Renewal Protocol

This document was developed in partnership with NACSA and carries a Creative Commons license, which permits noncommercial re-use of content when proper attribution is provided. This means you are free to copy, display and distribute this work, or include content from this report in derivative works, under the following conditions:

Attribution You must clearly attribute the work to the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, and provide a link back to the publication at

Noncommercial You may not use this work for commercial purposes, including but not limited to any type of work for hire, without explicit prior permission from NACSA.

Share Alike If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one.

For the full legal code of this Creative Commons license, please visit If you have any questions about citing or reusing NACSA content, please contact us.

INTRODUCTION

As part of its Knowledge Core, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) publishes a Core Charter School Renewal Application and Guidance document that provides authorizers(termed “sponsors” in Oregon) with practical guidance for instituting a rigorous, transparent, and timely renewal process aligned to national standards for high quality authorizing. The renewal guidance is intended to be useful for authorizers ofall sizes and agency types, but sponsors should adapt it to fit their own needs and circumstances.

This memorandum offers specific guidance for Oregon sponsors who wish to adapt the renewal guidance for their use.Some components of the renewal guidance are essential practices, aligned to NACSA’s Principles & Standards for Quality Charter School Authorizing, and should not be removed or substantively modified. Other elements should be reviewed and revised locally.

The following informationis intended to guide Oregon sponsors as they seek to adapt the renewal guidance to institute a process that is aligned to national standards while alsomeeting local requirements.

ELEMENTS INCLUDED IN NACSA’S CORE RENEWAL RESOURCE

NACSA’s Core Charter School Renewal Application and Guidance document is a practical tool for sponsors wishing to institute a renewal process that is aligned to national professional standards. The resource includes:

-A brief introduction

-A description of the essential stages of any high quality renewal process

-Details about essential components of a high quality renewal process (i.e. renewal performance report and renewal application)

-A sample renewal process timeline

-NACSA’s model renewal application

The renewal guidance does not include sample renewal criteria or a sample performance report–both of which are essential components of any high quality renewal process, but which must be specific to the local sponsor. Renewal criteria–or the standards of performance required for renewal–should refer explicitly to the sponsor’s performance framework, and should be established in the sponsor’s charter contract. A performance report is a sponsor’s analysis of aschool’sperformance against an established performance framework or renewal criteria. General guidance for establishing both components is discussed below as part of a set of recommendations for Oregon sponsors who seek to adapt the renewal guidance. NACSA also publishes a Core Performance Framework and Guidance document that provides more detailed information on how to develop a performance framework, and the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) has developed a model Oregon performance framework.

OREGON STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS

ORS§338.065 sets forth the state charterlaw’s requirements for charter renewal. Sponsors should be familiar with the charter law, but a summary of the relevant tenets related to execution of NACSA’s core renewal guidance follows:

-The initial charter shall be in effect for no more than five years; the first renewal shall be for the same time period; subsequent renewals shall be for a minimum of five years and maximum of ten years (§338.065(4));

-The renewal process shall follow statutory guidelines, including: (a) a charter school shall submit a written renewal request to its sponsor at least 180 days prior to expiration of the charter; (b) the sponsor shall hold a public hearing regarding the renewal within 45 days of receipt of the written renewal request; (c) within 30 days of the public hearing the sponsor shall approve the renewal or state in writing the reasons for denial; (d) if approved, the sponsor and the school board shall negotiate a new contract within 90 days of the date on which the sponsor renewed the charter (§338.065(5)).

-A sponsor shall base the charter renewal decision on a good faith evaluation of whether the public charter school is in compliance with ORS 338 and all other applicable state and federal laws; is in compliance with its charter; is meeting or working toward meeting the student performance goals and written agreements between the sponsor and its board; is fiscally stable and has used the sound financial management system described in its application; andis in compliance with any renewal criteria specified in its charter (§338.065(8)(a)).

-The sponsor shall base the renewal evaluation (described above) primarily on a review of a school’s annual performance report, annual audit of accounts, annual site visit and review, and any other information mutually agreed upon by the school and the sponsor(§338.065(8)(b)).

ADAPTING NACSA’s CORE RENEWAL RESOURCE FOR USEIN OREGON

The following are recommendations for leveraging NACSA’s renewal guidanceto develop a sponsor-specific renewal process and components:

Recommendation 1: Establishtransparent renewal process requirements.

NACSA’s renewal guidance identifiesseveral essential stages of a high quality renewal process: 1) a comprehensive report of school performance over the charter term prepared by the sponsor for the school’s review; 2) a renewal application submitted by the school; 3) additional due diligence required to fully assess the school’s performance not already gathered through the performance report and renewal application; 4) a renewal recommendation report prepared for the school’s and the sponsor board’s review; 5) a public hearing prior to the sponsor’s decision to renew or non-renew; and finally, 6) a decision by the sponsoring entity to renew or non-renew (page 3).These stages overlap considerably with Oregon statutory requirements.An Oregon sponsor’s renewal process might look as follows:

Recommendation 2: Establish a renewal timeline.

