Now more than ever, school leaders are acutely aware of the mental health challenges facing students and their families, teachers and administrators, and themselves.

Here’s just one stat from Mental Health in Schools | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness: “One in six U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year, and half of all mental health conditions begin by age 14. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), behavior problems, anxiety, and depression are the most commonly diagnosed mental disorders in children. Yet, about half of youth with mental health conditions received any kind of treatment in the past year.”

It is particularly important to acknowledge the pandemic’s impact on mental health at home and in the community, and to present an opportunity for meaningful conversations about mental health in both, to learn how we may better understand and support those around us.

Mental Health and Leadership Webinar
What Can We Offer Our Students

Amid what is being called a mental health crisis in schools, watch on-demand webinar Mental Health and Leadership – Grow Schools with Caroline Poland, MA, LMHC, LCAC, CCTP, CCFP, NCC.

You can download the Presentation Handout here and the Presentation Slides here.

Contact Caroline Poland at caroline@polandandassociates.com or learn more from her website www.polandandassociates.com & Youtube channel “Poland and Associates Consulting”.

Support Mental Health and Well-being Guide

Mental Health And Well Being For Charter Schools 3

This guide shares the expertise of Caroline Poland, Founder and CEO of Poland and Associates Consulting, MA, LMHC, LCAC, CCTP, CCFP, NCC, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. Learn how to build a firm foundation of mental health and well-being in the classroom and make an Emotional Regulation Plan.

Preparation for your charter school audits is year-round but setting up the processes and controls early can save you loads of headaches down the line.

Types of Non-Academic Audits to Prepare for:

  • Yearly financial audit
  • Authorizer scheduled visit
  • Surprise visit/audit (attendance, operational)
  • Internal audits

To prepare for all the above audits, implement internal controls for best in class operational and financial management and audit and surprise visit preparation. Here’s how:

  1. Create clear policies & procedures (… then follow them!)
  2. Define clearly who is responsible for what in their job descriptions
  3. Create physical controls like double signatures and named authorizers, and segmentation of duties (for example: the person handling money is not the one also signing the checks)
  4. Double signatures & authorizers
  5. Segregation of duties—person handling money is not signing checks
  6. Reconcile your bank statements regularly
  7. Make sure to have a backup of financial documentation (binders and electronic files)
  8. Encourage whistleblowers in your organization for non-compliance with processes
  9. Make sure your Governing Board is engaged in an appropriate level oversight
  10. Create binders and electronic files
  11. Regularly self-audit your charter school so you are ready

Preparing for audits can be incredibly intimidating – but it doesn’t have to be!

Join us for a two-part workshop and walk away with powerful tools to improve your school’s operational stability and run at top efficiency. We’ll complete a pre-audit to assess how your school is doing covering all the compliance issues that get missed because they’re pushed to the bottom of your never-ending stack. By the end of these two sessions, you’ll also learn how to save money, generate revenue, set up strategic plans, and reduce risks.

Register for Part 1: Live January 28, 2022, at 10AM PT/ 1PM ET

Register for Part 2: Live February 10, 2022, at 9AM PT/ 1PM ET

Understanding the Five Layers of School Safety

charter school safety
WEBINAR: SECURITY FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS
The Five Layers of School Safety

If you missed this important live presentation, we wanted to make sure that you had an opportunity to watch the slideshow and listen to the recording at your own pace, and when it fits your schedule.
In this webinar, we covered important topics around safety and security for schools, specifically looking at security challenges in charter schools. We were honored to be joined by Gary Sigrist, a nationally known speaker, consultant, author and expert on emergency preparedness. His career spans more than 30 years as an educator, administrator and police officer. His background in both education and law enforcement gives him a unique perspective on safety and preparedness, which he brings to his work with clients of Safeguard Risk Solutions.
Watch this free webinar to learn about school safety measures, emergency planning, threat assessment, and more!


