FIS 19-301 Additional Information See LBA Website under ...blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/Written...to lean into this innovative work to make sure all students can have a bright

Frank Edelblut Christine M. Brennan

Commissioner Deputy Commissioner

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIREDEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

101 Pleasant Street

Concord, NH 03301

TEL. (603) 271-3495

FAX (603) 271-1953

December 6, 2019

The Honorable Mary Jane Wallner Chairman Fiscal Committee of the General Court State House Concord, NH 03301

Dear Chairman Wallner and Honorable Members of the Fiscal Committee,

Thank you for the opportunity to more fully explain the Federal charter school grant and respond to your questions.

This grant represents a significant opportunity for the children of New Hampshire. We should all be proud of the team that worked so hard putting together the grant application. We should also be proud that New Hampshire’s education system, among all 50 States, was recognized by Federal leaders for the work being done to advance opportunity for at risk students.

It is widely known that, while New Hampshire has one of the highest performing education systems in the country, there is a growing disparity between students. Economically disadvantaged students are falling further behind. These children have capacity, but they are not always successful in a traditional instructional model. As a State, New Hampshire has recognized that students thrive with individualized pathways afforded through different instructional models. The Federal charter school grant program is a windfall for New Hampshire to lean into this innovative work to make sure all students can have a bright future.

Our hope is that you will join this work by approving the grant.

Sincerely,

Frank Edelblut Commissioner of Education

FIS 19-301 Additional InformationSee LBA Website under Fiscal Committee Agendas,

Items, Quick Results, Minutes, and Transcripts for December 13, 2019 Meeting to view Attachments.

Fiscal Committee Questions Relative to FIS 19-301 (Tabled 11/08/19)

1) To ensure that public charter schools receive the same amount of aid that local voters approve for traditional public schools, could statute be amended to require that all public school students get the same adequacy grant amount from the State and the same local funding level regardless of the type of public school and how it was approved? Please explain the potential impacts of such a change.

School funding from the State for both Chartered Public Schools and District Public Schools is determined in statute.

District Public Schools receive funding from the State in accordance with RSA 198:40. In FY 2020 and 2021, each pupil is eligible for a minimum of $3,709 plus applicable differentiated aid.

Charter schools receive funding from the State in accordance with RSA 194-B:11, in FY 2020 & 2021. Per this statute each pupil is eligible for the same amounts district public school pupils receive from the State, $3,709 plus applicable differentiated aid and an additional charter school grant of $3,479, totaling a minimum of $7,188 per student.

Per RSA 194-B:11, a charter school sponsored by a district school must receive no less than 80% of the average cost per pupil of that district, directly from the district. The district in turn receives district public school funding in accordance with RSA 198:40.

Legislation has been proposed in the past to provide charter schools a percentage of the State average cost per pupil of district public schools. For FY 2018, the State average cost per pupil $15,865.

Local funds raised for the purpose of providing education are determined entirely at the local level by the local tax payers. The New Hampshire Department of Education (Department) and the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) have no oversight over this process.

Differences in school funding between traditional public schools and public charter schools reflects differences in control and the ability to raise revenue.

Public charter schools are required to comply with State level regulations, whereas these regulatory areas are delegated to local school boards for traditional public schools. For example, a local school board determines student graduation requirements, as long as they meet the minimum. Graduation

requirements for a public charter school, on the other hand, are approved by the State board of education through the chartering process.

Local school districts have taxing authority and are able to raise revenue through local property taxes. Through this authority, the approved local school budget is funded by taxing local property owners. Public charter schools, on the other hand, do not have taxing authority, they are funded solely by State education grants and funds that are raised through grants and charitable efforts. This creates a more elastic system of accountability in that non-State support is raised only by those in support of the mission of the charter school.

Recognizing that all students are different and that all students succeed in different instructional environments, the Department supports that idea presented in this question that links funding more closely to students.

2) If the Federal grant is accepted and enrollment increases at charter schools during the FY 2020-2021 biennium does the Department have sufficient appropriations in their current budget to fund these increases? If no, can the State limit growth of public charter school pupils during this biennium to ensure the current budget provides adequate funding?

The Department anticipates three charter schools will open in FY 2021, regardless of receipt of Federal charter school startup funds:

1. Heartwood Charter School (Lancaster)

2. Northeast Woodlands Charter School (Conway)

3. Gathering Waters Charter School (Keene)

Two of these schools filed applications after the submission of the Department budget request for FY 20-21, which was prepared in June of 2018.

The Department believes that the first increase of new charter schools as a result of this grant will likely not happen until FY 2022 and FY 2023. Additionally, the Department has no way of determining if these schools will be local or district chartered charter schools. Appropriation requests for new applications will be included in the Department’s FY 2022 and FY 2023 budget requests, which will be submitted to Administrative Services in the summer of FY 2020.

3) Please provide a copy of the Department’s Federal grant application, and a detailed description of the Department’s plan and timeline for charter schools if this Federal grant is accepted.

See ATTACHMENT #1, the New Hampshire 2019 CPS Federal grant application, which includes a five-year plan and timeline for new, expansion and replication schools. The below chart for the estimated timeline was included in the Department grant application. However, the timeline for schools will vary based on when the grant is accepted by the Fiscal Committee and Governor and Council, and when applications are received by the Department and approved by the State Board of Education. The Department accepts applications throughout the year and it often takes up to four months from the time the application is received to the application being presented to the State Board of Education.

4) When did the Department begin the application process for the Federal grant?

The U.S. Department of Education (USED) released the FY 2019 Federal Charter School Startup Grant Competition on December 28, 2018. The application was submitted to the USED on February 8, 2019.

5) Did the Department receive input from charter schools, traditional public schools, or other sources during the development of the grant application? Can the Department please summarize this input?

No. Grant turnaround time was very short. No time was allocated for Stakeholder engagement.

However, the Department works closely with all public charter schools throughout the year. This work has been significantly enhanced since the legislature authorized funding for a charter school administrator. In addition to this close coordination, when considering a response to the Federal grant proposal, consideration was given to jointly filing with the New Hampshire Coalition of Charter Schools in early December of 2018. Ultimately, this strategy was not pursued because of the timing that the grant competition had been released by USED, which was earlier than in previous years.

6) How was the $46M grant amount determined? Did the Department apply for this level of funding, or did the Federal Government determine this amount and how?

