Proposal of candidate to meet the needs of the board.  

• Board completion of affiliation/expertise survey for the July meeting

Governance Committee

How do you recruit the right board members? How do you establish each board member’s roles and responsibilities or hold them accountable for fulfilling them?

Your Governance Committee is essential to your board’s overall strength.

The Governance Committee leads your board’s recruiting strategy, leads new board member orientation, organizes your board’s annual retreat, assesses the board’s strengths, and ensures the board receives necessary professional development.

Development Committee

Ensuring that the organization has sufficient funding to meet its charter promises, or support its growth and long-term sustainability, is a vital element of the board’s role.

Your board’s Development Committee assumes the primary responsibility for raising non-grant funds to support the organization’s mission.

Fundraising is a skill and a profession. The board members on this committee should be seasoned development professionals. They should know how to develop and implement a realistic fundraising plan and mentor the other trustees in this area so they might contribute.

Finance Committee

Every charter school is a multimillion-dollar public venture. And financial mismanagement is one of the leading causes of charter school failure. Sound financial oversight is a critically important function for your board.

The Finance Committee works with the CEO and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to create the upcoming fiscal year budget, present budget recommendations to the board, monitor implementation of the approved budget regularly, recommends proposed budget revisions, and recommends policies for the management of the organization’s assets.

A Finance Committee is not a substitute for the full board’s understanding and careful review of the organization’s financial statements and financial health.

This committee should be large enough to bring several different perspectives and a variety of financial skills to the important task of financial oversight. With the proper size, finances will be a strength for your organization.

Academic Excellence Committee

At the heart of every public charter school is a focus on ensuring nothing short of academic excellence for every child.

Your board’s Academic Excellence Committee measures the academic results of the organization against the goals established in your charter, accountability plan, and annual CEO goals.

This means measuring organizational outcomes against stated goals for metrics such as performance on state tests, national standardized tests, or interim assessments.

You might also look at metrics such as attendance, student and staff retention, and family and staff satisfaction surveys.

This committee ensures that the board and CEO share the same vision of academic excellence, that all board members understand the charter’s academic promises, and leads the board in conducting proper oversight of the academic program.

This committee is especially rife with potential pitfalls. Here’s how to avoid them.

CEO Support & Evaluation Committee

Your charter school is led by one person. Though their titles vary widely, we call this person your Chief Executive Officer.

At every stage of your organization’s evolution, the CEO is the linchpin that makes your vision happen.

Whether you’re a single-site school or a growing Charter Management Organization, having the right person in the CEO role, and ensuring they’re fully supported to do the best job possible, is vital.

The board is responsible for hiring (or, when necessary, firing) the right chief executive and providing the support and evaluation that helps your top leader raise the bar each year.

One of the most important functions of any governing board is to effectively select, support, and evaluate the CEO.

Your CEO Support and Evaluation Committee designs and develops the systems and processes that support the board-CEO partnership and help the CEO improve their role. It’s a year-round process and one that we’ve defined for you to follow.

This committee is critical to the health of the whole organization.

And yet, we wouldn’t be surprised to learn that your board hasn’t yet formed one. Or that your committee members feel frustrated and overwhelmed by their roles and responsibilities.