The SCSC Executive Director provided an update on new SCSC staff and intern hires.

SCSC staff will provide a Charter Schools presentation during the State Board of Education (SBOE) retreat in Brasstown Valley on Tuesday morning (October 1). The SCSC is looking forward to facilitating a "Charter Schools 101" session, discussing changes to the commission structure, and providing updates on HB 318 and HB 409. Chairman Dudgeon will present the annual SCSC update to the SBOE, as required each year.

On October 21 to 23, several SCSC staff members will travel to Houston, TX for the 2024 National Association of Charter School Authorizers Conference (NACSACON)

Upcoming SCSC trainings:

• Petitioner Bootcamp – October 9th 
• Petition Platform and Budget Webinar – November 7th

The SCSC Director of Charter Development provided an update on recently approved schools and the post-approval webinar. 

The SCSC Director of Research and Evaluation presented the NACSA authorizer evaluation results.

An action item recommending adopting the revisions to the academic section of the CPF and renewal standards will be presented.

The SCSC met with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government (CVIOG), who isresponsible for the site where schools post their budgets and audits. They have added all our schools to their system which will make it easier for schools to upload required documents. Annually the SCSC will update them on new state charters, so the CVIOG information will be kept current.

FY24 Financial DE46 final upload and FY24 final amended budget DE46 reports with Superintendent sign-off are both due September 30, 2024. FY25 Budget DE46 final upload with Superintendent sign-off due October 31, 2024.

DE46 reports are submitted to GADOE using its portal system. These reports are required, so please ensure your school completes its submission by the deadline and avoids losing points on the Comprehensive Performance Framework for the 2024-2025 school year.

Audit deadline- Audits for FY 2024 (2024-2025 school year) are due to the SCSC by November 1. Governing Board members should receive the audit before it is sent to the SCSC. If the audit is sent directly by the auditor to the SCSC, ensure the highest-level administrator, the Board Chair and Board Treasurer are included in the email.

Grant Completion Reports are due 30 days after the grant award period ends. Since many federal grants awards for federal fiscal year 2024 end September 30, the completion reports will be due to the GADOE October 30. This includes ESSER funds, as a reminder although ESSER grant funds end September 30, reporting for these funds will continue into the foreseeable future.

The FY25 monitoring portals for operation and financial monitoring will close for submissions at 11:59 p.m., October 1, 2024 (next Tuesday). 

The SCSF awarded a new round of CSP subgrants. For the first time in Georgia, SCSF was able to award subgrants to support the expansion of existing high-quality charter schools. Awards include $750,000 for Ethos Classical, $500,000 for the International Charter Academy of Georgia, and $500,000 for Yi Hwang Academy for Language Excellence to support expansions into middle school. We also awarded $500,000 to Amana Academy North, a locally authorized charter school, to support an enrollment cap lift approved by Fulton County Schools.  We will open the application for newly approved charter schools by end of the calendar year. New schools are eligible for up to $1.5 million in grant funds.

The Replication and Expansion Cohort program has commenced with strategic planning services provided by Bellwether. The program will be featured in a session led by Bellwether at the NACSA conference, and the USEd CSP team wants to use the cohort programs as an exemplar for other CSP State Entity grantees. The New School Leadership Fellowship commenced last week. Participants include the leaders from Dominion Purpose Academy, the Wright School, and Simple Vue Academy. The Director of New Schools for Liberty Classical Schools will also participate. 

All CSP activities will continue throughout the transition, and we are working on integrating functions from the SCSF into the new School Support and Outreach Division. 

The SCSC Executive Director provided an update on the new SCSC divisions.