The Department determined the level of funding based on projections for new, expansion, and replication grants. The USED allows a maximum per school grant of $1.5M per new school. The Department projected twenty new charter schools, using this maximum grant amount, consistent with the number of sub-grants to new schools that were approved during the last Federal startup grant that the Department received in FY 2010. The Department also projected awards for seven replication grants with a maximum grant amount of $1,200,000 and five expansion grants with a maximum grant amount of $600,000. Lastly, the Department is eligible to receive 3% of the overall grant amount to be used for administration of the grant and 7% of the overall grant to be used for State level activities to provide oversight and review of State processes around charter school authorization.

7) If the Department requests increased State public charter school funding for the FY 2022-2023 biennium, will they also present a written growth plan during the next budget cycle to explain the increased funding request?

Yes, consistent with prior years, the Department will present an appropriately supported budget for the FY 2022-2023 biennium budget with an analysis of appropriations needed by school based on actual enrollments and enrollments in approved charter applications as part of its regular biennium budget submissions and presentations.

8) During testimony we heard that traditional public schools had benefited from educational research related to existing public charter schools. Could the Department please provide written examples of how this has happened and in which school districts these benefits were realized?

Our shared aspiration is that the New Hampshire education system moves beyond parochial divisions and joins forces with students and families at the center to bring students to bright futures. Toward that end, when evaluating new

charter schools, the State Board of Education specifically discusses the school’s engagement of the local traditional school districts in the proposed communities. This deliberate focus on integration helps facilitate sharing of information among our public schools.

Three diverse examples of how New Hampshire public charter schools disseminate their best practices include:

The Mountain Village Charter School: At Mountain Village teachers from the local SAU observe in the charter-school classrooms. The public and charter teachers share promising practices and are exploring how the two groups can work together.

The Virtual Learning Academy Charter School. VLACS presented at the New Hampshire Best Practices Conference on Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in Concord and also shared findings at the New Hampshire School Administrators Association annual conference and at the National Conference of State Legislatures, Student Centered Learning Commission in Manchester. [Nationally, VLACS presented at the national Summit on Education Reform.]

NEXT Charter School. Next is actively engaged in public presentations of their program at local and statewide forums and conferences. They actively collaborate with local school systems in academic and extra-curricular activities. Additionally students and staff have a strong presence in educational interactive web and social media sites. NEXT has worked to develop and foster these types of relationships with surrounding communities as well, as is evidenced by increased enrollment in outside communities.

It should also be noted that the Charter Renewal Applications for each New Hampshire Charter School must include a section on the school’s Best Practices Dissemination efforts. The snapshot examples above came from recent renewal applications.

Some of the specific opportunities for sharing include: math instruction at Academy for Science and Design, which annually achieves 100% or close to 100% math proficiency; reading instruction at Strong Foundations, which works specifically with struggling readers; student engagement at Micro Society, which operates a complete society in the context of the school; exploratory learning at Mills Falls, a Montessori-based elementary school; and North Country Charter Academy, which boasts a 100% graduation rate among a heavily weighted at-risk population. These are simply a few examples. That said, their remains work to do to make sure that best practices and coordination are communicated more broadly.

The Federal charter school grant specifically provides an excellent opportunity for this to happen. [See ATTACHMENT #2: Timeline for the Development and Implementation of Best Practices Dissemination Plan.] Our hope is that many traditional public schools will explore and implement charter school models, creating further integration and opportunity for best practice sharing.

9) What is the current status of the Charter School Legislative Oversight Committee and the status of the legally mandated annual report, which was last issued in 2011?

This is a legislative committee that the Department has no oversight over. According to the committee’s website, the committee last met on October 5, 2015. The Department is unaware if there were legislative changes that were adopted as a result of the October 27, 2011 report.

194-B:21 Oversight Committee; Report. – I. There is hereby established a joint legislative oversight committee. The committee shall jointly meet at least once a year and shall monitor the effect of this chapter, make recommendations for any legislative changes with respect thereto, and make recommendations to the legislature to reduce the scope of, ease the administration of, simplify the compliance with, and, where appropriate, recommend to the legislature elimination of regulations and reduction of the amount of paperwork required. The committee shall include three senators appointed by the president of the senate, three members of the house appointed by the speaker of the house, and one member of the State board appointed by the chairperson of the State board who shall serve as a nonvoting member in an advisory capacity. II. The committee shall submit a written report of its findings and recommendations to the president of the senate, the speaker of the house, and the chairpersons of the house and senate education committees on November 1 of each year, except for the year 2000, when the report shall be submitted on July 1.

10) How does the Federal charter school grant and the potential increase in State charter school tuition overlap with the soon-to-be-launched School Funding Commission’s upcoming work on the adequacy formula?

Application for the Federal charter school grant preceded the creation of the School Funding Commission. The actual work of the School Funding Commission has not yet begun. As such, any overlap is coincidental, and assumptions about overlap of the two events should be considered speculative and, in this case, opportunistic.

The School Funding Commission faces a difficult task and will, no doubt, be exploring all options to adequately fund an education system that brings all

http://gencourt.state.nh.us/statstudcomm/details.aspx?id=89&rbl=1&txtchapternumber=194-B%3a21

students to bright futures and reflects the constitutional mandate to “cherish” education toward the goal of an educated electorate.

It is widely understood that the current education system and instructional model has inherent limitations that are reflected in a growing disparity – economically disadvantaged, special education, and minority students perform lower on standardized achievement tests than their peers. The State average proficiency for math, language arts, and science are 48%, 56%, and 39%. In comparison, economically disadvantaged students scored 35%, 27%, 21%, special education students scored 16%, 13%, 11%, and English language learner students scored 24%, 22%, and 12% on the assessments respectively. These results are not unique to New Hampshire. In fact, New Hampshire is one of the top performing States in the country. What these results do show us is the urgent need for innovative instructional approaches that can close widening performance gaps.

It is our hope that the Fiscal Committee will approve the Federal charter school grant, allowing New Hampshire educators to invest $46 million of Federal funds in education innovation. This investment in innovation will put tools into the hands of the School Funding Commission to help fund a truly equitable system that allows all students, including disadvantaged students, to thrive and achieve bright futures.

11) What are the implications of increasing the number of public schools in the State when student enrollment has continued to trend downward over the last ten years?

