Reducing the charter school leader learning curve
September 2nd, 2010 8:00 am MT
By Doug Hering, Colorado Charter Schools Examiner
In my job, I get to see a lot of charter schools--some are clients, some are friends, some are acquaintances, and some I barely get introduced to. The one thing that I've seen changing in Colorado is a real emphasis on getting charter school founders to understand the pitfalls and challenges before they have their application approved. The process seems to have improved over the past few years.
Still, I meet people who want to found schools with interesting approaches to running a school. Some want to start really small. They value small class sizes and small overall school size. They want to start small so that they can refine their model as they grow. The problem they face is that their start up budgets rarely work. They have to cut and cut to get a break even budget. Often they cut services that I know they need.
Others project student enrollment that is achievable, but a real reach. The problem they face is that if they do not make their enrollment numbers, they struggle because every student not enrolled requires a relatively painful budget cut. If the school ends up 20 students short, the school faces drastic cuts.
In Colorado, the department of education schools of choice unit has done a good job of providing start up schools with information, and the Colorado League of Charter Schools provides a detailed review of applications to try to drive out these weaknesses in initial budget projections. In addition, board members are required to take a series of exams in order for a school to continue to receive federal start up grant funding.
In my recent experience with both young schools and with schools wanting to open, I wonder if founding board members should have to go through that series of exams before they apply for a charter. This would greatly reduce the learning curve that happens after the school opens.
