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Several charter schools within the District 861 boundaries will likely be looking for new sponsors after district officials indicated they will be getting out of the sponsorship business.
The district currently sponsors Bluffview Montessori and Ridgeway Learning Community and was recently asked to sponsor Dakota Community School.
But new state regulations governing sponsors, otherwise known as authorizers, of charter schools leave administrators wondering who will do the work and if the compensation will be enough to justify it.
Under the new requirements the district could collect about $5,000 per school for overseeing their charter operation, but new mandates also require much deeper involvement in schools than annual meetings and monthly reports.
Any entity authorizing a charter school now will be responsible for overseeing academic performance, compliance with state and federal laws, board operations and compliance with open meeting laws, among other things.
Academic Affairs Director Scott Hannon has been the administrator working with Bluffview and Ridgeway in the past, but the board is entertaining a budget cutting proposal that would eliminate Hannon’s responsibility and leave no one to perform the extra duties.
Board members said Thursday they are inclined to end the sponsorship relationships rather than absorb the new duties, but for Ridgeway that determination creates a much more urgent situation than for Bluffview.
Ridgeway’s authorizer agreement with the district comes due this fall, meaning the district would have to complete paperwork by March 31 in order to continue.
If the district does not extend the relationship, Ridgeway officials will need to scramble to find a new public body or nonprofit willing to sign on before March 31 or risk losing their charter.
Ridgeway official Jodi Dansingburg told the board that the exceedingly short timeframe for making authorizer decisions was created by a delay at the Minnesota Department of Education in distributing information to charters. That delay, she said, may lead to legislative action that grants extensions to charter schools left with little time to make arrangements if current sponsors don’t continue the arrangement.
Districts across the state widely sponsored charters when they first appeared on the landscape, Superintendent Paul Durand said, but many are now finding it not in their best interest and are pulling back, particularly with the new regulations at hand.
Bluffview’s contract with the district is not up until next fall, giving them a year to make other arrangements if the board votes to not renew.
Board members were concerned about damaging the district’s relationship with the charters, noting that they funnel many secondary students to the district.
When asked about the likelihood that Ridgeway would be forced to close if it couldn’t find a sponsor, Dansingburg said it wasn’t likely. “In theory it’s possible,” she said. “But I can assure you I’d do everything I could to find an authorizer.”
The decision to sponsor or not is not personal, board members said, but more of a practical matter for the district as it faces budget cuts and reduced staffing.
Board member Greg Fellman noted that under any circumstances he would question sponsoring Dakota Community School because such a high percentage of its students go on to school in La Crescent. But he wondered aloud if there was any way to use the $10,000 from Ridgeway and Bluffview to pay someone exclusively to oversee them. “Maybe we could contract out. Maybe we could find a retired teacher or administrator to do the work for the money,” he said.
Hannon said the majority of the work to become an authorizer is in an upfront application the district would have to complete. In that application, he said, the district would have to demonstrate its plan for oversight, and while some of it could be replicated between the applications it did present significant extra work.
Board members were interested in more information about how many districts were ending their sponsorship agreements, but also acknowledged Ridgeway needs a decision now. “The charter schools need to know as soon as possible if they’re going to go after another sponsor,” he said.
Fellman expressed frustration at the short timeline and asked the board to consider a move to proactively approach the state and ask for an extension on behalf of Ridgeway.
Though the board has not officially voted to end its relationship with the charters, board members did agree to make a joint effort with Ridgeway to get an extension of up to a year on the deadline.
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