The near term implications of an increase in public charter schools is the ability to expand educational opportunities for at risk students. Many of these students are not thriving or succeeding in our traditional school settings.

Over the past ten years, the number of New Hampshire K-12 students enrolled in public schools has declined by approximately 20,000, from 197,160 in School Year 2009-2010 to 177,365 in School Year 2018- 2019. These declines are expected to continue at least well into the next decade with some forecasts predicting a loss of 28% (approximately 50,000 students) by 2035.

While consolidation has been a relatively effective tool to manage decline in student enrollment thus far, continuing declines will mean that other restructuring tools beyond consolidation will be required. It will not be practical to bus students over increasingly extended distances making consolidation less effective and amplifying the need for new innovative instructional models. The Federal charter school grant will be an effective tool to explore and develop some of these alternative models.

12) What is the impact on the Department’s budget and plans for the current Fiscal Year if this Federal grant is accepted. The Committee will request a follow-up to this response at the end of the Fiscal Year.

The impact on the Department’s budget with regards to the Federal grant are listed in the Fiscal Letter. The USED awarded the Department $10.1M through September of 2021. The Federal grant includes a 3% administrative set aside and 7% State level activity set aside, which is funding the Department will use in the administration of this grant. The remaining 90% will go directly to approved charter schools to cover allowable expenses per the grant for activities related to startup, replication, or expansion. The award of the grant does not otherwise affect the Department’s budget or other Department programs

The Department anticipates no additional impact to State funding and appropriation on the FY 2020 and 2021 budget related to schools opening as a result of the department receiving this grant. The Department anticipates three charter schools will open in FY 2021, regardless of receipt of Federal charter school startup funds.

13) What are the required written deliverables for Federal grant expenditures for the current and future years, and how will these be measured? What are the ramifications or penalties if these deliverables are not met?

The required deliverables include the creation of twenty new charter schools, seven replications of current high-quality charter schools, and five expansions of high-quality charter schools. The definition of a high quality charter school is defined by Federal statute within Title IV Part C. The term ‘‘high-quality charter school’’ means a charter school that shows evidence of strong academic results, which may include strong student academic growth, as determined by a State, has no significant issues in the areas of student safety, financial and operational management, or statutory or regulatory compliance, has demonstrated success in significantly increasing student academic achievement, including graduation rates where applicable, for all students served by the charter school and has demonstrated success in increasing student academic achievement, including graduation rates where applicable, for each of the sub-groups of students. Additionally, through the State level activities portion of the grant, the Department has committed to strengthening State-wide structural oversight of current and future charter schools through the use of the State set-aside funds included within the grant. This includes the provision of technical assistance, the sharing out of best practices, and support for fiscal and programmatic compliance The deliverables are measured against a rubric created in partnership

with the USED program officer and the Department’s progress is discussed and measured during quarterly meetings with USED, as well as in written annual reports completed by the Department and submitted in accordance with Federal program requirements.

Grant funding is not available to the Department to use until the schools are approved by the State Board of Education and apply and awarded a Chartered Public School (CPS) grant. This includes administrative and State level funding portions of the grant. Failure open the number of schools in a timely manner may result in a reduction of funds available to New Hampshire under the current grant and would also likely have a negative effect on future grant awards from USED.

14) Has the Department made any funding commitments to public charter schools or traditional public schools from this grant?

The Department has not made any funding commitments to any public charter schools or traditional public schools from this grant. Sub-grants are competitive in nature and only eligible applicants who submit a completed application for grant funds may be awarded funds.

Until the Federal grant is authorized by the Fiscal Committee and, subsequently, Governor and Council, the Department will not make any funding commitments.

15) Can any of these funds be used for the purchase of buildings?

No, grant funds under this program may not be used for the purchase of buildings. Similarly, grant funds may not be used for major construction, particularly any construction that would substantially increase the financial value of a property. Grant funds may be used, in limited circumstances and with prior approval from USED, for renovating existing buildings in order to comply with local and State building codes for the operation of a school.

16) Sub-grantees can use the Federal grant funds for hiring and compensating during “eligible planning periods”. What constitutes an eligible planning period?

An eligible planning period is defined as no more than the first eighteen months of a sub-grant, during which time the applicant is engaged in planning and preparation activities prior to the opening of the school. An applicant may choose to utilize grant funds for planning activities during a period that is less than 18 months, but may not at any point exceed this amount of time for planning purposes. Salaries are an allowable expense ONLY during this planning period, and a separate budget that delineates planning costs from operating costs must be submitted to the Department and approved as part of the grant application.

17) What would be the impact of delaying the acceptance of the Federal grant, or accepting the grant proceeds incrementally a year at a time?

We certainly hope that the Federal charter school grant will accelerate innovative educational opportunities for at risk students. As the grant is currently structured, while New Hampshire has been awarded the full $46 million, that grant is incrementally accessible by the State as follows by year: $10,114,548 in budget period one, $10,322,150 in budget period two, $10,348,914 budget period three, and, $15,214,088 budget period four. If New Hampshire were to delay acceptance of the award, it is uncertain how USED might respond. We have had initial discussions with them after the initial delay by the Fiscal Committee. We explained to them that we were confident that the Fiscal Committee would accept the grant on the basis of the needs of New Hampshire at risk students. They have indicated that they will monitor our progress. Continued delays could result in the reduction of grant funds; long term delays could result in the grant award being withdrawn by USED.

18) What long-term financial obligations would this Federal grant create for both the State and public charter schools?

Expansion of public charter schools, while benefiting from, is not dependent upon the Federal grant. As such, the Federal grant does not itself create any obligation, but simply supports that expansion. Even without the grant, we currently have three schools progressing through the approval process, in addition to one approved by the State Board of Education planning on opening in the fall of 2020. Our hope is that the Federal grant will both aid these and other schools to start with specific start-up grants of $1.5 million each. For example, traditional public schools may have a local need to support at risk students, but does not have the initial resources needed to design, plan and implement such a program. This grant would provide them needed start-up funding to get the programs off the ground. In addition, these grants, through replication and expansion grant opportunities, will provide financial support to existing charter schools to serve additional at risk students.

19) Since the Federal grant is one-time, does this create long-term consequences should one of the newly created public charter schools close? What safeguards would the Department use to avoid this scenario?

