NN4DA Webinar on Federal Charter School Program Changes: New Opportunities to Support State Efforts to Strengthen Charter School Authorizing

The Biden Administration recently released final rules related to the Federal Charter School Program (CSP). Now that the dust has settled, the final rules provide opportunities for people working in their states who are interested in strengthening charter school authorizing. Those applying for new CSP grants under the State Entity (SE) program are now required to explain activities they have conducted to improve charter school authorizing. According to the new rules, “an applicant must demonstrate that the State entity has taken steps to ensure that all authorized public chartering agencies implement best practices for charter school authorizing.” If funded, they must also invest a portion of their grant into activities that strengthen charter school authorizing.

The National Network for District Authorizing (NN4DA) is hosting a webinar to discuss this opportunity on Thursday, July 21, at 10:00 AM Pacific/1:00 pm Eastern. You can register for this event here.

The SE program is the state-administered program that provides start-up grants to new, expanding, or replicating charter schools. Applications for the SE grant competition are due on August 5. State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Charter Support Organizations (CSOs) are currently drafting their applications. These grants will require each state to invest 7% of the grant on state-level activities to support the quality charter schools, and this investment is now required to include strategies focused on authorizing.

As SEAs and CSOs write new grant applications this month, the people and groups that have been working to convene district authorizers and to support their important work, now have an opportunity to propose partnerships that could advance efforts in many states in the coming years.

The current state associations of the NN4DA in California, Colorado, and Florida, have each partnered with their respective SEA on important work to strengthen authorizing. These activities were underwritten by the SE grants their states won in previous competitions.

This webinar will provide an opportunity to learn about the changes to the CSP. We will focus on the implications of the requirement that SE applicants describe how they will use the funds to strengthen authorizing. Learn about the work of state partnerships that CCAP, CACSA, and FACSA have pursued thus far, and discuss how the people, groups, and initiatives in your state could use these resources.

If you cannot make this call, or if you have any questions, feel free to reach me directly, or contact Tom or Melissa. Additional resources are available below providing more background on this opportunity.

Alex Medler

NN4DA Governing Council Governing Council Chair and ED of CACSA

Presenters: 

Alex Medler, Alex.Medler@coauthorizers.org
Melissa Brady, Melissa.Brady@coauthorizers.org
Tom Hutton, Tom.Hutton@calauthorizers.org

Resources:

• NACSA webinar on the CSP changes
• CACSA Update Describing Final Rules
• ED Fact sheet on changes;
• ED Document with full description of changes and the rationale for each change
• Blog summarizing the Department’s perspective, from the CSP Program Director.

Register for the Webinar Here