The Board of Regents is required to act upon proposed charters received from another charter entity within 60 days of such receipt.  We have three such proposed charters, one from the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York, one from the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education and one from the Buffalo Board of Education.  The proposed charters are for:

 

·        Grand Concourse Academy Charter School      

      New York City (CSD 9/Region 1, Bronx)

 

·        Manhattan Charter School

New York City (CSD 1 & 2/Region 9, Manhattan)

 

·        Westminster Community Charter School

Buffalo

 

The potential fiscal impact upon the district of location for the charter schools is provided in the attached.

 

Complete copies of the proposed charters are available for your review by contacting Shelia Evans-Tranumn at 718-722-2796 and James R. Butterworth at 518-474-4817.

 

VOTED:  That the Board of Regents approve the proposed charters for the following charter schools based upon the information contained in the attachments and upon a finding by the Board of Regents that (1) the charter schools described in the applications meet the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations; (2) the applicants can demonstrate the ability to operate the schools in an educationally and fiscally-sound manner; and (3) granting the applications 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:

 

·        Grand Concourse Academy Charter School

·        Manhattan Charter School  

·        Westminster Community Charter School                   

 

The following table summarizes the number of new charters that may still be issued by charter entities in New York:

 

SUNY Trustees	All Other Charter Entities
12	22

 

 

 

Attachment

 Potential Fiscal Impact of the Charter Schools

 

Grand Concourse Academy Charter School

(New York City CSD 9/Region1 – Bronx)

School Year	Number of Students	Projected Payment*	Projected Impact
2004-05	175	$1,435,175	0.011%
2005-06	225	$1,928,250	0.014%
2006-07	275	$2,462,900	0.017%
2007-08	275	$2,573,725	0.017%
2008-09	275	$2,689,500	0.017%

* Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the district’s budget from a 2001-2002 base of $12.5 billion and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil, per year from the 2003-2004 final average expense per pupil of $7,848.

 

 

Manhattan Charter School

(New York City CSD 1 & 2/Region 9 – Manhattan)

School Year	Number of Students	Projected Payment*	Projected Impact
2005-06	200	$1,714,000	0.012%
2006-07	300	$2,686,800	0.018%
2007-08	390	$3,650,010	0.024%
2008-09	471	$4,606,380	0.029%
2009-10	544	$5,559,680	0.035%

* Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the district’s budget from a 2001-2002 base of $12.5 billion and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil, per year from the 2003-2004 final average expense per pupil of $7,848.

 

Westminster Community Charter School (Buffalo)

School Year	Number of Students	Projected Payment*	Projected Impact
2004-05	500	$4,122,500	0.8%
2005-06	525	$4,523,400	0.8%
2006-07	535	$4,817,140	0.9%
2007-08	550	$5,174,950	0.9%
2008-09	550	$5,407,600	0.9%

* Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the district’s budget from a 2003-2004 base of $507,507,167 and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil, per year from the 2004-2005 final average expense per pupil of $8,245.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York State Education Department

 

Summary of Proposed Charter

 

Summary of Applicant Information

 

Name of Proposed Charter School: Grand Concourse Academy Charter School (the “Academy”)

 

Address: 116-118 East 169^th Street, Bronx, NY 10452-7704

 

Applicant(s): Ms. Cheryl Forbes

 

Anticipated Opening Date: September 8, 2004

 

District of Location: New York City CSD 9

 

Institutional Partner(s): None

 

Management Partner(s): Victory Schools, Inc.

 

Grades Served: K-2 (K-4)             Projected Enrollment: 175 (275)

 

 

Proposed Charter Highlights

 

Applicants

 

Ms. Forbes is a community resident and a second grade general education teacher at CS 47 in New York City.  She has also been a permanent substitute Language Arts teacher at MS 321 in the Bronx.  She has a Master's Degree in Education from Fordham University.

 

Management Partner

           

The Academy has a contract with Victory Schools Inc., an educational management organization.  Victory Schools, Inc. manages 11 public schools, which have a total enrollment of approximately 4,500 students.  Steve Klinsky, the founder and current CEO of Victory Schools, Inc. is a Wall Street businessman.  In 1999, Victory opened the Sisulu Children's Academy - Harlem Public Charter School.  In 2000, Victory opened the Roosevelt Children's Charter School in Long Island, as well as the Merrick Academy - Queens Public Charter School in Queens Village, New York.  In December 2003, a charter was issued to Charter School of Educational Excellence, also managed by Victory Schools, Inc.  Other schools managed by Victory are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Baltimore, Maryland.  See Attachment 1 for Performance on State Assessments for schools for which Victory Schools, Inc. is the educational management organization.