WATCH NOW

 

Digital Marketing for Charter Schools Webinar
Charter school growth requires solid student enrollment and retention programs that position the school for future replication or program growth. Having at least some digital marketing prowess can help you reach and exceed your school’s growth and/or expansion goals. Want to up the digital marketing game for your charter school? Register for our Digital Marketing for Charter Schools webinar on January 30, 2018 (9 am PST| 12 pm EST) to fill your toolbox with some actionable tips as we dive into digital marketing strategies specifically tailored for charter schools.
In this webinar, we’ll cover:

  • Why Digital marketing matters
  • What is Digital Marketing
  • Tactics: The best tools for Charter Schools
  • Resources: Where can you learn more?

You’ll learn: How digital marketing efforts can help your charter schools build a solid digital footprint, different approaches to help develop and maintain your charter school’s reputation, as well as how to leverage marketing to grow student enrollment.
We’ll also provide an overview of the digital landscape, discuss what digital tools are relevant, how best to implement programs, and we’ll cover the various platforms and how to effectively use them to maintain your charter’s reputation and increase awareness.
Join our CMO, Janet Johnson and Sr. Marketing Manager, Stephanie Ristow us as they discuss digital marketing tips for charter schools.
Janet has deep experience in strategic planning, brand management, positioning and go-to-market strategies. She’s run global marketing teams for education technology, cloud automation, and technology (SaaS, enterprise software) companies.
Stephanie manages demand generation programs for Charter School Capital and has spent the duration of her career with big brands like Microsoft, Nike, and WebMD.
You can expect to walk away with digital marketing best practices and new ways to leverage digital platforms for success. We’d love to have you join us!

REGISTER NOW

On Thursday, September 7thSpencer Styles, President and CEO of Charter Impact and Bonnie Bensen, CFO at Fortune School of Education, joined our President and CEO at Charter School Capital, Stuart Ellis, to discuss budget planning best practices for California charter schools.  
There are many challenges involved in operating schools including planning and maintaining school budgets, navigating staggered charter school funding timelines and managing complex cash-flow systems. Our speakers offered best practices for charter school budget planning steps tailored to your school’s stage of growth and also covered budget specifics for California. 
In the three phases of the school growth cycle, the start-up phase involves getting the schools up and running and requires different strategies than any other stage in the lifecycle of the school.
“This [stage] lasts from year zero, when you get your charter, to years two through three. If you’re successful at surviving the start-up phase, which is exceedingly challenging, you get into the area of opportunity that we’re referring to as the growth phase,” explained Stuart Ellis. “During your mature phase (year five or so), you’ll focus on being as efficient as possible so that you can invest more funds and resources back into making the program better and better over time.” 

 
The early challenges in this phase start with getting operational support, which is typically more difficult than expected. 
“Newer charter school leaders tend to come from an educational background and have a vision of how to create and ensure community involvement. Yet many people don’t realize that your financial structure goes through the same kind of growth and change as the instructional program itself,” according to Spencer Styles. 
“You might have a visionary leader who has a wonderful idea for an academic program, but they don’t really understand the actual business of running a charter school.  So it’s really important to get someone on your team, whether it’s an in-house or external person, that can help give you that financial expertise,” added Bonnie Bensen. “Authorizers often cite this as the reason for not approving a charter in the first place, because they don’t meet the criteria for a sound financial plan.” 
When looking at creating your school’s financial structure, funding is one of the things you’ll need to plan for. There are many financial programs available in California that schools can tap into, including these options: 

  • Access to grants, fundraising, and charitable contributions (this is a key aspect of what organizations do to get going) 
  • Revolving loan from CDE serve schools in their first three years – $250K is available directly from the state at a very low cost 
  • Receivable sales – a program that Charter School Capital and other organizations have engaged in, and available at all growth stages 
  • Long-term lease as a way to give 100% financing for facilities (available at all growth stages)
  • Line of credit from a traditional bank or financial institution where the bond market is not typically available (best for schools in startup phase)
  • Bond market (typically only available to schools in the maturity phase, after facilities and operations have been fully funded, because it has many restrictions that restrain the growth of a school in startup mode)

