Some areas of charter school


oversight are easy to overlook. Here are a few practical tips for ensuring you meet your legal and moral obligations,


and your charter schools are “delivering the goods.”


C


alifornia has more charter schools – more than 900 oper- ating entities – than any other state in the nation. This number


is predicted to grow. Exponentially. Corre- spondingly, it is imperative to see exponen- tial growth in our commitment to provide excellent oversight to our charter schools. As public schools, charters are funded


by tax dollars. For this reason, the charter authorizer has a fiduciary responsibility to provide strong oversight, ensuring funds are properly allocated to fulfill the school’s mission. Beyond dollars, there is the moral mandate to ensure that charter schools en- hance student learning. Typical and appropriate oversight ques-


tions include, “Are students learning? What evidence demonstrates academic advance- ment?” What evidence suggests that all stu- dents have access to the education program, including students with special needs?” When accountability questions are asked


of and answered by the charter oversight au- thorities, we are in the best position to tell the taxpayers that these “incubators for educa-


30 Leadership


tional innovation” are delivering the goods. The charter authorizer – the entity that


approved the charter – is responsible for its oversight. Almost all charter schools in Cali- fornia are locally approved by either a school district governing board or a county board of education. This legal responsibility is tied to an authorizer’s liability for the charter school. Oversight is crucial. Despite noting basic guidelines for the


oversight process, the Education Code does not proffer much insight as to how authoriz- ers should carry out oversight. The autho- rizer must be savvy with regard to oversight implementation. Additionally, school board members have an obligation to the students in their district to ensure they are receiving a quality education. The process of authorizing includes sev-


eral components. First is the approval of the charter to petitioners that have presented an innovative and complete petition. The sec- ond component is oversight, including the


By Stephanie Medrano Farland


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