While the Federal grant certainly facilitates the opening of additional public charter schools, the opportunity to open a new school or to expand an existing school is always available under our current laws. As a result, whether a school is initiated through a Federal grant or not, the Department will continue to monitor the health and efficacy of all public charter schools.

Given that the grant is fundamentally designed to help support innovative education options for students, both the Department and the State Board of Education will carefully evaluate all proposals with the perspective of making sure that they can operate effectively. This includes regular and rigorous fiscal and program monitoring.

Because schools are innovative, however, our assumption would be that some of the innovation may not achieve initial expectations and it is possible that a school may close. This would not be viewed as failure for, just as we teach our children, much learning can take place through failure, if we are willing to learn from it. In the event that a school model is not meeting expectations, as the Department has done in the past, effective transition planning takes place to avoid any disruption of student educational progress.

Lastly, RSA 194-B:3(bb) requires all charter schools to include a plan, approved by the State Board of Education, for the continued education of the school’s pupils in the event of a closure. See ATTACHMENT #3 Charter Applications.

20) What is the current capacity of public charter schools? How many students applied and to smoothly transition students to another learning environment, were accepted, and how many are on waiting lists?

See ATTACHMENT #4: Charter School Enrollment, History, & Capacity Projections. Some charter schools are at their maximum enrollment with waiting lists while others have some capacity to accept more students.

21) Are there any geographic limits/guidelines for new public charter schools?

There are no current New Hampshire legislative limitations or guidelines around geographic locations of new public charter schools, nor are there any limitations or guidelines in the Federal grant regulations.

However, public charter schools are authorized pursuant to RSA 194-B. When evaluating applications for new charter schools, the State Board of Education places specific emphasis on unique educational offerings. There seems to be little appetite to simply replicate existing educational opportunities. As such, any new schools would be evaluated on meeting a specific need of students in a community.

22) If the number of public charter school’s doubled, what would be the impact on existing charter schools? Could some existing schools potentially close?

Public charter schools are authorized pursuant to RSA 194-B. As stated above, when evaluating applications for new charter schools, the State Board of

Education places specific emphasis on unique educational offerings. The effect of this is to stand up educational opportunities around the State that meet the unique educational needs of our at risk populations.

Few public charter schools in New Hampshire have closed over the past decade when they were first introduced to the State. When a school closes, it generally reflects a disconnect between its educational mission and the needs of the community it serves. Where this happens, the Department works closely with the school to work through a teach out and effectively transition students to an alternative educational opportunity.

23) If the Federal grant is accepted what would be unanticipated costs to school districts and municipalities?

Contrary to the premise of the question, both school districts and municipalities are beneficiaries of this grant, both directly and indirectly. Some school districts are currently partnering with charter schools to provide educational opportunities that would be otherwise unavailable within their districts. For example VLACS, Ledyard, Pace, North Country, Great Bay, and NEXT public charter high schools all collaborate with local LEAS to provide specialized educational services to highly at risk student populations. These schools ensure that the students’ educational needs are met by providing graduation and career and college readiness programs in smaller, more flexible, supportive learning environments. Charter schools are able to provide access to additional programming above and beyond current course offerings at no cost to the district or provide support for a child that would otherwise need to attend a costly out of district placement. School districts and municipalities desirous of creating programs designed to meet the needs of their at risk populations, can make an application for up to $1.5 million per school to start programs for their at risk students which would give districts access to resources that would be otherwise unavailable, as there is no State funding available for the development of innovative or alternative programs

24) Why is there a discrepancy between the student population figures (Special Education, Free and Reduced Lunch, English Language Learner, other student data) included on the Department’s grant application, and other publicly available data?

The Department is unsure which numbers are specifically being referred to, however various calculations are used for different purposes. The grant application utilized data that was available at the time of the submittal. The Department collects data throughout the year in order to ensure timely and accurate information across a variety of variables and measures. It is possible that data pulled at two different points in time, or from two different databases, or

even for two different purposes, may include differences as student population changes linearly through time and across collections based upon data collection rules. The Department has provided the following examples of how and why some of these differences arise.

One example would be the difference between the beginning enrollment counts, commonly referred to as the BOY in comparison with the end of year enrollment counts, or EOY. Student demographics can shift, sometimes dramatically, between these two points in time, which creates differences in data output.

Data can also include differences based upon how it is being used and defined. For example, a charter school may be being paid for 100 Average Daily Membership (ADM)for the purpose of adequacy however because kindergarten is counted as half, the actual ADM may be 110. Additionally, enrollment is a count of a point in time. ADM is the amount throughout the entire school year.

Another example using assessment data can be seen in the effect that n-size has on publicly available data. The Department does not report sub-group data for groups of less than 11, as small group reporting may provide for the release of personally identifiable data, in violation of student privacy laws. This creates differences in the data that is publicly available, since total State aggregates include all students, while smaller sub-groups with n-sizes below 11 are not shown, creating a situation in which the total population of sub-groups would not match the total State aggregate population.

Lastly, different business rules apply for various calculations. For accountability, the State reports students eligible to test, not necessarily all students tested. This results in different numbers of students. This is true for all schools and not just charter schools.

This is why it is important to understand the data that you are looking at before making value judgements or comparing to other data that may be otherwise incompatible.

25) What are the components of current State public charter school funding? Please breakdown the $43 million appropriation for FY 2020: adequacy aid, charter school differential, building aid, etc.

Adequacy Amount Per Eligible Student

Description Charter Traditional

Base adequacy $3,709 $3,709

Charter differential $3,479 $0

Free and reduced lunch $1,855 $1,855

3rd grade reading $725 $725

Special Education $1,995 $1,995

English Language Learner $725 $725

Stabilization Grants $0 $0-6,467

One time Free & Reduced Aid $0 $0-350

One Time Fiscal Capacity Aid $0 $0-1750

Total State Support $7,188 - $11,763 $3,709 - $14,751

In FY 2020, $41,776,354 (3043 EDUCATION TRUST FUND 611 Charter School Tuition FY 2020 Appropriation $41,776,354) was appropriated in charter school tuition or charter school adequacy. It provides per pupil $3,709 plus applicable differentiated aid and an additional charter school grant of $3,479, totaling a minimum of $7,188 per student. Per student amounts are fully funded and not prorated. Differentiated aid for charter school special education is distributed directly to resident districts of the charter pupils.