The primary reason the start-up phase is so difficult for schools is that every single area of the organization is scrutinized. The recruitment process for both new staff and students takes up a lot of time and energy. A lot of attention must be given to budget and cash flow in the first year because the timing of payments from the state of California is unusual, typically not coming in October after the school year has started. Financial planning is crucial for many reasons, one being that new schools often have a hard time determining needs versus wants. In the first year of operations, schools will be limited to spending on what they need as opposed to things they want as they grow into sustainability. 
Best practices recommended by Styles and Bensen in this phase include: 

  • Start with a petition budget 
  • Pay close attention to the budget and map to school priorities for the year 
  • Have a plan and show how costs frame the budget proposed 
  • Include all expenses – start with your wish list and then prioritize your budget 
  • Plan for potential surprises 
  • Build a budgeting process to follow annually 

Challenges in the start-up phase often start with the recruitment process and trying to get student enrollment to meet petition targets – this takes up a lot of time and energy. A lot of attention must also be paid to cash and bank balances to account for the timing of California state payments to schools. School leaders also must focus refining and implementing instructional plans that were documented in the school petition, and hiring all staff.  
“If you’re coming from a larger district or more formalized structure, a lot of new petitioners don’t realize that when you start your own charter, you are literally 100% on your own financially,” added Styles. 
If a school is successful at surviving the start-up phase, it moves to the growth phase where schools have the most opportunity for rapid growth. Our Growth Estimator can help show the potential financial impact by calculating how much it will cost to expand and how much value will be added through expansion.  
It’s important to also consider the facility implications when planning school growth. Charter school facilities have unique building requirements and these must be thoughtfully included in the plans for growth. For example, buildings must be structured a way that’s conducive to operating classrooms and have the space to add on grades as the school expands.  
“It’s very disruptive to families to change the school site around. So, the best-case scenario is to find a location that you can be in long term,” said Bensen. 
The best approach for tackling the growth phase is to take the best practices started in the start-up phase and refining them as you grow. Can your facility grow with you? What capital will it take for the facility to accommodate growth? What kind of growth am I aiming for – expansion or replication? 
More best practices to consider in the growth phase: 

  • Start with previous year’s budget rather than estimating 
  • Have solid enrollment projections to build budget needs 
  • Active management of cash flow + 30-day forecasting (visibility into the finances is key for EDs/CEOs of schools) 
  • Understand your AP – some outstanding bills must be paid regularly while others can be negotiated at longer terms (vendor maintenance) 
  • Partner with external service providers or have an experienced team member dedicated to focus on your financials, or both 
  • “Have a solid plan for how you want to grow, stick to your vision, track your data for your enrollment and recruiting, and manage your cash,” advises Bensen. 

Other challenges of operating in the growth phase include: 

  • Maintaining high expectations and being flexible 
  • Matching capital to operational needs 
  • Ensuring access to capital when needed 
  • Baseline budget 
  • Tie budgets to what is proposed – prioritize 
  • Managed growth – continued growth will allow more 

At the sustainable maturity phase, your school is at maximum capacity with the number of students you plan to enroll. This is when school leaders really get to focus on some of the “wants” or the big vision they had in the start-up phase. But it does also bring its own set of challenges, including: 

  • Consistently request input from all stakeholders 
  • Opening schools in new states adds complexity 
  • Stay vigilant – state funding ebbs and flows. Keep the next downturn in the front of your mind and proactively prepare for it. 
  • State finances timing/flow 
  • Prepare for consistent turnover in technology to stay competitive 
  • Think ahead – repairs and replacement fund/preparing for deferred maintenance and major updates 

Best practices in this phase are closely related to the challenges, especially those around targeting cash reserves, vendor management and planning around single year deficits. Others recommended by Styles and Bensen include:  

  • Strategic enrollment = stable growth 
  • Continually monitor process and budgeting 
  • Negotiate with and manage vendors to get the terms  
  • Negotiate with and manage vendors to get the terms that work best for the school 
  • Know your financial target benchmarks and manage to them 
  • Tap into working capital to extend available cash for growth 
  • Target cash reserve to cover any economic downturn 
  • Long term facility requirements and technology needs 
  • Single year deficits – know how to manager these deficit years when they arise (don’t depend on school growth) 

“Financing tools in the market can also be useful to address some of these issues and ensure that you have cash reserves and a fund balance at year end, regardless of what happened from a deficit or surplus standpoint during an individual year,” added Ellis. “That said, the same point that’s being made is about managing your expenses conservatively. Using financing as a one-time boost is valuable but financing a one-time deficit doesn’t work.” 
Our team is ready to walk you through our Growth Estimator based on your school’s needs. Reach out to us at GrowCharters@charterschoolcapital.com to schedule a one-on-one meeting with one of our team members. 
 

