Legislative Session: Week 6

It has been a busy week at the legislature. Committee meetings are over, the reading calendar has been wiped in the House and bills will start moving a lot faster as we hurdle towards the finish line.

First, we have worked tirelessly to restore the administration funding to the education budget. Thanks to your efficient and effective use of funds the legislature has seen the value and proposed restoring administration funding at $100 per student.

Along with the budgeting process, HB 313 Charter School Funding Amendments passed out of House Education Committee this week. Thanks to each of you who contacted your legislator. The bill is now in the House. We are currently talking with the representatives, but we still need your help.

While HB 313 has cleared one hurdle, passing it out of the House will be the hardest. We need you to email your networks - parents, board members, everyone who supports charter schools. Here is an example of what one school has sent to their list. We want to flood the mailboxes of the representatives with requests to pass HB 313. The education establishment is fighting tooth and nail to keep this from passing. We have to fight harder to pass it.

My staff and I are committed to doing our part; we need you to do yours. And together we can get HB 313 passed in the next 7 days.

Along with these two significant budget items several other bills have moved this week:

HB 83 Charter School Revolving Account: this bill has passed both the House and Senate and now goes to the Governor to sign before becoming law

HB 339 Charter School Enrollment Amendments: Passed out of House Education Committee

HB 388 Operation and Management of Charter Schools: Passed out of House Education Committee

SB 53 Eligibility for Interscholastic Activities in Secondary Schools: Passed out of Senate Education Committee and is on the 2nd Reading calendar in the Senate

SB 125 Property Tax Exemption Amendments: this bill has passed both the House and the Senate and now goes to the Governor to sign before becoming law

SB 235 Charter School Students' Participation in Extracurricular Activities: Passed out of House Education Committee and is on the House 3rd reading calendar

If you want further information on these bills you can read this summary of our Legislative agenda.

Please contact me with any questions.

Chris Bleak

President

Utah Association of Public Charter Schools

chrisrbleak@yahoo.com

P.S. Remember to contact your representative and tell them to support HB 313! Here is a sample letter that you can send to your legislator. Here is a sample of what one school has sent to their network. If you want some talking points on HB 313 click here and here. Click here for a list of legislators who represent your school.

Legislative Session: Week 5

I have been telling you for weeks that I would need help soon. I need your help now!

HB 313 Charter School Funding Amendments is public.  We have been talking with legislators, and while most feel HB 313 is a good solution, the districts have come out in drones against the bill. They want to put charters under their authority, saying they will be forced to raise taxes.

As you know none of this is true. HB 313 is a solid solution to stabilize and equalize charter school funding for all public schools. You can read this for more information.

I need you to write your legislator TODAY.

If you don't know who your legislators are, click here.

When you email your legislator be sure to tell them you are a constituent and how much your charter school has helped you and your children.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

With your help we can stabilize charter school funding this year!

Chris Bleak

chrisrbleak@yahoo.com

P.S. If you missed the member meeting this week, you can check out the handouts with the links below.

Local Replacement Funding

Legislative Agenda

How to Contact Your Legislator

Legislative Session: Week 4

It has been a quiet week for charter schools - the budget is still in the works.  The Public Education Appropriations committee did not approve a budget (you can see what the proposal was here) so it will be left up to Executive Appropriations over the next few weeks.

On a good note - Representative Hughes' bill (HB 83Charter School Revolving Account), which will allow flexibility in the use of start up costs, passed the house this week and now moves to the Senate.

I hope that you will join us on Tuesday at 6:00pm for our monthly member meeting.  We are very excited to have Representative Hughes, Representative Newbold and Senator Niederhauser join us that evening to discuss charter school policy. There are two parking lots on the east side of the capitol as well as on the street.  We will be in the west building (House building) in the basement - you will likely need to walk through the courtyard to get to the building. Use this link for directions.

Given that we have the opportunity to have Representatives Hughes and Newbold, along with Senator Niederhauser at our meeting, I want to know if there are any specific questions that you want to make sure they answer.  Please send your questions to uapcsmail@gmail.com and we will be sure to get them answered that night.