Also in FY 2020, the State allocated $200,000 in Lease Aid to charter schools. The Department estimates that this will provide lease aid grants of 30% of total annual lease amounts, not to exceed $30,000, at a prorated amount of approximately 20%. (20% of the 30%).

Public charter schools were not awarded building aid in FY 2020 or FY 2021 however they are eligible to apply.

Public charter schools receive Federal public school formula funds (Title 1, Title 2, Title 3 etc.) in the same manner as traditional public schools.

26) Is there a financial incentive for a public charter school to be chartered by a local school district?

Charter Schools chartered by a local school district would benefit from the additional resources provided and direct financial support of no less than 80% of the average cost per pupil of that district provided by the district.

27) Are chartered public schools being paid for contracted enrollment or actual students enrolled?

Charter schools are paid in the same manner as district schools, based on actual students enrolled throughout the course of the year, which is adjusted for students that enroll and leave school during the year. This calculation is called Average Daily Membership (ADM).

28) What are the criteria for determining the current chartered public schools to be replicated and the schools to be expanded?

In order for a public charter school to be eligible for an expansion or replication grant, it must meet the definition of high quality. The Every Student Succeeds Act, Title IV, Part C defines a high-quality charter school in the following manner:

HIGH-QUALITY CHARTER SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘high-quality charter school’’ means a charter school that—

(A) shows evidence of strong academic results, which may include strong student academic growth, as determined by a State;

(B) has no significant issues in the areas of student safety, financial and operational management, or statutory or regulatory compliance;

(C) has demonstrated success in significantly increasing student academic achievement, including graduation rates where applicable, for all students served by the charter school; and

(D) has demonstrated success in increasing student academic achievement, including graduation rates where applicable, for each of the subgroups of students, as defined in section 1111(c)(2), except that such demonstration is not required in a case in which the number of students in a group is

insufficient to yield statistically reliable information or the results would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student.

Additionally, a public charter school must hold a current and valid charter to qualify for a replication or expansion and must submit an application to the Department for approval.

29) What are the criteria for obtaining approval for a new public charter school? Are the criteria for new chartered public schools different if authorized by the State Board of Education or a school district?

The criteria for obtaining approval for a new public charter school is defined by RSA 194-B and includes the following required criteria, regardless of whether the public charter school is approved by the State Board of Education or a local school district:

(a) Educational mission.

(b) Governance and organizational structure and plan.

(c) Methods by which trustees and their terms are determined.

(d) General description and proposed or potential location of facilities to be used, if such information is available.

(e) Maximum number, grade or age levels, and, as applicable, other information about pupils to be served.

(f) Curriculum that meets or exceeds State standards in the subject areas offered.

(g) Academic and other learning goals and objectives.

(h) Achievement tests to be used to measure pupil academic and other goal achievement including, but not limited to, objective and age-appropriate measures of literacy and numeracy skills, including spelling, reading, expository writing, history, geography, science, and mathematics.

(i) For schools offering high school grade levels, graduation requirements sufficient to ensure that the school has provided an adequate education for its pupils.

(j) Staffing overview, including qualifications sought for professionals and paraprofessionals.

(k) Personnel compensation plan, including provisions for leaves and other benefits, if any.

(l) Pupil transportation plan, including reasonable provision from the chartered public school’s own resources for transportation of pupils residing outside the district in which the chartered public school is physically located.

(m) Statement of assurances related to nondiscrimination according to relevant State and Federal laws.

(n) Method of coordinating with a pupil's local education agency (LEA) responsible for matters pertaining to any required special education programs or services including method of compliance with all Federal and State laws pertaining to children with disabilities.

(o) Admission procedures.

(p) Philosophy of pupil governance and discipline, and age-appropriate due process procedures to be used for disciplinary matters including suspension and expulsion.

(q) Method of administering fiscal accounts and reporting, including a provision requiring fiscal audits and reports to be performed by an independent certified public accountant.

(r) Annual budget, including all sources of funding, and a projected budget for the next two years.

(s) School calendar arrangement and the number and duration of days pupils are to be served pursuant to RSA 194-B:8, III.

(t) Provision for providing continuing evidence of adequate insurance coverage.

(u) Identity of consultants to be used for various services, if known, or the qualifications or certifications of consultants not identified by name.

(v) Philosophy of parent involvement and related plans and procedures.

(w) A plan to develop and disseminate information to assist parents and pupils with decision-making about their choice of school.

(x) A global hold-harmless clause which states:

The chartered public school, its successors and assigns, covenants and agrees at all times to indemnify and hold harmless the (school district), any other school district which sends its students to the chartered public school, and their school boards, officers, directors, agents, employees, all funding districts and sources, and their successors and assigns, (the "indemnified parties") from any and all claims, demands, actions and causes of action, whether in law or in equity, and all damages, costs, losses, and expenses, including but not limited to reasonable attorneys' fees and legal costs, for any action or inaction of the chartered public school, its board, officers, employees, agents, representatives, contractors, guests and invitees, or pupils.

(y) Severability provisions and statement of assurance that any provision of the chartered public school contract found by competent authority to be contrary to applicable law, rule, or regulation shall not be enforceable.

(z) Provision for dissolution of the chartered public school including disposition of its assets or amendment of its program plan.

(aa) In the case of the conversion of a public school to a charter conversion school, provision for alternative arrangements for pupils who choose not to attend and teachers who choose not to teach at the chartered public school.

(bb) A plan for the education of the school's pupils after the chartered public school may cease operation. There is no difference in the criteria required of a charter school applicant, regardless of whether it is authorized by the State Board of Education or by a local school district. The only difference is the process by which this happens.

(dd) An outline of the proposed accountability plan which clarifies expectations for evaluating the school's program and which contains an acknowledgement that a full accountability plan shall be developed and ready to implement prior to the date of opening.

The only difference between the State Board of Education criteria and the local school district criteria is that the local school district must also review the charter schools proposed contract, to include the following items as stated in RSA 194-B:

(cc) In addition to an application, each chartered public school applicant, in consultation with the local school board, shall prepare a proposed contract. The contract shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following elements:

(1) Purpose. (2) Written policies.