JOIN OUR WEBINAR ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7TH 

California charter leaders face a variety of challenges in operating schools including planning and maintaining school budgets, navigating staggered funding timelines and managing complex cash-flow systems. As part of our commitment to support California charter schools, we’ll be hosting a webinar specifically highlighting best practices around these challenges.
Join us Thursday, September 7th at 9:00 a.m. PDT / 12:00 p.m. EDT for a unique webinar on charter school budget planning best practices for California charter schools. You will learn key takeaways including funding streams, budget specifics for California and budget planning steps for your school’s stage of growth. Speakers will include Spencer Styles, President and  CEO  of  Charter Impact, Bonnie Bensen, CFO at Fortune School of Education, and Stuart Ellis, President and CEO of Charter School Capital.   
We’ll share valuable information to help charter leaders understand the challenges and best practices across various charter school growth stages. Our panelists have a wealth of experience and knowledge to share with attendees. In addition, Stuart will walk through our Growth Estimator tool and highlight key information relevant for your school.
Additionally, for those interested in expansion or replication after the webinar, our team will be available to walk through the Growth Estimator one-on-one. You won’t want to miss this great webinar. Register now.

JOIN OUR WEBINAR ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16th!

What’s the latest in digital marketing today for charter schools? How is digital marketing helping benefit your student enrollment and charter school funding efforts? How are you using digital marketing to engage with your school community?
Join us on Wednesday, August 16th at 9:00 a.m. PDT / 12:00 p.m. EDT for an informative webinar featuring a high-level overview of the digital marketing landscape and what key platforms and programs charter leaders can incorporate into marketing efforts. We will also talk about what types of programs will help in brand awareness, community engagement and student enrollment. Speakers will include Kim Brater, our VP of Marketing who will be joined by Michael Barber, Founder of barber+hewitt.
Register today!

New City charter schools students workingCharter schools operating in conflict with local school districts is an issue that’s been around for as long as we have had charter law.  As such, we are reliant on state legislation to make collaboration happen more. The U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program (CSP) has a few key roles in supporting this, they:
 

  •  Strengthen authorization
  • Provide access to facilities and funding
  • Provide enrollment and services for disadvantaged students
  • Support expansion and replication (including ties to low-performing schools).

The Center on Reinventing Public Education’s (CRPE) ongoing research helps track collaboration efforts between charters and district schools across the nation. They recently released a report, “How States Can Promote Local Innovation, Options, and Problem-Solving in Public Education” which covers this topic. Some of the key report findings include:

  • Collaboration is often treated as a “side project” or “forced marriage”
  • Local politics impact incentives and the likelihood of success
  • Cities that do sustain progress are working within local constraints and making smart choices on what to collaborate around

The National Charter School Resource Center recently presented a webinar covering these issues and what organizations like the CSP and CRPE are doing to help. This session included two panelists working with CRPE, Senior Research Analyst Sarah Yatsko and Jordan Posamentier, Deputy Director of Policy. They share their research gleaned from studying the role of collaboration between local district schools and charter schools.
Facilitator Alex Medler, Senior Director of the National Charter Schools Resource Center, led the discussion around three key issues local districts face – state mindset, leveraging funding grants and resolving local district-charter conflicts to clear the path for collaboration.
The overarching focus of the discussion was on the state’s role in collaboration between local districts. When applying for a federal grant, every state is required to explain in their application how they plan to support collaboration, but deciding how to apply funding toward local district-charter collaboration doesn’t usually end up being a high priority.