           

Institutional Partner

 

None.

 

Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction

 

§         The school will use Open Court Reading, developed by Science Research Associates, to implement phonics-based instruction to prepare students to read authentic literature by the second half of first grade.

§         The school’s educational focus will be on a standards-based and scientifically research-proven educational program with special emphasis on core skills and knowledge, especially math and science; music and art; and foreign language.

§         For reading instruction, the school will use Scott Foresman Reading, Great Source Writing Source program, Direct Instruction (Reading Mastery/Corrective Reading), and grade-level trade books and classroom libraries with authentic literature. 

§         For science instruction, the school will use the McGraw science series, which will provide students with learning exercises involving experiments and investigations. 

§         For mathematics instruction, the school will use Everyday Mathematics.

§         For Social Studies instruction, the school will use E.D. Hirsch’s Core Knowledge Sequence and Macmillan/McGraw-Hill’s social studies series Adventures in Time and Place.

§         The curriculum will include a foreign language (Spanish) component .

§         The school will emphasize music and art to help students develop an appreciation of aesthetics, improve sensory and motor skills, and stimulate creativity.

§         The school will administer all State exams and assessments as required by No Child Left Behind.  The school will administer three types of assessments: criterion-referenced tests (CRT); norm-referenced tests (NRT), including the Iowa Test of Basic Skills; and diagnostic unit and end-of-year tests provided by curriculum publishers.

§         The school will use structured immersion to help limited English proficient students achieve proficiency.

§         The school’s academic day will be from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.

§         The school will provide a 180-day school year of instruction with teachers working 190 days.

§         The average class size will be 20.

 

Governance

 

§         The initial Board of Trustees consists of the seven founding members. 

§         The Board shall be comprised of (a) at least one parent or guardian of a child attending the school (i.e., PTO President); (b) at least one business leader with experience either in for-profit or not-for-profit sector; (c) at least one community leader; and (d) any other person over the age of 21 that can demonstrate knowledge of educational issues affecting the school’s community.

§         Trustees are elected to serve a term of five years, starting from the date of election.

§         The Board will hold at least 10 meetings each year.

 

 

Students

 

§         The school will begin with 75 kindergartners, 50 1^st graders, and 50 2^nd graders. 

§         By Year 3, the school plans to serve 275 students in Grades K- 4.  The school will remain a K-4 school throughout the life of its charter, unless more space is acquired to allow the school to expand beyond this size.

§         The school is open to children who are eligible under New York State law for admission to a public school.

 

Budget/Facilities

 

§         The school will be located at 116-118 East 169^th Street, Bronx, NY 10452-7704.  The construction of the new facility is substantially complete.

§         The school’s Board of Trustees proposes to lease the facility from the owner, Memorial Baptist Church, for $310,000 per year, with a three percent annual increase, with four five-year options, each coterminous with the five-year term of the school’s charter.

§         Total initial capital expenditures are expected to be $246,250.

§         These costs will be financed out of Year 1 operating revenues, including a federal Public Charter Schools Program grant of $150,000 and a New York City start-up grant of $75,000.

§         If necessary, start-up grants or a short-term operating loan from Victory Schools, Inc. will be used to finance the near-term cash flow deficit.

 

Personnel

 

§         The school will hire a principal, a business manager, an administrative assistant, seven classroom teachers, a specialty teacher, a special education teacher, a Title 1 teacher, and 3.5 paraprofessionals.

§         Plans for increasing staff to address the needs of the school as it grows are included in the proposal.

 

Fiscal Impact

 

§         The school assumes all of its revenues (except the $150,000 implementation grant and the $75,000 NYCDOE grant) would represent a dollar-for-dollar reduction in revenue for the district.  When fully enrolled with 275 students, the charter school will receive no more than .017% of the District’s budget (see fiscal impact chart).

§         The school’s first-year anticipated budget total is approximately $1.7 million.

§         Programmatic and fiscal audits will comply with all requirements made of public schools.  The school will employ a New York State licensed public accountant or certified public accountant to perform the fiscal audit.  In addition, the school will ensure that the audit is conducted in accordance with Generally Accepted Auditing Practices issued by the U.S. Comptroller General.