(3) Authority of trustees. (4) Reporting, fiscal accounting and fiscal audits to be performed by a certified public accountant. (5) Contract agreements. (6) Indemnification. (7) Secular orientation. (8) Non-discrimination. (9) Health and safety. (10) Enrollment. (11) Attendance. (12) Availability of services. (13) Assessment of pupils. (14) Tuition and funding. (15) Property ownership. (16) Records. (17) Severability in accordance with subparagraph (y) above. (18) Assignment of contract. (19) Insurance. (20) Revocation. (21) Amendment. (22) Renewal. (23) Entire agreement. (24) Location, which shall be identified prior to submission to the legislative body.

30) Are current public charter schools required to employ State Board of Education licensed or certified teachers?

RSA 194-B:14 IV states that “the teaching staff of a chartered public school shall consist of a minimum of 50% of teachers either New Hampshire certified or having at least three years of teaching experience.”

31) Please provide the Committee with a projection of the Department’s vision for the proposed growth of charter schools across the State (“business plan”), including the following information:

· Locations for each replicated and expanded charter schools

· Five-year enrollment projections (by year) for each existing, new, replicated and expanded charter schools

· Sources of students (LEA, district, other charters, homeschool transition, move in) to meet enrollment projections for each existing, new, replicated and expanded charter schools

· Proximity to community colleges for each existing, new, replicated and expanded charter schools, and if this will influence the decision for placement of the schools

· Academic focus areas (if any, for example technology) for each existing, new, replicated and expanded charter schools

· Proforma 5-year financial statements broken down to capital and operating costs attributable to start-up (that could use the requested grant funds), longer-term capital and operating costs outside of the grant, and all sources of revenue for each existing, new, replicated and expanded charter schools.

The Department’s Federal grant application enumerates the number of new, expansion and replication charter schools by year, however this timeline will depend largely on the timing of when the Federal grant is accepted and when school applications are received by the Department and approved by the State Board of Education. The Department does not control who or how many entities will make application to open a charter school. Approval of new, expansion, and replication charter schools is the responsibility of local school boards and the State Board of Education, not the Department. Applications for new, expansion, or replication schools, while benefiting from the Federal grant, are not limited by it. The information requested above will be provided by the applicants in the charter school applications submitted to the State Board of Education.

32) What part of the Federal grant budget will be attributable to the start-up grant of schools that are already in operation?

Four public charter schools currently in operation with pupils in attendance would be eligible for start-up funds specifically. Three of the schools, did not receive the full amount of start-up funds under the previous Federal charter school grant. In order for these three schools to access funds, the Department would need to seek a waiver from the USED to provide funds to these three charter schools, along with an updated budget. The proportion of funds would be limited to what the schools did not receive under the previous grant, and allowable expense would also be limited to only what had been approved under the previous grant. One other school school currently in operation with pupils in attendance received no startup funds and would also be eligible for a startup grant.

Grant funding related to these schools is estimated to be $2,970,000. ($400,000 each for the three schools operating that were partially funded under the 2010 CPS grant, $1,500,000 for the school not yet funded, and 10% for the Department to carry out administrative and state level activities)

33) How have public charter schools’ projected enrollment compared to actual enrollment for each school?

See ATTACHMENT #4: Charter School Enrollment, History, and Capacity Projections

34) In the Department’s press release sharing testing data, were any charter schools excluded and for what reasons?

In the press release put out by the Department, public charter school enrollment was taken as an aggregate and therefore no brick and mortar public charter school results were excluded (VLACS was not included in the data). The numbers were not broken down by school or sub-group, as several groups were smaller than the n-size of 11 and so disaggregating the data would have violated student privacy rules.

See ATTACHMENT #5: Edelblut statement on Fiscal Committee tabling Public Charter School Grant

35) How many charter schools do we need in a State with a student population of 165,000?

The question of how many schools, traditional or chartered, are required to meet the needs of a student population of 165,000 may not lead us to a satisfactory answer when our aspiration is for all students to have an opportunity for an adequate education and a bright future. Today, we have an excess of educational space for all of our students, yet at risk students continue to fall further behind.

We would suggest an alternative question of what educational pathways and environments are needed to meet the needs of our student population? The answer to this question is as diverse as our student population. As such, our education system must be diverse and flexible, affording students multiple pathways to success. This is the very essence of the work of the Federal grant, to create an innovative environment that allows the system to innovate diverse and flexible learning pathways.

36) Should the Department’s proposed change to the public education landscape come before the House and Senate Education Committees?

Per RSA 194 B:11 IV-a “The commissioner of the Department of Education shall apply for all Federal funding available to chartered public schools under the No Child Left Behind Act, Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or other Federal source of funds. The commissioner shall expend any such funds received in a manner acceptable to the funding source”.

Toward this end, the Department has complied with the mandates of the legislature, including those of the House and Senate Education Committees. The Department, which believes that this legislative mandate can make a meaningful positive impact for at risk students in New Hampshire, has not proposed a policy change but has followed the lead of the legislature by applying for the grant.

Additionally, the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee for Chartered Public Schools may fill this role.

37) Could the Department please provide a comprehensive report on existing charter schools operating in containing at least the following information on each existing charter school:

The department collects school and student level data as required by law. Some of the items requested below are not part of these legislatively mandated data collection requirements. To that extent, all data available to the department that is responsive to the request is included. In cases where student groups or sub-groups fell below an n-size of 11, the data was aggregated to ensure student privacy; thus some data points are presented as state-level data, rather than school-specific data.

Student Enrollment

· When a charter school is authorized, the founders identify their enrollment projections for the first five years. For each individual charter school, what was the first five-year projected enrollment AND the first five-year actual enrollment? That is, how many students did they expect to have in year 1? How many did they actually enroll in year 1? Year 2? Year 3? And so on.

See ATTACHMENT # 4: Charter School Enrollment, History and Capacity Projections

· How many students disenrolled during the school year in each grade level over the past five years? That is, students who began the school year at the charter school, but then left the school before completing the school year.

See ATTACHMENT #6: Disenrollment

· Of those students, how many transferred to their residential, neighborhood school? Moved to another charter school? Began homeschooling? Transferred to a private school? Relocated in- or out-of-state?


· Of those students, what percentage qualify for free-and-reduced price lunch? Special education services? Are classified as English Language Learners?


· Over the past five years, how many students enrolled after the beginning of the start of school?

See ATTACHMENT #7: Mid-Year Enrollment

· Of those students, how many transferred from their residential, neighborhood school? From another charter school? From homeschooling? From a private school? From relocating in- or out-of-state.