“Given the competitive nature of school choice, limited education funding and rampant misconceptions on both sides, this is not surprising,” said Medler.

Although the history between charters and traditional district schools has been contentious, things are starting to change. Traditional district schools and charters are increasingly seeing the value in coming together. But the role of the state in fostering cross-sector collaboration is essential.
“The way the state thinks about district-charter relations, problem-solving and collaboration has a trickledown effect to the local level. Without state involvement, kids lose opportunities due to sector divide, sectors resist coming together on their own and need strong leadership to insist on forging ahead despite politically challenging environments. State leaders can influence local tone by adopting mindsets conducive to collaboration. This in turn helps students and their families navigate what are becoming more and more complex choice environments,” explains Posamentier.
In summing up the CRPE’s stance on district-charter collaboration, Yatsko says that we see collaboration as “a necessity, not a nicety.”
Now we see with the growth of the charter sector, in many cities, the charter sector is no longer just a side project that can chug along on its own. It’s become a major part – in some cities over 50 percent of the public educational landscape –  and is no longer something these sectors can efficiently operate without considering the impact one has on the other. So, we see it as a necessity,” highlighted Yatsko.

 
When the state mindset is on collaboration, legislative frameworks and SEA structures get passed down to the local level. In many states (like Georgia, Rhode Island, Massachusetts), they are framing their educational philosophy around personalized learning and really looking at whether or not schools are responding to family need.
According to the report data, looking into state level grants strategically can create positive incentives and capacity for local school leaders. Prioritizing start-up and two-way dissemination grants for both district and charter schools that commit to collaboration is one approach. They can create funding set-asides for cross-sector turnaround partnerships. Arizona and Massachusetts are good examples of states that took opposite approaches to how mindset can affect the local level. In Arizona, it’s a competition-based philosophy where the two sectors are meant to be independent and competing with each other. However, there’s still no collaboration at the local level in Arizona. In Massachusetts, there’s a strong partnership between traditional public schools and charters – in fact, charters were envisioned as the research and development department for the traditional sector and they built dissemination into the charter statute.
States can also encourage collaboration by resolving some tougher local conflicts. These conflicts revolve around two things:

  • Access issues (enrollment, transportation, buildings, safety services)
  • Funding issues (what level of fees should occur between the school and the authorizer)

One outcome is for the state to stipulate this, and direct charter funding from the state versus through the district.
States should consider their own sector neutrality and a “focus on what works” mindset rather than a “who works” mindset. They can also prioritize bilateral learning and strong partnerships in grants and turnaround efforts. It also works to resolve intractable local battles at the state level through legislation. One idea suggested for accomplishing this is to allow for shared test scores when there is school turnaround so that the whole city can claim the wins that the charter can provide. Other ideas toward ensuring that all students move toward improvement: encourage localities to adopt shared performance metrics, get schools to adopt shared enrollment systems, and promote objective standards for local authorizing.
The key takeaway here is that sectors working together locally can help states accomplish big goals toward school improvement and equity. Local collaboration efforts have only taken us so far, but the state can help drive them toward improvement. Effective state involvement in local collaboration requires intention, dedication and political savvy. Yatsko believes that states need to focus on small ways to make collaboration “sticky,” meaning, outlast the leaders involved and become sustainable.

“Interesting examples are in places like Sacramento, CA that didn’t go too far in terms of collaboration, but there was an agreement across districts and charter sectors around the leasing of charter schools and district facilities – it was a one year and changed to a five year lease.”

The CRPE will continue to research and track efforts to increase collaboration between traditional district and charter schools. CRPE team encourages contributions from those who feel their state’s viewpoint is not included in the current research. Reach out to them on their website.
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 JOIN OUR WEBINAR ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 31st!
Charter schools face many challenges during their stages of growth – whether start-up, expansion, or mature stage. It’s important for charter leaders to be prepared for each phase. Our webinar will focus on best practices charter leaders can implement today to help positively impact growth strategies for charter schools.
Join us on Wednesday, May 31st at 10:30 a.m. PDT / 1:30 p.m. EDT with panelists Bonnie Bensen, the CFO of Fortune School, Kapil Mathur, the Executive Director of Orange County Academy of Sciences and Arts, and Stuart Ellis, Charter School Capital’s President and CEO. They’ll be sharing their strategies around growth and replication, funding options specific to each growth stage and lessons learned from other charter school leaders.
REGISTER TODAY!