 

Potential Fiscal Impact of the Charter

for the

Grand Concourse Academy Charter School

(New York City CSD 9/Region 1 – Bronx)

School Year	Number of Students	Projected Payment*	Projected Impact
2004-05	175	$1,435,175	0.011%
2005-06	225	$1,928,250	0.014%
2006-07	275	$2,462,900	0.017%
2007-08	275	$2,573,725	0.017%
2008-09	275	$2,689,500	0.017%

*Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the district’s budget from a 2001-2002 base of $12.5 billion and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year from the 2003-2004 final average expense per pupil of $7,848.

 

Community Support

 

§         Signatures from over 825 parents who reside in the community and support the school were submitted.

§         Letters of support have also been received from Helen D. Foster (Council Member, 16^th District), the Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council Inc., Mount Hope Housing Company, Inc., and The Mama Foundation for the Arts.

 

Recommendation

           

Approve the application.

 

Reasons for Recommendation

 

1) The charter school described in the application meets the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations; (2) the applicants can demonstrate the ability to operate the school in an educationally and fiscally sound manner; and (3) granting the application 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.

Attachment 1

 

Performance on State Assessments for Schools for which Victory, Inc. is the Educational Management Organization:

 

Sisulu Children’s Academy - Harlem Public Charter School

Performance on State Assessments

Assessment	Year	Number Tested	% Level 1	% Level 2	% Level 3	% Level 4	Performance Index
Grade 4 ELA	2002	23	17.4%	60.9%	21.7%	0	104.3
Grade 4 ELA	2003	70	21.4%	42.9%	31.4%	4.3%	114.3
Grade 4 ELA	2004	86	4.7%	40.7%	43.0%	11.6%	150.0
Grade 4 Math	2002	22	50%	45.5%	4.5%	0	54.5
Grade 4 Math	2003	69	18.9%	40.6%	36.2%	4.3%	121.7

 

 

Merrick Children’s Academy Charter School

Performance on State Assessments

Assessment	Year	Number Tested	% Level 1	% Level 2	% Level 3	% Level 4	Performance Index
Grade 4 ELA	2003	42	7.1%	26.2%	57.1%	9.5%	159.5
Grade 4 ELA	2004	47	0	12.8%	68.1	19.1%	187.2
Grade 4 Math	2003	42	2.3%	40.5%	52.4%	4.8%	154.8

 

 

Roosevelt Children’s Academy Charter School

Performance on State Assessments

Assessment	Year	Number Tested	% Level 1	%  Level 2	%  Level 3	%  Level 4	Performance Index
Grade 4 ELA	2003	25	4.0%	36.0%	32.0%	28.0%	156.0
Grade 4 ELA	2004	75	8.0%	41.3%	42.7%	8.0%	142.7
Grade 4 Math	2003	25	4.0%	28.0%	68.0%	0.0%	154.0

 

Scores for 2002 and 2003 test administrations are based on students continuously enrolled. 2004 results are based on all students tested.  Grade 4 ELA results for 2004 for Sisulu have been revised from those issued earlier this year to reflect correction of a scoring error in the previously released results.

 

 

Analysis:

 

Sisulu Children’s Academy - Harlem Public Charter School was farthest from State standards in Grade 4 Math in 2002 but made substantial gains in 2003.  The school has preliminarily achieved the State standard in Grade 4 ELA in 2004.

 

Roosevelt Children’s Academy exceeded the State standards in Grade 4 ELA in 2003 and 2004 and Math in 2003.  The school’s Grade 4 2004 ELA performance places Roosevelt Children’s Academy among the higher performing schools in the State.

 

Merrick Children’s Academy exceeded the State standards in Grade 4 ELA and Math in 2003.  Preliminary results on Grade 4 ELA for 2004 show the school may have performed slightly below the State standard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York State Education Department

 

Summary of Proposed Charter

 

Summary of Applicant Information

 

Name of Proposed Charter School: Manhattan Charter School

 

Address: NA

 

Applicant(s): Ms. Diane Conniff

 

Anticipated Opening Date: September 7, 2005

 

District of Location: New York City CSD 1,2

 

Charter Entity: Chancellor of New York City Department of Education

 

Institutional Partner(s): None

 

Management Partner(s): None

 

Grades Served: K-1 (K-5)             Projected Enrollment: 200 (544)

 

 

Proposed Charter Highlights

 

Applicants

 

Ms. Conniff is a native New Yorker who attended New York City elementary and high schools.  She is a Director of the Educational Choice Foundation, Inc., an organization that creates educational endeavors that give children the tools to become informed critical thinkers.  Prior to the formation of Educational Choice Foundation, Ms. Conniff worked professionally in many aspects of commercial real estate, including investment, finance, and law. 