· How many students enter for the first time from a neighborhood public school? Homeschooling? Another charter school? Private school? What is the data for each of the past five years?


· Identify the number of students who live in the district in which the charter school is located. For students who do not live in district, list the towns/cities where they reside, and the number of students from each of those communities.

See ATTACHMENT #8: Student Residence

· Description of alternative instructional arrangements if applicable

This information is not part of the legislatively mandated data submission by schools.

· School calendar, including professional development

See ATTACHMENT #9: Calendars

· Number of days/hours per academic year

See ATTACHMENT #10: Days/School year

The Department does not track data on the number of hours/day

· Class schedule


· Source of students (local district schools, homeschool, move-in)

See ATTACHMENT #15: Source.

· Grades or ages served

See ATTACHMENT #16: Enrollment by Grade

· Number of students by grade or age

· Number of students with IEPs, on FR lunch, receiving ELL services

There are 1,200 students with Individualized Education Plans, 1,740 students eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch services, and 179 students receiving English Language Learner services.

School Funding and Finance

· Audited financial reports for last five years (or since start)

See ATTACHMENT #12: 2018 Financial Statements. The Department

has included comprehensive financial statements for all schools for

2018, beginning with the legislative funding of the office of public

charter schools. The Department has provided DOE 25 information

for fiscal year 19 and audited financial statements for fiscal year 18,

the most recently available information. Information for previous

fiscal years was not collected comprehensively prior to the

legislature funding the office of public charter schools.

· Identify whether they own or lease the building where they are located, and the annual cost associated with their agreement for the past five years.


· Identify the amount charged to the neighborhood public schools for Special Education services for the past three years, and the number of students receiving Special Education services.


In 2019, there were 1,200 students with Individualized Education Plans in Public Charter Schools

· Additionally, for each school, identify whether the charter school contracts with an outside agency, hires staff in-house, or has the district provide services directly - and/or a combination - for Special Education services.


· For each charter school, identify the amount fundraised for each of the past five years.

See ATTACHMENT #13. Fundraising Totals.

· For each year, how much of the fundraised money came from parents/family members of students enrolled? In-town/district donors? In-state donors? National foundations/donors?


Charter School Personnel

· Identify the proportion of teachers who have their teaching certification through New Hampshire.


· Additionally, identify how many teach subjects/courses outside of that teaching certification, and how many subjects/courses per year.


· Identify the rate of teacher attrition and retention over the past five years. Identify the rate of school leader attrition and retention over the past five years.


· Identify the number of teachers in their first year of teaching. Provide data for the past five years.


· Additionally, identify the number of teachers who previously worked in a residential, neighborhood school; the number who previously worked at another charter school; the number who previously worked at a private school.

· Number of teachers

See ATTACHMENT #14: Teachers

· Number of support staff (paraprofessionals)

See ATTACHMENT #15: Support Staff

· Teacher evaluation plan


Administration and Board of Trustees

· Mission statement

See school charter applications

· Administration organizational chart


· Frequency of board meetings and website with links to agendas and minutes


· Links to staff and student manuals, school policies, program of studies


· Provide a list of Board members, their roles related to the school (Parent, community member, fundraiser, etc.). How many at each school have previous charter school Board experience?


· What is the Board attrition over the past five years? What were the expressed reasons for attrition?


Statewide Assessment

· What is the number of students who took the statewide assessment in each of the charter schools for 4th, 8th, and 11th grades? What is the number of students in neighborhood schools who took the statewide assessment in each neighborhood public school for 4th, 8th, and 11th grades?

Year Grade School Type

Math ELA Science Any Subject

2019 4 charter 224 227 0 227

2019 4 public 12,656 12,626 0 12,684

2019 8 charter 329 331 326 339

2019 8 public 12,893 12,828 12868 12,997

2019 11 charter 237 237 218 260

2019 11 public 12,179 12,173 11065 12,469

· In the Department of Education’s press release sharing testing data, were any charter schools excluded for any reason (low number of students, for example)? If so, which schools?

No brick and mortar charter schools were excluded from the data. Assessment data was not included from the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (VLACS). As discussed in a response to an earlier question similar to this one, the data released publicly in the press release was not disaggregated as several groups were below the n-size of 11, and disaggregating the data publicly would violate student privacy laws.

Communities, Charter Leaders, and Superintendents

· Has there been interest in any current school districts to open a school-based charter school? If so, how many districts have expressed interest?

A number of community, school board, school leaders and educators have expressed an interest in accessing funds from the charter school grant to initiate efforts to aid at risk students. One such example, which was shared with the Fiscal Committee on November 8, 2019, were the two possibilities in Manchester. These include options to create a comprehensive CTE high school in the old airport terminal property and the creation of dual-language immersion programs for elementary students.

Until such time as the grant has been approved through the fiscal and governor and council process, the Department has not seriously engaged these conversations.

· How many current charter school leaders plan to expand their charter schools to enroll additional students through this grant funding?

Per the grant application, there are five expansion grants available. The Department has had initial conversations with several charter school leaders about the possibility of expansion, however, these conversations have been delayed until after the grant is accepted.

· How many current charter school leaders plan to replicate their charter school model through this grant funding?

Per the grant application, there are seven replication grants available. The Department has had initial conversations with several charter school leaders about the possibility of replicating however these conversations have been delayed until after the grant is accepted.

· How many nonprofits have directly expressed interest to the New Hampshire Department of Education to open charter schools through this grant?

See grant application for anticipated number of new charter school grants available. Pursuant to RSA 194-B, entities or groups eligible to start a new charter school are limited to two or more New Hampshire certified educators, 10 or more parents, a local school district or a non-profit. In all cases, the legal organizational entity for the new charter school must be a qualified non-profit.

· Where are these nonprofits located in the State?

The public charter school approval process is non-discriminatory and allows entities across the State to apply for a grant. The terms of the Federal grant do not allow the Department to discriminate on the basis of the location from which grant applications are received. All grants must be approved by local school boards and/or the State Board of Education. That extensive approval process looks carefully at the proposed school to ensure that it effectively meets the needs of at risk students in the communities.

Of the three applications currently in process, one is in Keene,one is in Conway, and one is in Lancaster.

· How many nonprofits from out-of-state have contacted the NH Department of Education to open charter schools in New Hampshire?

None.

