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Home >> FAQ's
Frequently
Asked Questions
What
are charter schools?
What
is going on across the U.S.A. with charter schools?
What is the current status of charter schools
in Oregon?
Why charter schools?
What does the research say about charter
schools?
How does student admissions work?
What does sponsorship mean?
How does charter school governance
work?
How does funding work for charter
schools?
What qualifications do Oregon charter
school teachers have?
How do I start a charter school
in Oregon?
How can the Charter Schools Development
Center help me?
What
are charter schools?
- Charter
schools are independent public schools of choice, open to all
students.
- Charter
schools are supported by public education funds.
- Charter
schools are exempt from many of the rules applicable to traditional
public schools, but must adhere to regulations related to state
academic testing, fiscal audits, civil rights, safety and health.
- Oregon charter
schools may be sponsored by a local school district or, through
appeals, the State Board of Education.
- Charter
schools are accountable to their sponsoring agency and to the
public for producing academic achievement in their students and
for appropriately managing public education funds.
- In Oregon,
charter schools must be operated by a non-profit ([501©(3)],
non-sectarian organization or directly by a school district, through
a contract with a sponsor.
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What
is going on across the U.S.A. with charter schools?
- Forty states,
Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico currently have charter school
laws; each law is different.
- Approximately
4,000 charter schools serve approximately 1,00,000 students across
the country.
- California,
Arizona, Florida, and Texas have the highest numbers of charter
schools.
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What
is the current status of charter schools in Oregon?
- The Oregon
State Legislature passed a charter school law in 1999.
- As
of Fall, 2006, 70 charter schools are operating in Oregon.
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Why
charter schools?
In general:
- Competition:
charter schools add competition within the public school system
which often results in increased performance across all schools.
- Choice:
charter schools offer parents a choice from the traditional public
school system that, in many cases, may not be meeting the needs
of their children.
- Innovation:
charter school leaders can develop more efficient and effective
instructional programs because they have greater flexibility in
selecting their teaching and learning methods, staffing, scheduling,
and class sizes.
- Accountability:
in exchange for their increased autonomy, charter schools must
meet stricter accountability requirements.
In
Oregon, the intent of the charter school law is to:
- Increase
student learning and achievement
- Increase
choices of learning opportunities for students
- Better meet
individual academic needs and interests
- Build stronger
working relationships among educators, parents and other community
members
- Encourage
the use of different and innovative learning methods
- Provide
opportunities in small learning environments for flexibility and
innovation, which may be applied, if proven effective, to other
public schools
- Create new
professional opportunities for teachers
- Create innovative
measurement tools
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What
does the research say about charter schools?
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How
does student admissions work?
- Oregon charter
schools are open to all students; age and grade are the only allowable
admission criteria.
- Students
cannot be charged tuition or any kind of admission fees.
- If a charter
school receives more student applications than it has space for,
an equitable lottery will be used to determine which students
are granted admission.
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What
does sponsorship mean?
- School districts
are the only entities authorized to sponsor charter schools in
Oregon (except through appeals, the State Board of Education may
opt to sponsor a charter school directly).
- Charter
schools operate through a “charter,” which is a contract
between the school and its sponsor that outlines the educational
program, budgets, and other details.
- The term
of the charter (contract) may be between one and five years.
- A charter
may be revoked sooner if a charter school breaks the law, fails
to meet the academic performance goals in its charter or mismanages
funds.
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How
does charter school governance work?
- Charter
schools must be public benefit, non-profit, tax-exempt [i.e.,
501(c)(3)] corporations, with their own boards of directors OR
be directly operated by a public school district
- Charter
schools may not be operated by sectarian/religious organizations.
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How
does funding work for charter schools?
- The state
allocates a specific dollar amount for each student in the public
school system per year. These funds follow the student within
the public school system.
- Local districts
who sponsor a charter (or send students to a charter) pass through
state school support as follows: a minimum of 80% ADMw for K-8
students and 95% ADMw for 9-12 students.
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What
qualifications do Oregon charter school teachers have?
- A minimum
of 50% of teaching and administrative staff in a charter school
must be TSPC-licensed
- All teaching
staff must be registered with TSPC
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How
do I start a charter school in Oregon?
Starting a charter school requires a considerable amount of planning
time prior to opening the school doors. In our experience, successful
charter school developers spend one to two years planning the school's
educational program, facilities, finance, governance and operations,
personnel, and other issues.
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How
can the Charter Schools Development Center help me?
The Charter Schools Development Center (CSDC) is a non-profit charter
school resource center established in 1992. CSDC provides technical
assistance and other information to charter school developers, operators,
charter sponsors and policymakers about Oregon, nationally and internationally.
The Charter Schools Development Center (CSDC) offers training, publications
and other resources. Please see contact us at
(503) 249-3712 orCSDC@chartercenter.orgfor
specific information about all of our services.
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