 

Management Partner

           

            None

           

Institutional Partner

 

None

 

 

 

 

 

Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction

 

§         The mission of the school is to prepare students to achieve high academic levels in the four core subject areas; to communicate effectively in verbal, mathematical, and musical languages; and to apply critical thinking processes and ethical standards to learning, living, and problem solving.

§         The language arts curriculum will emphasize reading.  The Manhattan Charter School (MCS) will develop libraries of “leveled books”—books at increasingly difficult levels—that allow teachers to choose books for small groups and for individual readers based on the students’ strengths, weaknesses, and interests.  Writing and phonics will also be taught consistently throughout the English language arts block.  MCS will develop its own unique sequential phonics program based on the needs of the children and the Month-by-Month Phonics program developed by Patricia Cunningham and Dorothy Hall.   

§         For mathematics instruction, the school intends to teach a combination of basic skills, as well as critical thinking skills.  In order to accomplish this, the school will use TERC Investigations in Number, Data, and Space for its fundamental program and, beginning in Grade 3, will supplement this program with another more skills-oriented program.

§         For science instruction, MCS will use the Full Option Science System (FOSS), developed by the Lawrence Hall of Science.  MCS also intends to supplement this program with units from Science and Technology, and Insights, as needed.

§         For social studies instruction, MCS will use the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill’s social studies series to structure the curriculum, as well as use a variety of social studies sources, such as primary documents, maps, field trips, artifacts, etc.

§         In addition to the four core subjects, MCS plans on emphasizing music as the fifth core element of the curriculum.  Students will receive daily music classes that include instrument instruction, music theory, and general music education.

§         Through this emphasis on music, the study of music becomes a vehicle for learning the other core disciplines.  For instance, the concepts of rhythm and measure will foster an understanding of addition, fractions, and patterns.

§         Instruction in a foreign language (which shall be chosen by the Board) will be provided to students in Grades 3, 4 and 5 for exploratory purposes.

§         The school will administer all State exams and assessments as required by No Child Left Behind.  The school will administer three types of assessments: criterion-referenced tests (CRT); norm-referenced tests (NRT), including the Iowa Test of Basic Skills; and diagnostic unit and end-of-year tests provided by curriculum publishers.

§         To help students with limited English proficiency at MCS achieve the same high standards as the rest of the students, the school plans to use a modified English-immersion program, with supplemental support when needed.

§         The school’s academic day will be from 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m.

§         The school will provide a 180-day year.

§         The average class size will be 25.

Governance

 

§         The initial Board of Trustees will consist of seven founding members.  The by-laws of the school corporation permit the addition of two Board seats, resulting in a nine-member Board.  Once the school is chartered, the seven Trustees will seek to fill the seats with individuals from the school’s parent community. 

§         Trustees shall hold office for a term of two years, or until death, resignation, or removal.

§         The Board will hold at least 10 meetings each year.

 

Students

 

§         MCS will begin with 100 kindergartners and 100 1^st graders. 

§         By Year 3, MCS plans to serve 390 students in Grades K- 3. 

§         By Year 5, MCS will serve 544 students in Grades K-5.

§         The school is open to children who are eligible under New York State law for admission to a public school.

 

Budget/Facilities

 

§         MCS seeks to locate in a permanent facility in downtown or midtown Manhattan, preferably below 14^th Street.  The school expects that the actual location will be determined to a great extent by where, within their target area, they can find a suitable facility.

§         For its first two academic years, MCS would like to open in an incubator space in lower or midtown Manhattan made available by the New York City Department of Education.

§         MCS’s budget proposal assumes two years of incubator space provided by the NYC DOE at no cost other than janitorial service fees, and during the planning, nine months of office space on the same terms.  It also assumes that the school’s third, fourth, and fifth academic years will be operated at a private facility leased at projected market rates.

§         Michael Berman, one of the members of MCS’s Advisory Board, plans to fund approximately $100,000, in the form of a grant, to the school during the initial charter term, and will also make an operating loan of up to $300,000 to the school. These funds will be in addition to the Public Charter Schools Program (PCSP) grant and New York City Other Than Personal Services (OTPS) grants, for which MCS will be eligible.

