New School Development & Replication
"Focus on Boosting Performance from the Ground Up"
The Colorado League of Charter Schools offers direction and assistance to groups looking to start a new charter school or replicate a successful charter school model.
If you are interested in starting a charter school in Colorado, please start by visiting http://startacoloradocharter.org/ then contact Kathy Zlomke at the Colorado League of Charter Schools for additional support at 303-989-5356, ext. 104 or kzlomke@coloradoleague.org.
The League provides a variety of services to support the development, growth, expansion and replication of high quality charter schools. The League's new school development services are designed to support planning efforts from the time founding groups first meet, through a school's second year of operation. For existing schools that seek to grow, expand, or replicate, the League offers assistance in strategic, business and multi-year financial and operations planning.
- New School Development
- Growth, Expansion, and Replication
- Access to Grant Opportunities
- Fiscal Agent Services
- Charter Application Review
- Resources and Links
For additional information about the League's New School Development and Replication Services, contact Kathy Zlomke at 303-989-5356, ext. 104.
League representatives meet with founding groups to help structure a planning process, identify planning team capacity needs, and arrange for ongoing support via subsequent follow-up meetings, and phone and email communications throughout your new school planning process. The League provides school planning and implementation templates, best practices, excerpts from successful charter school applications, planning facilitation, and standards for developing high-quality charter school applications.
Growth, Expansion, and Replication
The League facilitates meetings with school boards and leadership to design a process and timetable for developing a business plan and a growth, expansion, or replication strategy. The League also provides samples of well-developed business plans, assistance with multi-year and multi-site financial forecasting, and feedback on draft plans.
The League offers a number of services that can help connect new and developing charter schools with critical planning/start-up funding needed to become and produce high-quality schools.
For example, the League's Grant Partners Program administers planning and start-up grants on behalf of the Walton Family Foundation and other funders. Some grants are restricted to planned new schools with a high percentage of students eligible for free and reduced-price meals.
As grant requirements change often, be sure to contact the League's New School Development department to determine eligibility.
The League is available to serve as a fiscal agent for developing charter school groups that do not yet have their tax-exempt status.
The League strongly encourages new school developers to request reviews of, and feedback on, draft charter school applications prior to submitting them to an authorizer. A team of internal and external reviewers are available, through the League, to evaluate each section of a draft application and provide constructive feedback about its comprehensiveness based on the League's Quality Standards for Developing Charter Schools. In order to allow time for revisions after the League's review process, near final draft applications should be emailed to the League at least two months prior to an authorizer's submission deadline.