As always, please contact me with any questions you may have!  We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!

Chris Bleak

chrisrbleak@yahoo.com

P.S. Be sure to check out this great article on parent volunteerism!

Legislative Session: Week 3

We are nearly halfway through the session.

We should have a better vision of the budget by next week. We are still meeting with legislators to assure that charters get properly funded, however we need your help!

Look at the list of legislators on the public education appropriations committee and contact them.  We need them to prioritize funding administration costs to charter schools.

As for the local replacement funding - the Senate Republican Caucus met this week, they have made it a priority to find a solution to the LRF this session. Please write your Senator and thank him for supporting charter schools.  We will continue to meet with them as the budget gets put together.

SB 235 Charter School Students' Participation in Extracurricular Activities bill passed the senate education committee unanimously Thursday and now heads to the Senate floor. Thank you Senator Mayne for your work on this bill.

I would also like to thank the State Office of Education for bringing in two representatives from Arizona to share ideas about their charter experience.  Arizona has more than 500 charter schools operating in their state. No one state has the "perfect" charter school laws, however there is much we can learn from Arizona.

Thanks for all your work! As always, feel free to contact me.

Chris Bleak

President

chrisrbleak@yahoo.com

P.S. Don't forget! Our February Member Meeting will be on the 22 at 6:00pm in the west building on the Capitol complex room 30.  Representative Hughes and Senator Niederhauser will be speaking.

Legislative Session: Week 2

It has been another busy week for charter schools - two big wins this week, however the education base budget passed cutting $4M from charter schools.

Before I continue, given that it is the legislative session my colleagues and I believed it would be best to reschedule our member meeting for

February 22, 2011

6:00pm

West Building Room 30

Capitol Complex

We want you to be able to hear first hand from the legislators how you can support your charter school in the final weeks of the session.  Please invite board members, key parents, and directors to join us.  We will all need to band together to make sure charter schools are funded

 A few bills to watch:

Win #1: Representative Greg Hughes HB 83 Revolving Student Loan Fund

This bill allows charter schools continued access and use fund for capitol expenses.  It passed the House education committee and now moves to the House floor.

Win #2: Senator Stephenson SB 140 State Charter School Board Amendments

This bill will give you and the association a more prominent role in nominating members to the State Charter School Board.  It passed the Senate Education Committee and now moves to the Senate floor.

As I mentioned earlier, charter schools got $4M cut from the base budget, we have been meeting with legislators all week to see what we can do.  We have been assured that charters will not be harmed, however please watch your email for critical updates - we will send you an email alert to email and call your legislator in the coming week.

Thank you - every day somebody stops to tell me how much they love their charter school - you are making a difference.

Chris Bleak

President

chrisrbleak@yahoo.com

Legislative Session: Week 1

The Legislative Session has begun and the race is on. Local replacement funding is our number one concern this session -my team and I have met with legislators all week, but we are going to need your help. Most of the legislators agree that local dollars need to follow the student - but we are not counting any votes until they are cast.

Many of you may have heard that administrative funding ($4M) was cut from the base budget - yes the rumor is true. However, as we spoke with Representative Newbold (co-chair of Public Education Appropriations) she is very impressed with the efficiencies demonstrated by Charters and with your help we are confident we can get the funding you need.

Please check out the members on the Public Education Appropriations Committee - in the coming days and weeks we will need you to email, call, and talk with them.

Charter Day at the Capitol was on Thursday. Thank you to all of the schools who participated. We had numerous members of the Legislature visit with the schools and meet the kids. Check out the pictures here. Below is what a few people had to say about charter schools...

"What's great about charter schools is that each one of these schools here has a focus, and we can let the parents decide what is the best way for their children to learn."

Representative Derek Brown of Sandy

"Charter Schools are godsend"

Governor Gary Herbert

My team and I are excited about this session, we will keep you up to date on all the action, but if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Chris Bleak

President

chrisrbleak@yahoo.com

Lincoln Fillmore's analysis: What effect might the mid-term elections have on Utah's Charter Schools?

Read Lincoln Fillmore's analysis of the effect mid-term elections may have on Utah's charter schools HERE.