 

Personnel

 

§         For the first two years of operation, MCS will hire a principal, eight teachers, four teachers’ aides, two music teachers (one full-time, one part-time), a music aide, a special education coordinator, a business administrator, and a secretary/ bookkeeper.

§         Plans for increasing staff to address the needs of the school as it grows are included in the proposal.

 

Fiscal Impact

 

§         MCS projects that in its first year of operation, it will require 0.012 percent of the budget.  By the fifth year, MCS will require 0.035 percent of the budget (see fiscal impact chart).

§         The school’s first-year anticipated budget total is approximately $1.7 million.

§         Programmatic and fiscal audits will comply with all requirements made of public schools.  The school will employ a New York State licensed public accountant or certified public accountant to perform the fiscal audit.  In addition, the school will ensure that the audit is conducted in accordance with Generally Accepted Auditing Practices issued by the U.S. Comptroller General.

 

Potential Fiscal Impact of the Charter

for the

Manhattan Charter School

School Year	Number of Students	Projected Payment*	Projected Impact
2005-06	200	$8,570	0.012%
2006-07	300	$8,956	0.018%
2007-08	390	$9,359	0.024%
2008-09	471	$9,780	0.029%
2009-10	544	$10,220	0.035%

* Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the district’s budget from a 2001-2002 base of $12.5 billion and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year from the 2003-2004 final average expense per pupil of $7,848.

 

Community Support

 

§         Signatures from over 325 parents who reside in the community and support the school were submitted.

§         Eva Moskowitz, Council Member, 4^th District, submitted a letter of support.

 

Recommendation

           

Approve the application.

 

Reasons for Recommendation

 

The charter school described in the application meets the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations; (2) the applicants can demonstrate the ability to operate the school in an educationally and fiscally sound manner; and (3) granting the application 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.

 

 

                                                                                                                       

 

New York State Education Department

 

Summary of Charter School Review

 

Summary of Applicant Information

 

 

 

Name of Proposed Charter School:  Westminster Community Charter School

 

Address:  24 Westminster Street, Buffalo, NY 15215

 

Applicant(s): John Carmichael and Yvonne Minor-Ragan

 

Anticipated Opening Date: September 8, 2004

 

District of Location: Buffalo Public Schools                  

 

Charter Entity:  Buffalo Board of Education

 

Institutional Partner(s):  M&T Bank; Westminster Community School Foundation

 

Management Partner(s): None

 

Grades Served:      K-8                                          Projected Enrollment:  500 (550)

 

 

 

Application Highlights

 

 

 

Applicants

 

            Mr. Carmichael is a vice-president with the M&T Bank in Buffalo, New York.  Ms. Minor-Ragan is the principal of the current PS 68 (Westminster School) in Buffalo, New York.

 

Institutional/Management Partner

 

            The M&T Bank is the current institutional partner with PS 68, and will continue after the school has been converted into a charter school.  The Bank will provide services in the areas of accounting and budgeting, purchasing, grant writing, fund raising, educational programming, consulting, hiring, mentoring, and activities organization. The full-time services of two bank employees will be provided to the school.  The Westminster Community School Foundation will be established to assist with fundraising. 

 

Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction

 

·        The proposed curricula address all learning standards.

·        The school will follow the curricula used by the Buffalo Public Schools.

·        A system of diagnostic analysis to assess students’ strengths and weaknesses will be implemented.  Instruction will be customized to meet individual student needs.

·        Individual and small-group tutoring will be provided to students who need extra assistance.

·        Standards-based instruction using a language-arts platform will be provided.

·        Reading/writing workshops will be provided in the classrooms.  Each day, students are expected to read self-selected books at their reading level and then write about self-selected topics.

·        Every class has a comprehensive classroom library and a daily independent reading workshop.

·        The Literacy Block consists of phonemic awareness K-2, Shared Reading K-2, Guided Reading K-3, Independent Reading, Read Aloud, Handwriting and Spelling/Vocabulary K-8.

·        A fine arts program, field trips, computer technology, conflict resolution training, after-school program, mentoring, and a health clinic will be provided.

·        The after-school program will operate five days per week, for three hours daily.  Students will be taught by teachers and teacher aides for at least one hour on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Teachers may opt to provide additional instruction depending on their availability.  The curricula will be an extension of the basic curricula taught during the regular school day.  Students will be remediated or introduced to new concepts based upon their identified strengths and needs.

