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

 

TO:	EMSC-VESID Committee
FROM:	Jean C. Stevens
SUBJECT:	Charter School Revisions
DATE:	March 13, 2007
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1 and 2
AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Decision (Consent Agenda)

 

Should the Board of Regents approve the requests to revise the existing charters for the COMMUNITY Charter School (Buffalo), Girl’s Preparatory Charter School of New York (NYC), Harlem Success Academy Charter School (NYC), and Harlem Village Academy Charter School (NYC)? 

 

Reason(s) for Consideration

 

          Required by New York State Education Law §2852.

 

Proposed Handling

 

This question will come before the Regents EMSC-VESID Committee for action on March 19, 2007. 

 

Procedural History

 

New York Education Law §2852(7) provides that revisions of charter school charters shall be made only upon the approval of the charter entity and the Board of Regents in accordance with the provisions of the law applicable to the issuance of  charters themselves.   With respect to charter schools directly chartered by the Board of Regents (“Board”), the Board may either approve a proposed revision or deny it.  With respect to charter schools chartered by other charter entities, the Board may either approve and issue the revisions as proposed by the charter entity, or return the proposed revision to the charter entity for reconsideration with written comments and recommendations.    

 

Background Information

 

We received a request from the COMMUNITY Charter School (Buffalo) and the Harlem Success Academy Charter School (NYC), both Regents-authorized charter schools, to amend their charters.  We have also received a request from the Trustees of the State University of New York to amend the charters for two schools: Girl’s Preparatory Charter School of New York (NYC) and Harlem Village Academy Charter School (NYC).

 

COMMUNITY Charter School:  The COMMUNITY Charter School is located in Buffalo.  In May 2006, the School’s charter was renewed through July 31, 2007.  The charter provides for the School to serve 308 students in grades K-6 for the 2006-07 school year. The School seeks to lower its maximum targeted enrollment for the 2006-07 school year to 280.  Staff recommend the Regents approve the proposed revision to the School’s first renewal charter.

 

          Harlem Success Academy Charter School: The Harlem Success Academy Charter School is located in Harlem.  The initial charter for the School was granted on January 10, 2006. The School seeks to modify its enrollment configuration. Granted approval, the charter school would accept one additional class of kindergarten students. To accommodate this growth through the term of the charter, the School’s total enrollment would, on average, increase by 8.5% each year. (See Attachment 1 for comparative enrollment charts.) The School seeks this change to prepare for anticipated attrition, to prevent cuts to sports and arts programs, and to permit a greater number of students to attain the academic foundation provided by Success for All, in particular KinderRoots. As indicated in its charter, the School will continue to admit and to fill seats with students in kindergarten through grade two.  Staff recommend the Regents approve this proposed revision to the School’s initial charter.         

 

Girls Preparatory Charter School of New York:  The Girls Preparatory Charter School of New York is located in Manhattan.  The initial charter for the School was granted in March 2004.  The School seeks a waiver of its charter restriction that prevents more than 40% of the School’s Board from being affiliated with any single entity so that all school Trustees may be affiliated with Friends of Girls Preparatory Charter School, Inc, a tax-exempt, not-for-profit corporation. To ensure the independence of the charter school’s Board of Trustees, SED requires that “Trustees, officers, employees, agents or any other persons having a personal or business relationship with any single organization shall hold no more than 40 percent of total seats comprising the Board.”  Staff found no compelling evidence for the need for this school to exceed this limit.  Staff recommend the Regents return this proposed revision to the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York for reconsideration.

 

Harlem Village Academy Charter School:  The Harlem Village Academy Charter School is located in Harlem.  The initial charter for the School was granted in September 2002. The charter provides for the School to serve 241 students in grades K-6 for the 2006-07 school year. The School seeks to lower its maximum targeted enrollment for the 2006-07 school year to 200 due to constraints in facility space.  Staff recommend the Regents approve this proposed revision to the School’s initial charter.

 

Complete copies of the current charters and materials pertaining to the requested revisions to the charters are available from James C. Viola at (518) 474-4817 and Shelia Evans-Tranumn at (718) 722-2796.

 

Recommendations

 

Staff recommends that the Board of Regents take the following action:

 

VOTED:  That the Board of Regents approve the revision to the first renewal charter of the COMMUNITY Charter School, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.

 

VOTED:  That the Board of Regents approve the revision to the initial charter of the Harlem Success Academy Charter School, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.

 

VOTED:  That the Board of Regents return the proposed revision to the initial charter of the Girls Preparatory Charter School of New York to the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York for reconsideration, and with the following comments and recommendations:  That the proposed revision raises concerns regarding the independence and autonomy of the charter school and its Board of Trustees, and should be abandoned.

 

VOTED: That the Board of Regents approve the revision to the initial charter of the Harlem Village Charter School as proposed by the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.

 

Reasons for Recommendation

 

That the revisions to the charters of the above schools directly chartered by the Board of Regents, (together with the other terms of their charters) (1) will 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 schools 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

 

Upon approval by the Board of Regents, the above actions will become effective immediately.

 

 

Attachment 1

 

Harlem Success Academy Charter School

Enrollment Plan

 

Enrollment per approved charter
	06-07	07-08	08-09	09-10	10-11
K	80	80	80	80	80
1	75	80	80	80	80
2		75	80	80	80
3			75	80	80
4				75	80
5					75
	155 Note: For the 2006-2007 school year, HSCS will accept 165 students.	235	315	395	475
Revised enrollment plan
	06-07	07-08	08-09	09-10	10-11
K	80	105	105	105	105
1	85	75	105	105	105
2		75	75	105	105
3			70	70	100
4				65	65
5					50
	155 Note: For the 2006-2007 school year, HSACS will accept 165 students.	255	355	420	530