Charter School Renewal Application and Guidance

Charter School Renewal Application and Guidance. The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board (hereinafter “MCSAB”) is tasked with approving, overseeing, and holding charter schools accountable. One of its most important functions in fulfilling this mission is to conduct a charter school renewal process once schools reach the end of their approved charter contract term. The 2019-2020 renewal cycle will be the MCSAB’s first renewal cycle. Per the law, this document provides the renewal eligibility criteria, a timeline, and an application. A. Renewal Timeline The MCSAB will adhere to the following timeline in the 2019-2020 renewal cycle. Any changes or clarifications to this timeline will be provided to renewal schools in writing. Phase Description 2019-2020 Timeline Release of the Charter School Renewal Application and Guidance By law, the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board releases the Charter School Renewal Application and Guidance each year before September 30. Before September 30 Release of Renewal School Performance Reports By law, the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board releases a Charter School Performance Report to each school that may be eligible for renewal before September 30. Before September 30 Letter to Charter Schools in Their Final Contract Year The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board will send a letter to each charter school eligible for renewal based on Academic Performance Framework Indicator 1. Schools that have reached their final year of a contract term but are rated an “F” after their Before September 301 1 In years in which the Mississippi Department of Education delays the release of school grades until October, the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board will delay this letter until the business day following the release of grades. Phase Description 2019-2020 Timeline penultimate contract year will receive a letter informing them that they are not eligible for renewal. Year 5 School Site Visit The MCSAB and/or external evaluators will perform a Fall 2019 site visit per its usual process for all schools. Findings from this site visit which may update the Performance Report may be incorporated into the MCSAB’s review process. October- November, 2019 Submission of Corrections to the Performance Report Charter schools must submit corrections, if any, to their Performance Report within 90 days of their receipt of the report for the MCSAB to consider the corrected information in the renewal decision-making process. Within 90 days of receipt of the Performance Report Submission of the Application for Charter Renewal A school seeking renewal must complete and submit the charter school renewal application by 4 PM Central time no later than January 31. Late applications will not be accepted. Schools are strongly encouraged to submit applications prior to the deadline. No later than January 31, 2020 Application Review The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board staff and/or external evaluators will review the renewal application, the performance report, and any other relevant information about an applicant school collected by the Board throughout the charter contract term. Within 90 days of application submission DRAFT Renewal Recommendation Report Delivered to Schools The MSCAB staff and/or external evaluators will prepare a renewal recommendation report that provides a recommendation to 1. renew or 2. non-renew and close. All recommendations to renew will also provide a recommendation for the length of the renewal term and whether any renewal conditions will apply. Per law, the report will further include the staff and/or external evaluators’ reasons for their recommendation. Within 60 days of application submission Responses and Hearing Requests Due All schools, particularly schools receiving a recommendation for non-renewal, are allowed to prepare a response to their recommendation and to submit documents which they feel will aid their case. These responses are due at 4 PM Central on December 20, 2019. Within 14 days of receipt of the Draft Renewal Recommendation Report Hearing for Non- Renewed Schools The law allows schools that receive a recommendation of non-renewal to request a hearing. Hearings will occur in January 2020. Within 30 days of request Phase Description 2019-2020 Timeline Final Board Vote on Recommendations The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board will vote to accept or deny the renewal recommendation of staff and/or external evaluators. They will also vote to adopt the renewal recommendation report, as finalized, as the resolution of their reasoning that is required by law. Within 90 days of application submission Board Resolution Delivered to Schools Within ten days after taking action to renew or not renew a charter, the MCSAB will provide a report to the charter, including a copy of the Board resolution. Within 10 days of Board decision B. Renewal Decision-Making The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board will use the currently adopted Performance Framework for all 2019-2020 renewal decisions, including determining each school’s renewal eligibility, renewal recommendation, and, if renewed, renewal term. The Performance Framework has three domains: academic, financial, and organizational. The MCSAB will consider evidence from all three domains in making renewal decisions and will draw on the Annual Performance Report, school site visit reports, the renewal application, and other official data. For more information about how the Board interprets the provisions of the Performance Framework to create the Annual Performance Report, please see the document entitled “Performance Framework Guidelines for the Annual Performance Report.” C. Renewal Eligibility Criteria Per the Performance Framework, the MCSAB will use the following criteria to determine eligibility: Academic Indicator 1 Financial Performance Organizational Performance Eligibility for Renewal A Meets or Approaches Expectations Meets or Approaches Expectations Eligible Fails to Meet Expectations Fails to Meet Expectations Not eligible* B Meets or Approaches Expectations Meets or Approaches Expectations Eligible Fails to Meet Expectations Fails to Meet Expectations Not eligible* C Meets or Approaches Expectations Meets or Approaches Expectations Eligible Fails to Meet Expectations Fails to Meet Expectations Not eligible* D Meets or Approaches Expectations Meets or Approaches Expectations Additional Evidence Required Fails to Meet Expectations Fails to Meet Expectations Not eligible* F Any rating Any rating Not eligible *Unless “evidence and specific circumstances” waivers applied for any financial and organizational performance rating of “fails to meet expectations” Please note: F-rated schools are not eligible for renewal; therefore, the MCSAB’s closure protocol applies to these schools. Please refer to the Board-adopted protocol for further information. D. Additional Evidence Requirements for D-Rated Schools D-rated schools must meet additional evidence requirements for academic performance in order to be eligible for renewal. These additional requirements take into account the school’s performance on Indicators 2-4 within the Academic Performance Framework, as follows: 1. Charter schools must earn a rating of “meets expectations” or “exceeds expectations” on at least 2 of the 3 additional indicators (Academic Performance Framework Indicators 2-4) in order to be eligible for renewal. 