New City charter schools students workingMany charter leaders around the country joined us on a recent webinar to hear from experts about how Federal and State policies will impact charter schools.
Panel speakers included our President and CEO Stuart Ellis, as well as two of the leading experts on charter school policy and law; Todd Ziebarth, Senior VP of State Advocacy and Support at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and John Cairns, Attorney and Consultant at John Cairns Law.
Looking at the current landscape for charter school policy and law around the country, the general feeling for charter school leaders is that they are in a “wait and see” mode. It is not yet known what the total impact on budget for education will be at the Federal level, or how the new administration’s support of charter schools will impact discussions at the state level around education reform. Ziebarth thinks we’ll know more about how these issues will be approached in the next legislative cycle. This will also impact funding available from government agencies (subsidies or direct grants) as well as the general market.
Meanwhile, momentum with charter school growth continues to gather speed with five states enacting charter school law in 2010. Maine and Washington passed their laws in 2011 and 2012 (respectively), and the unconstitutional ruling in 2015 by the Supreme Court was overturned in 2016. Also, Kentucky enacted their law this year, becoming the 44th state to have charter school law on the books. Charter opponents will continue to show up but this is a common strategy. When new charter laws goes into effect, opponents try to shut them down locally after failing at the legislative level. There is momentum toward passing charter law in five of the six states currently without charter law. Additionally, there has been progress made in states with existing laws, such as lifting caps on charter schools, strengthening school and authorizer accountability and improving facilities support.
In some cases, state legislatures continue to oppose charter school law, so there are some ongoing challenges. In Rhode Island, Illinois, Connecticut, and California there has been some success in pushing back against charter law, cutting funding or eliminating state authorizers.
At the Federal level there are a few key takeaways. Charter schools have a high public profile in the current administration and there are no major changes between the fiscal ’17 and fiscal ’18 budgets. Support for facilities grants remains the same, however specific grants for teacher trainings, after school and summer programs and aid in programs to first-generation and low income students have been cut. The Department of Education federal funding faces a 14% cut which could impact many key programs. Keep in mind, less than 10% of all K-12 funding comes from Federal funds currently.
On the facilities front, the federal government is showing support for facility development, but may pull back on that in the future. The staff person in Washington who oversees this thinks that there won’t be any significant decreases in funding, rather there will be some competition over where that money will get allocated. Rather than spreading the funding out nationwide, he thinks federal will favor funding specific large-scale projects in selected states.
Overall, the federal government is proposing increased charter school funding at roughly $168 million. These funds would help existing schools replicate and new charters start-up. It will also help facilities programs. Updates to federal facilities financing include the Per-Pupil Facilities Aid Program which provides competitive grants to help states administer “per pupil facilities aid” for charter schools. This appears to be the number one priority for most states as they head into legislative sessions to improve facility support for charters.
The progress being made at the state level will continue to build, given the hard work by charter advocates across the country. Charter school leaders will continue to make progress improving state policy environment for charters, such as more facilities support, clearer accountability requirements and enhanced flexibility. At the same time, opponents to charter school law are getting more sophisticated in their anti-charter strategies and tactics. An example of this is pushing legislation that would re-regulate charters through more “transparency.” It’s clear we will continue to see resistance to the charter school movement’s forward momentum.
At this point, the longstanding impact of the new administration is still unknown although typically charter schools have had a lot of support from recent administrations. While the amount of money historically spent by opponents of charter schools to campaign against them has been high, the population of charter schools has continued to grow in spite of it (from 3,000 charter schools 10 years ago to nearly 7,000 charters today). There are more than 3 million students currently attending charter schools today, who are choosing the best public education option to suit their families. The overwhelming desire and high number of students on charter wait lists – more than one million – highlights that families want the choice for the best public education available.
You can view the webinar recording on-demand and access presentation slides here.