Meeting of the Board of Regents | February 2009

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

 

TO:
FROM:	Johanna Duncan-Poitier
SUBJECT:	Charter Schools: Proposed First Revision to the Initial Charter for New York Center for Autism Charter School
DATE:	January 30, 2009
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1 and 2
AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Decision

 

Should the Regents approve the staff’s recommendation concerning the proposed first revision to the initial charter for New York Center for Autism Charter School (New York City)?

 

Reason(s) for Consideration

 

              Required by State statute, Education Law §2852.

 

Proposed Handling

 

This question will come before the EMSC Committee in February 2009 for action.  It will then come before the full Board for final action in February 2009.

 

Procedural History

 

The New York Charter Schools Act of 1998 requires the Board of Regents to review, in accordance with the standards set forth in Education Law §2852(2), proposed charters, renewal charters and revisions to charters and renewal charters that have been approved and submitted by other charter entities.  The Board of Regents may either approve and issue a charter, renewal charter and/or revision as proposed by the charter entity, or return the same to the charter entity for reconsideration with written comments and recommendations. 

The Board must act on a proposed revision submitted by the Chancellor of the city school district of the city of New York or other school district within 90 days of its submission or the proposed revision will be deemed to have been approved and issued by operation of law at the expiration of that period.

 

If the Board chooses to return the proposed revision to the Chancellor or school district, as the chartering entity, with comments and recommendations, the Chancellor or the school district must reconsider the proposed revision, taking into consideration the comments and recommendations of the Board.  The Chancellor or the school district may resubmit the proposed revision to the Board without modification, resubmit the proposed revision with modifications agreed to by the applicant in writing, or abandon the proposed revision. 

 

If the Chancellor or the school district resubmits a proposed revision to the Board, the Board may, within 90 days of resubmission, either approve or again return the proposed revision to the Chancellor or to the school district for modification.  There is no limit to the number of times the Board can return a resubmitted proposed revision to the Chancellor or to a school district.

 

Background Information

 

We received a request from the Chancellor of the city school district of the city of New York to revise the charter for the New York Center for Autism Charter School (NYCACS or “the School”). The School seeks to revise the executive director job description; eliminate the director of education position; and add the chief financial officer position.  The organizational structure at NYCACS has historically followed a co-director model with an executive director and a director of education overseeing all non-academic, administrative staff and all academic staff respectively.  The revision shifts responsibility for overseeing academic staff and all non-academic, administrative staff to the executive director.  The chief financial officer position is being created to administer the School’s financial operations, pursuant to the School’s existing controls and procedures.

 

              The School is located in Community School District (CSD) 4, Manhattan.  The New York City Department of Education (“NYCDOE”) held a public hearing in CSD 4 on Thursday, January 8, 2009 regarding the proposed revision.  There were no comments from the public.

             

Recommendation

 

VOTED:   That the Board of Regents approves the revision to the initial charter of the New York Center for Autism Charter School as proposed by Chancellor of the city school district of the city of New York, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.

 

 

Reasons for Recommendation

 

              The proposed revisions to the School’s charter, along with the other terms of the charter: (1) meet the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules and regulations; (2) will permit the charter school to operate in an educationally and fiscally sound manner; and; (3) are 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.

 

Timetable for Implementation

 

The Regents action for New York Center for Autism Charter School will be effective immediately.