Welcome to the Board! 

• 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

Formal Board training to follow. There is another additional member that is being considered for the Fundraising committee

Michele Neely gave 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% utilization 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's mini-training on Georgia's charter schools, using the
Charter School 101 presentation developed for community events through the Charter
School Growth Initiative, postponed until next board meeting

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