· Which specific communities around the State is the NH Department of Education planning to open/encourage to open charter schools?

The Department is not authorized to open a charter school, as described above. The Department will encourage all who inquire to consider sub-groups of at risk students. These sub-groups can easily be determined using the Department’s iPlatform data tool, which can be found on the Department’s web site. Once the Federal grant is accepted, the Department will hold regional stakeholder engagement sessions for people who are interested in starting a charter school across the State.

38) A statement in the grant abstract states “A reflection of the Granite State’s innovative approach to public charter schools is the New Hampshire Career Academy. This proposed charter school will enable students to graduate after a “super senior” (extended 12th) year with a high school diploma, an Associate’s degree, an industry recognized credential, and a job interview with a NH company.” Currently this is limited to public charter school students. What is the Department’s plan to make this available to all public-school students”?

Traditional public schools today have authority under current law and rule to offer innovative programs such as the New Hampshire Career Academy to their students. This is why, in the early stages of the development of that program, one of the first meetings was with representatives from a traditional public school to create a “both-and” solution so that all New Hampshire students could access this creative pathway. Recognizing that not all communities might offer this innovation to students, and to more rapidly make the program available to all students, the New Hampshire Career Academy simply uses the charter school infrastructure to offer this program to any New Hampshire student who might not otherwise have access. What the legislature should consider is that this highly innovative program is a game changer for New Hampshire students which can access post-secondary programs in highly sought after vocations in New Hampshire businesses.

39) The Career Academy provides for a “super senior” high school program with a 13th year of high school. Has this high school modification been reviewed by a Legislative policy committee?

New Hampshire has some of the most robust and flexible education laws and rules in the country. This creates tremendous flexibility for traditional public schools to craft programs to meet the needs of all students. The New Hampshire Career Academy uses existing structures in law and rule. As such, additional legislative authority was not required to create the New Hampshire Career

Academy. The Department is not part of a Legislative policy committee and, as such, is unaware if this program was reviewed by a Legislative policy committee.

40) The State’s application states that the highest priority for awarding the grant’s funding will be to charter schools that target the educational disadvantaged student population. How will this be reviewed and determined by the Department when the State Board has a criterion that is currently used by the State when approving new charter schools?

The criterion that is used to award a grant goes above and beyond the criteria used by the State Board of Education or a local school district when considering the approval of a charter school. First, an applicant for the grant cannot receive funds without an approved charter, so all the criteria required by RSA 194-B must be satisfied prior to the awarding of grant funds. The grant application will include questions designed to determine whether a charter school will target educationally disadvantaged students in specific and innovative ways. Grant applications that demonstrate innovative models of instruction, curriculum, organization, etc. as determined by a peer review of the application, will receive higher scores as part of the competitive process of receiving a grant and may be eligible to receive a larger grant than a school that does not demonstrate innovative practices for targeting and assisting disadvantaged students.

While any qualified entity seeking to start a new charter school may make application to the State Board of Education, and such application would be evaluated based on the criterion of RSA 194-B, applicants seeking grant funding will also be required to address how their proposed charter school will address the needs of at risk students.

Specific review and scoring metrics will be developed once the grant is accepted. When the Department is able to accept these funds, clear metrics and rubrics will be established. These grant evaluation criteria must be reviewed by the USED.

41) How many charter schools opened under the last Federal grant?

Twenty public chartered schools were approved by the State Board of Education and were awarded funding, nineteen opened. See ATTACHMENT #17 2010 CSP Sub-Grant Awards. Additionally seven schools were awarded dissemination grants.

42) How many current public charter schools will receive funds from this Federal grant?

Five charter schools currently approved charter schools would be eligible for start-up funds. Three of the schools are operating and did not receive the full

amount of start-up funds under the previous Federal charter school grant. In order for these three schools to access funds, the Department would need to seek a waiver from the USED to provide funds to these three charter schools, along with an updated budget. The proportion of funds would be limited to what the schools did not receive under the previous grant, and allowable expense would also be limited to only what had been approved under the previous grant. These grants would not exceed the maximum grant allowed under the 2010 CPS grant of $660,000 per school

Two schools are approved by the State Board of Education, one open and one expected to open in September of 2020, received no startup grants and would be eligible for the full startup grant under the 2019 CSP grant of $1,500,000 per school.

There are two schools that may be approved by the State Board of Education in the first quarter of 2020 that also may be eligible for the full startup grant under the 2019 CSP grant of $1,500,000 per school.

The Department also expects that at least five currently open and operating schools will expand their current operations and be eligible for expansion grants of up to $600,000 per school.

Lastly, every charter school in the State of New Hampshire will benefit from the receipt of the charter school grant. Through the state level activities portion of the grant, the Department has committed to strengthening state-wide structural oversight of current and future charter schools through the use of the state set-aside funds included within the grant. This includes the provision of technical assistance, the sharing out of best practices, and support for fiscal and programmatic compliance.

43) Why can’t the Career Academy be open to all New Hampshire students as an option? There would have to be a cap because of the expense, but it would be an effective way for many NH students to get a year of community college and be able to graduate from their local high school. They could take courses as part of the Career Academy and remain a student in their local district but also be counted (like VLACS) as a Charter enrollee? Overall, for parents, it would be a year of free community college. There could be many options provided.

The New Hampshire Career Academy is open and available to all New Hampshire students. New Hampshire has a number of acceleration programs to allow students to access post-secondary programming, including at the community college, while enrolled in a traditional high school program. These include,

among others, dual and concurrent programing. Today, there are some districts that have students taking all of their academic programming at the community college. Not all schools, however, make these opportunities available to all students.

The New Hampshire Career Academy is an additional program designed for that student wanting to accelerate a post-secondary pathway. This can be an important tool for schools and families wanting to keep seniors engaged in their education by creating a seamless post-secondary pathway. Through the New Hampshire Career Academy, students actually become enrolled students at the community college. Through this enrollment, they are able to complete the requirements for high school graduation and advance toward a post-secondary attainment.

44) Will each community college become a charter school, and would they count as 7 new charters?

The community college cannot and would not become a charter school. Students participating in the New Hampshire Career Academy will be enrolled in existing charter schools and will access 100% of academic programing on the campus of the community college.

Documents

FIS 19-301 Additional Information See LBA Website under ...blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/Written...to lean into this innovative work to make sure all students can have a bright