2. Schools that only meet one of the three additional indicators may receive a waiver from the Board for “evidence of significant growth over the charter term.” This evidence may include higher than average proficiency or growth gains on state assessments over time or other rigorous evidence of growth over time. Schools in this circumstance must make their case for this waiver within the renewal application, and the Board will determine whether that case warrants a waiver. A summary of these requirements is below: Indicators 2-4 Criterion Met? 1 of 3 additional indicators met (renewal year only) No UNLESS evidence of significant growth over the charter term 2 of 3 additional indicators met (renewal year only) Yes 3 of 3 additional indicators met (renewal year only) Yes E. For Schools That Fail to Meet Expectations for Financial and/or Organizational Performance Charter schools that meet Academic Performance Framework requirements but have a rating of “fails to meet expectations” in either financial performance or organizational performance must earn a waiver in order to be considered for renewal. The MCSAB will grant a waiver to schools based on whether they can present “evidence and specific circumstances” that warrant the waiver for each domain in which they did not meet expectations. F. Renewal Recommendation All charter schools that are eligible for renewal will be renewed in the 2019-2020 cycle. However, by law, the MCSAB may impose conditions on the renewal of any school. The MCSAB will use the 2019 Performance Report to determine whether a school should be renewed with or without conditions. The following table describes the criteria that the MCSAB will use to impose conditions. Schools must meet all of the criteria for “no conditions” to receive an unconditional renewal. Schools that meet any of the criteria for “will impose conditions” will receive a conditional renewal. The MCSAB will determine whether conditions will apply to schools that do not meet all of the criteria for an unconditional renewal but that also do not meet any of the criteria for a mandatory conditional renewal based on the findings of the renewal recommendation report. Renewal Type Academic Expectations Financial Performance Organizational Performance No conditions Meets or Exceeds Expectations on every indicator Meets Expectations with no indicator scores of “no credit” Meets Expectations with no metric scores of 0 or 1 May impose conditions Approaches Expectations on any indicator Meets Expectations with at least one indicator score of “no credit” OR Approaches Expectations Meets Expectations with at least one metric score of 0 or 1 OR Approaches Expectations Will impose conditions Fails to Meet Expectations on any indicator Fails to Meet Expectations Fails to Meet Expectations G. Renewal Term In the 2019-2020 renewal cycle, the MCSAB will base the length of any granted renewal term primarily on the school’s grade as announced in Fall 2019 (after Year 4 of the initial term). The following decision table will apply: Academic Indicator 1* Renewal Outcome Renewal Term Eligibility Minimum Additional Years Possible Maximum A Full- or Short- Term Renewal 4 years 1 year, if financial and organizational performance “Meets Expectations” 5 years B Full- or Short- Term Renewal 4 years 1 year, if financial and organizational performance “Meets Expectations” 5 years C Short- Term Renewal 3 years 1 year, if financial and organizational performance “Meets Expectations” 4 years D Short- Term Renewal 3 years None 3 years Please note: Any school that receives an F after its fifth year (in Fall 2020 for 2019-2020 renewal schools) must be closed, per statute, regardless of whether a renewal term was earned. This closure requirement will be included in the new contract. H. Application Instructions The MCSAB requests that all charter school renewal applications abide by the following instructions. Charter applications that do not conform to these guidelines may be returned, and applicants may be asked to re-submit the information in the requested format. 1. Formatting and Submitting Applications a. Page Formatting. All narrative responses should use Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial and a font size of 12. Tables may have a font size of 10. Margins should be 1 inch in all directions. Single-spaced responses are acceptable, but information must be readable. All documents should use page numbers for reference and should have in the top, left-hand header the name of the section as specified below. Please adhere to the requested page limits in order for the application to be processed as efficiently as possible. b. Submission Format i. The renewal application will be accepted digitally through Epicenter. Please do not submit paper copies of any document to the MCSAB as these will not be considered. Schools that have trouble with Epicenter should contact charterschools@mississippi.edu for support. ii. Schools must merge all of their application materials into a single, continuously numbered document prior to submission. The table below lists the section headers corresponding to each application section and page limits schools must use for the document. Schools should change all incidents of “School Name” to their own name. Section Required Header Name Page Limits Executive Summary Executive Summary_School Name Application Checklist Application Checklist_School Name Record of Performance Effective Academic Program Effective Academic Program_School Name Additional Academic Evidence_School Name Financial Success Financial Success_School Name Financial Policy Manual_School Name Additional Financial Evidence_School Name Organizational Success Organizational Success_School Name Additional Organizational Evidence_School Name Future Plans Mission, Vision, and Essential Terms Essential Terms_School Name Governance Governance Plan_School Name Governance Documentation_School Name Fiscal Plan Fiscal Plan_School Name Budget_School Name Section Required Header Name Page Limits Facility Plan Facility Plan_School Name Proposed Grades and Enrollment Grades and Enrollment Plan_School Name Enrollment Projection Table_School Name 2. Due Date Per the Renewal Timeline on pages 2-3, the application is due to Epicenter by 4 PM Central no later than January 31, 2020. Late applications will not be accepted. Charter schools are strongly encouraged to submit their application early in order to receive an earlier decision, as is in the best interests of charter school families.