Announcements

We welcome the following new board members:

• Dr. Cayanna Good, Commissioner Representative - Assistant Commissioner of Adult Education, Technical College System of Georgia
• Dr. LeKeisha Jackson - Senior Advisor and Senior Research Associate, Georgia State University
• Mr. Michael Smith - CEO of the Greater Valdosta United Way

Team members from Tybee Island Maritime Academy will share their experience from the Charter Growth Initiative's Replication and Expansion Cohort program and their plans for replication. They will also tell us about their unique educational model, plans for growth, and ways the SCSF and others can support them.

Peter Ulrich, Principal

Laura Solomon, Director of Growth and Planning

An evaluation committee comprised of members from the SCSF, SCSC, and GaDOE makes the following recommendation for a contract to provide technical assistance for the Replication and Expansion Cohort Program for the CSP Grant. 

1. Implementation Support - $80,000

The Executive Committee previously approved a subcontract with a bidder who declined to execute the contract. The current recommendation is for the 2nd highest bidder, who has demonstrated a willingness and ability to overcome concerns presented by the evaluation committee. 

Note: Since the contract falls under the threshold requiring board approval, the President & CEO executed the contract in the interest of time. This vote is held for transparency and oversight purposes.

Michele Neely will give an update on the Georgia Strategic Charter School Growth Initiative (Charter Growth Initiative). 

The GEER II grant expired on September 30, 2023. The SCSF expended $4,088,455.72 during the grant term. 

• $2,716,525.93 in subgrants to 12 charter schools/networks
• Two cohort programs serving 9 charter schools/networks
• New charter school website and public information campaign; water bottles, yard signs, car magnets, and t-shirts distributed to charter schools across Georgia and community events
• 99.9% utilitization of grant funds (balance of $4,044.28 to be returned)
• Onsite monitoring of subgrantees this month

CSP State Entity Grant

• All required approvals from USEd.
• New School Leader Fellowship in progress - Excelsior Village Academy, Miles Ahead, The Anchor School, Sankofa Montessori (including Year 1 schools)
• Replication and Expansion Cohort program in progress - Liberty Classical Schools, Spring Creek Charter Academy, International Charter Academy of Georgia, Chattahoochee Hills Charter School
• Currently reviewing subgrant applications (Expansions: SAIL, Scintilla; Replications: GSIC, Utopian-Trilith; New Schools: Excelsior Village Academies, Sankofa, Anchor School); held subgrant applicant webinar (30 attendees) and opened new SCSF Grant Portal (The recording from the webinar is available here as well as both of our websites. A Federal Programs Training webinar Michele cohosted is located here.) The RFA is attached. Received interest from 86 possible application reviewers. 

Michele Neely will provide a mini-training on Georgia's charter schools, using the Charter School 101 presentation developed for community events through the Charter School Growth Initiative.

GEER II - We have received all reimbursements and advance payments for the GEER II grant, totaling nearly $4.1 million. The grant term has expired. We utilized 99.9% of funds and awaiting instructions for returning the last $4,000.

CSP - The SCSF has been awarded $38,295,000 by the U.S. Dept. of Education for the Charter Schools Program State Entity program to continue and expand the Charter Growth Initiative. Our budget has been approved, and we have drawn a total of $312,194.78, to cover operational and program expenses through the end of calendar year 2023. Once subgrants have been awarded, we will request funds to support the subgrants.

Operational support - We entered into an FY2024 contract with the SCSC for $132,500 to support our operational expenses. We have received $62,000 so far.

Grants & fundraising - We received a $10,000 grant from the Next Generation Foundation (Bradley Turner) for book vending machines. We received a $2,500 grant from the Georgia Power Foundation for books for the machines. We made $1,452 for general operating funds from Donuts for Teachers. General donations totaled $2,013.44.

Program activities since October board meeting:

• Administered the SCSF’s first CSP subgrant application round (7 schools/networks applied), now working through the review process
• Assisted in distributing 1400+ microscopes to 15 schools across the state
• Connected greater Atlanta schools with registration information for 2 laptop giveaway events
• Connected 2 schools (Miles Ahead Charter School and PEACE Academy) with free coding programs for the spring semester
• Continuing to offer free courses on inclusive education for schools (10 schools have registered)
• Continuing weekly school newsletters and monthly technical assistance office hours
• Distributed miscellaneous school supply donations to Georgia Connections Academy (statewide virtual school) to enhance their “in-person” days
• Distributed slime donations to Coweta Charter Academy for their new STEM lab
• Maintaining the FindaGaCharter site and encouraging schools to update their profiles
• Participating in the 2024 Atlanta School Choice Expo and promoting FindaGaCharter.org (Jan. 20)
• Partnered with GeorgiaCAN and GCSA at a charter school town hall event in Royston, GA
• Setting up materials for the 2024 Art of Connection: Exhibition of Student Art
• Sold 301 dozen donuts through Donuts for Teachers, giving 245 dozen donuts to all operational state charter schools
• Visited 2 schools (International Charter Academy of Georgia and Amana Academy West Atlanta) with the Book Wagon, giving around 300 books to students
• Organizing a webinar for schools about navigating strategic planning and consulting services
• Michele presented two sessions at the SCSC Governance Training and will present at the next two sessions on community engagement and fundraising. She will give a presentation on staffing at charter schools for New Schools Orientation this month.