Planning and Starting a Charter School

Perhaps the most frequently-asked question of the Charter Schools Development Center is "how do I start a California charter school?" While there is no one "correct" process, and there is no specific "application," we offer the following general advice to those who are at the beginning stages of exploring whether and how to start a California charter school.

Overall timeframe: most successful charter school developers engage in a lengthy, thorough, and detailed process of planning their school, drafting their charter, gaining approval of the charter, and starting their school. This process can take anywhere from several months (in very accelerated efforts led by experienced and well-financed developers) to a year or more (typical of most development efforts). We generally recommend to begin the process roughly 18 months before you want the school to be open for its first students.

1. Business Plan: Though not specifically required by law, we highly recommend that charter developers first create a 25-50 page ‘business plan’ for the school. Business plans can vary in content, but one for a charter school would generally include at least:

• Mission and vision statements
• Positioning versus other educational options (e.g., traditional public schools, other charter schools, private schools)
• Marketing plan (e.g., to students/parents, potential employees, funders, your charter granting agency)
• Operations plan - how the school’s business tasks will be performed and an outline of facility/location options for the school
• Management Team – who is on the team starting this school, their background and areas of expertise
• Financial Plan – at least a basic revenue and expenditures plan for the startup and first 3 operational years of the school
  You can click here for a business plan outline for a charter school.

If you want help with this stage: Our free half-day Start Smart workshop provides an overview of the entire how to start a California charter school process. Information Services subscribers can receive a free ‘how-to’ guide on how to write a charter school-specific business plan. Lastly, CSDC can provide consulting assistance to help you write or review your business plan.

2. Charter petition: The first required step in starting a charter school is to draft a proposed charter petition and related documents. A charter petition acts as a contract between your school and a charter granting agency (which is usually, but not always, the local school district in which you want to be located and that serves the grades you want to serve). A charter petition can vary greatly in length, from 30 pages to hundreds of pages. We generally recommend about 50 to 75 pages of narrative, plus significant attachments. At a minimum, a charter petition is legally required to have the following components:

• Petition signatures
• Assurances, including that the charter school will not discriminate, teach religion, or charge tuition
• “Reasonably comprehensive” descriptions of 16 required topics
• Information on how the charter school might effect the district in which it is located
• A financial plan, including startup costs, three years of monthly cash flow projections, and (we recommend five years of) an operating budget

If you want help with this stage: Our half-day Petition Drafting and full-day Finance and Facilities workshop provides detailed information on the legal requirements and insider tips on writing a successful charter petition and creating the required financial plan. Information Services subscribers can receive expert assistance in answering questions and getting best practice tips through this stage. One of CSDC’s most popular services, we can also provide consulting assistance to help you create or review your charter petition or required financial plan.

3. Revisions and Approval: Although not required, CSDC recommends circulating the draft charter with staff from the charter granting agency (usually a school district) for commentary and feedback. The charter is then revised into a finalized charter petition. The charter petition would then have to be signed by the legally-required number of teachers or parents and then formally turned in to the charter granting agency. The board of the charter granting agency then must hold a public hearing within 30 days of when the petition is officially submitted and must vote on a granting/ denial decision within 60 days of when the petition is submitted (unless both parties agree to an additional 30 day extension).

If you want help with this stage: Information Services subscribers can receive expert assistance in answering questions and getting best practice tips through this stage. CSDC clients can receive direct help in initiating and responding to district feedback and can attend district board or staff meetings to assist developers create a successful school.

4. Launch: Assuming the charter is approved, the next step is to prepare for the opening of the school and the myriad tasks that must be accomplished and addressed before the school actually opens. Broadly speaking, these tasks include creating the:

• Educational program
• Legal and governance structure
• Student / Parent and employee outreach and recruiting processes
• Human Resources systems
• Plan to secure and prepare a facility
• Business and financial systems

If you want help with this stage: Our full-day Charter Launch workshop provides practical information and recommendations to assist your school get off the ground. Information Services subscribers can receive expert assistance in answering questions and getting best practice tips through this stage. CSDC also has Launch consulting assistance, where teams of CSDC experts assist your school to be successful from day one.

About CSDC: CSDC is a California-based nonprofit and is the nation’s oldest and most successful charter school support organization. We have helped start hundreds of charter schools in California, the nation, and internationally. We have provided support to nearly every successful charter school here in California. Our aim is to provide the support charter schools need to be successful. This can mean simply answering charter school questions, training those that work with charter schools, or more actively supporting clients through consulting services.

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