Several significant changes to the rules surrounding growth and expansion as well as charter school application and waitlist requirements have come about as the result of legislation passed in the recent 86th legislative session. TCSA has been working with TEA charter division staff to provide schools with the most up to date information to be presented in two important conference breakout sessions.
On Tuesday, October 29th TEA charter division staff will present SB 668 - New Growth and Expansion Rules for Charter Schools (2:00 p.m. Grand RS). SB 668 alters the existing charter school expansion rules and allows charter holders to provide written notice of a new open-enrollment charter school up to 18 months before the date on which the campus is anticipated to open. This session will provide an overview of these new requirements and what charters should plan to do going forward if they are considering expansion. In addition, the TEA charter division staff will discuss the upcoming CSP grant available to schools looking to expand.
Immediately following at 3:15 in the same breakout room, TEA staff will present HB 2293 - The New Statewide Common Application and Waitlist Reporting Requirements for Charters. Significant changes are ahead in the way that charter schools enroll students. HB 2293 mandates that when charter schools recruit students, they will be required to direct their families to fill out the common charter school application posted on TEA’s website. In addition, charters will begin the process of submitting waitlist data to TEA. This session will provide a comprehensive overview of these major changes in the ways charters enroll students.
Time will be provided in both sessions for participants to ask questions. Come early – we expect these sessions to be full. With that, we are making arrangements to videotape these sessions for inclusion in our training portal.
Speaking of our training portal, did you know that all of our on-demand courses are now available free to TCSA member schools? Now schools can have the convenience of high-quality, 24/7 on-demand training at no cost. Do you need help in registering board members or staff or don’t know what courses to register for? Look for “Special Offer” icons next to many of the courses. These will connect you to a course bundle that will allow you to register your board members and administrative staff for required courses with just a few clicks. If you have any questions or are interested in live training to meet Commissioner Credit hour requirements, please reach out to Dr. Bruce Marchand, TCSA VP of Member Services.