·        The after-school program will be mandated for those students who are performing below grade level, and who would greatly benefit from additional small group instruction.

·        A summer school program will be offered, and it will operate from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., five days a week for six weeks.  Academic support will be provided daily from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m.  The curricula will be an extension of the basic curriculum taught during the regular school year. Students will be involved in a YMCA Day Camp program for the remainder of the day.  Attendance will be mandatory for those students who are performing below grade level, and who would greatly benefit from additional small group instruction.

·        The summer school program will operate at no cost to the parents.

·        All applicable State assessments and the Terra Novas will be given.

·        The school will also use the same district-wide assessments as the Buffalo Public Schools. 

 

Governance

 

·        The initial Board of Trustees will have seven members. 

·        The Board will never have fewer than five nor more than 15 members.

·        One parent, selected by the Parents’ Association, will also be on the Board.

·        Vacancies will be filled by a majority vote of the Trustees.

 

Students

 

·        Maximum enrollment will be 500 in 2004-05, 525 in 2005-06, 535 in 2006-07, and 550 in 2007-08 and thereafter.

·        The proposed methods for providing services to students with disabilities comport with the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

·        While the school will not target an at-risk population, most of the current student population would be so considered.

·        All students are expected to be residents of the Buffalo Public Schools.

 

Budget/Facilities

 

·        The projected budget for the 2004-05 school year is $5,904,063.

·        The M&T Charitable Foundation expects to contribute $400,000 in unrestricted general operating funds.

·        The facility is an existing school, PS 68, in the Buffalo Public Schools. 

·        A plan to make the building compliant with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act has been submitted.

 

Fiscal Impact

 

·        See attached for projected fiscal impact.

 

Personnel

 

·        The current collective bargaining agreement with the teachers will remain in effect.

·        It is expected that 44 certified and two uncertified teachers will be on staff.

·        The principal and assistant principal will be certified according to New York State requirements.

 

Recommendation

 

Approve the proposed charter.

 

Reason for Recommendation

 

(1)The charter school described in the proposed charter meets the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations; (2) the applicants can demonstrate the ability to operate the school in an educationally and fiscally-sound manner; and (3) granting the application 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.

 

 

Attachment 1

 

Potential Fiscal Impact of the

Westminster Community Charter School on the

Buffalo Public Schools

2004-09

School Year	Number of Students	Projected Payment*	Projected Impact
2004-05	500	$4,122,500	0.8%
2005-06	525	$4,523,400	0.8%
2006-07	535	$4,817,140	0.9%
2007-08	550	$5,174,950	0.9%
2008-09	550	$5,407,600	0.9%

*Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the District’s budget from a 2003-2004 base of $507,507,167 and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year from the 2004-2005 average expense per pupil of $8,245.

 

 

Potential Cumulative Fiscal Impact of All Charter Schools

on the Buffalo Public Schools

2004-05

*Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the District’s budget from a 2003-2004 base of $507,507,167 and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year from the 2004-2005 average expense per pupil of $8,245.

**These schools are not located in the District but draw students from Buffalo.

Numbers in parentheses are estimates.

 

 

Potential Cumulative Fiscal Impact of All Charter Schools

on the Buffalo Public Schools

2005-06

*Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the District’s budget from a 2003-2004 base of $507,507,167 and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year from the 2004-2005 average expense per pupil of $8,245.

**These schools are not located in the District but draw students from Buffalo.

Numbers in parentheses are estimates.

 

Potential Cumulative Fiscal Impact of All Charter Schools

on the Buffalo Public Schools

2006-07

*Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the District’s budget from a 2003-2004 base of $507,507,167 and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year from the 2004-2005 average expense per pupil of $8,245.

**These schools are not located in the District but draw students from Buffalo.

Numbers in parentheses are estimates.

 

 

Potential Cumulative Fiscal Impact of All Charter Schools

on the Buffalo Public Schools

2007-08

*Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the District’s budget from a 2003-2004 base of $507,507,167 and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year from the 2004-2005 average expense per pupil of $8,245.

**These schools are not located in the District but draw students from Buffalo.

Numbers in parentheses are estimates.

 

Potential Cumulative Fiscal Impact of All Charter Schools

on the Buffalo Public Schools

2008-09

*Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the District’s budget from a 2003-2004 base of $507,507,167 and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year from the 2004-2005 average expense per pupil of $8,245.

**These schools are not located in the District but draw students from Buffalo.

Numbers in parentheses are estimates.