If You Don't Like Your Boss, Just Fire 'Em!

If you don't like your boss, just fire 'em! Too good to be true? Not in Ohio where state law allows an education management company to fire a charter school's board of directors.

Typically a charter school board enters into a performance contract with a management company. The charter governing board should have the authority to terminate a contract if the management company doesn't perform adequately. Well, unless the charter school is in Ohio.

Greg Richmond, from the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), wrote an article for EdWeek explaining that charter school boards need to hold their management companies responsible for performance and authorizers need to ensure charter school board members are independent of the company and operate with the best interests of the charter school in mind.

Many of Richmond's recommendations were incorporated into the Colorado sample contract language created last year in collaboration with the state Charter School Institute, Colorado League of Charter Schools and the Colorado Department of Education. The sample contract language has an attachment with "Education Service Provider" provisions to enhance the chances of a good relationship with the management company. Fortunately, with the shared expertise of Richmond and others, Colorado was able to benefit from the lessons learned in other states.

More on Imagine Schools

The NY Times ran an lengthy and well-researched article on Imagine Schools. Imagine is the largest management company for charter schools in the nation with 71 schools operating. In Colorado, there are two charter schools--in Firestone and the eastern part of Colorado Springs.

Imagine is criticized for extracting so much money from the schools it operates that the school operates on an extremely lean budget. This results in fewer resources and smaller salaries. Imagine is applying for nonprofit status (since 2005), but it also operates a facilities financing company that is for profit.

Pieces of this information has been reported in the past. However, this is the first article that collectively outlines all of the issues that have surfaced.

This is How it All Begins

This is how many charter schools get started: two Moms can't get their children into a charter school so they start their own beginning in the fall of 2012.

Two mothers from Loveland didn't get their children in to New Vision Charter School so they're proposing a new charter school open. Never underestimate the resourcefulness of mothers who want what's best for their child(ren)!

I've heard this same story more times than I can recall. Teri Oates called me back in 1999 because she couldn't get her children into Jefferson Academy. Woodrow Wilson Academy opened a year later. Deb Coufal moved to Elizabeth after having been at Jefferson Academy and since there wasn't a school, started Elbert County Charter School, which later changed its name to Legacy Academy. When the sibling pool filled the Peak to Peak Charter School kindergarten class, parents whose children didn't make a class list worked together to form Flagstaff Academy in Longmont. The stories are endless.

Predominantly in Colorado, charter schools are created by a grassroots group of parents, educators, and professionals who want greater educational opportunities for their own families. Contrary to the rest of the nation, our state has few charter schools operated by management companies. In other states, their charter school law encourages management company charter schools. Colorado's law has greater flexibility.