Once a renewal process is finalized, sponsors should establish a renewal timeline. NACSA’s renewal guidance includes a sample renewal timeline (page 6)that can be further modified to align with §338.065(5). The followingtable takes the first step inadapting NACSA’s sample renewal timeline to Oregon process and timeline requirements from §338.065:

Renewal Stage / Purpose / Sample Date / Recommendation or Requirement
Release Renewal Application and Criteria / Provide schools and the public with transparent expectations for renewal decision-making. / April 1 / Early spring of the year prior to contract expiration
Renewal orientation conducted with Boards of Directors and School Leaders of each school up for renewal in the coming year / Explain the elements of the renewal process and set expectations regarding requirements and timeline / May-June / Late spring of the year prior to contract expiration
Preliminary renewal performance report provided to each school up for renewal / Establish a record based on the cumulative evidence of school performance in relation to expectations set by the performance framework and included in the charter contract / July 1 of year prior to expiration of charter
Renewal application due / Provide an opportunity for schools to formally request renewal; submit comments and factual corrections to the renewal performance report; and present plans for a new charter term / October 15 of year prior to expiration of charter / 180 days prior to expiration of charter
Conduct site visits or other supplemental evidence gathering / Gather supplemental evidence of school performance and compliance to inform renewal recommendation / October of year prior to expiration of charter
Renewal recommendations and public hearing / Following analysis by a team of experts, sponsor staff should assemble recommendations and present to the schools and board for discussion and public comment / November 15 of year prior to expiration of charter / Within 45 days of receipt of the written renewal request
Charter school renewal decisions / Sponsor to make decisions to renew or non-renew and communicate decisions to families and other stakeholders / December 10 of year prior to expiration of charter / Within 30 days of public hearing
Contract negotiations / Establish the terms for the next charter contract / By March 1 / Within 90 days of the date on which the sponsor renewed the charter

To finalize the timeline, each Oregon sponsor should review the dates to ensure their relevance and workability within its jurisdiction, taking into account other important dates and duties on its sponsorship calendar. As emphasized in NACSA’s guidance, if the sponsor modifies dates, it is critically important that the process (including the potential for appeals) culminate in a manner that accounts for schools and families knowing as early as possible whether their school will be open the following year.

Recommendation 3: Establish renewal criteria.

Before instituting a renewal evaluation process, Oregon sponsors must establish transparent, rigorous criteria on which to base renewal decisions. Criteria ensure merit-based decision-making in alignment with NACSA’s Principles & Standards for Quality Charter School Authorizing, which says, “A quality authorizer does not make renewal decisions…on the basis of political or community pressure or solely on promises of future improvement” (page 20).

Renewal criteria should be specifically related to whether or how well a school meets performance expectations established by each sponsor’s performance framework defined in charter contracts. Specifically, a framework should have comprehensive indicators of academic, organizational, and financial performance, and the charter contract should identify performance expectations against those indicators. NACSA’s renewal guidance does not offer renewal criteria, as they are so specific to each sponsor’s own frameworks and requirements. However, NACSA’s Core Performance Frameworks and Guidance does guide authorizers through the process of developing a performance framework, and ODE has developed a model Oregon performance framework.To establish renewal criteria, sponsors should define how a school’s performance against the performance frameworktargetsimpacts renewal recommendations. For instance, a sponsor might require that a school meet academic performance expectations in each year of the charter term in order to earn renewal.Renewal criteria should be defined in a school’s charter contract so that a school facing renewal knows with fairly strong certainty, at any given time, whether its performance against established expectations constitutes a recommendation for renewal or non-renewal.

It is worth noting that Oregon statute requires that a sponsor base its charter renewal decisions on specific academic, financial, and organizational requirements outlined in ORS 338 and “a review of the public charter school’s annual performance reports, annual audit of accounts and annual site visit and review as required by ORS 338.095 and any other information mutually agreed upon by the public charter school governing body and the sponsor” (§338.065 (8)(b)). Sponsors should ensure that their performance frameworks and related renewal criteria sufficiently address all legal renewal requirements.

Recommendation 4: Develop a renewal performance report template.

NACSA’s renewal guidance does not include a template for a renewal performance report, however it does provide guidance related to the purpose of the document and its essential parts. In summary, the renewal performance report should include a summary of the school’s performance record over the charter term (aligned to a sponsor’s performance framework/renewal criteria) and state the sponsor’s findings concerning the school’s prospects for renewal. NACSA recommends that sponsors provide annual reports to schools that summarize a school’s performance against expectations each year, and the renewal performance report is more or less a consolidation of all of the documentation from annual reports. The sponsor should provide the renewal performance report to each school in advance of the school submitting a renewal application so that the school’s renewal application can focus on responding to the record of performance and submitting any corrected or supplemental information related to the renewal criteria. Sponsors should review the guidance regarding performance reports in NACSA’s renewal guidance (page 4) and develop a template that meets their needs.

Recommendation 5: Review NACSA’s model renewal application and revise as necessary.

NACSA’s model renewal application, included on pages 9-16 ofthe renewal guidance document, is a strong starting pointon which to build an Oregon-specific renewal application. The model applicationrequires school contact information and signatures; basic enrollment and demographic data; an analysis of its academic, financial, and organizational performance against respective performance frameworks during the previous charter term (including any supplementary evidence that the sponsor may not have);and an opportunity to discuss plans over the next charter term, including a request for material modification(s). The application should address the renewal requirements in ORS 338.068 for sponsors’ good faith evaluation of specific areas of school performance and compliance.

NACSA recommends that sponsors review the model application and make necessary revisions to ensure its alignment with material terms; legal and compliance requirements; and academic, organizational, and financial performance standards contained in schools’ charter contracts. The renewal application should focus on a school’s response to the sponsor’s evaluation of the school’s performance against expectations (captured in the renewal performance report), rather than on a school’s promises of future improvement.

Recommendation 6: Share renewal process requirements and criteria with schools.

Once Oregon sponsors establish a comprehensive renewal process, addressing all of the elements described above, they should prioritize educating schools, school governing boards, and school stakeholders about renewal requirements and expectations. At a minimum, all materials should be made easily accessible to schools through each sponsor’s website. As indicated in the draft timeline, above, sponsors should provide a copy of the renewal application and guidelines to each school facing renewal in the spring of the year prior to the expiration of their contract and should consider hosting an orientation to provide furtherexplanation and address any questions.