The League’s New School Development Program supports the growth, expansion and development of high quality charter schools. We believe that by providing support for schools from their first meetings as a founding committee through their second year of operations, we can better equip them for success—thereby furthering the League’s mission of improving student achievement and expanding choice among high quality public schools. The New School Development Program offers a variety of services as follows:

General Support for Developing Groups

This takes the form of general technical assistance available through having a League representative meet with your group to help structure a planning process, as well as on-going support via subsequent follow-up meetings, phone and email communications.  Support is also available through a variety of guiding documents that are available to developing groups including Quality Standards for Developing Groups (which includes detailed checklists for charter application components), Charter School Planning and Implementation Template, Checklist of Key Application Components, board resources such as the Board Profile Worksheet, Helpful Websites for Developing Groups, sample documents, etc.

Grant Opportunities

Through the League’s Grant Partners Program, we offer two grant opportunities for developing charter schools:

• Walton Family Foundation (WFF) Grant Partners Program—Because of the WFF’s focus on providing strong academic options for students from low-income backgrounds, this grant is only available to developing groups that will draw at least 50 percent of their students from the following school districts: Adams County District 50 (Westminster), Aurora Public Schools, Colorado Springs District 11, Denver Public Schools, Harrison District 2, and Jefferson County Public Schools. All schools should contact CLCS for guidance before applying for grant support under the Walton Family Foundation Grant Program.
• Other Planning Grants—Thanks to funding from the Daniels Fund, a small amount of startup funding is also available for all developing groups that will be drawing students from a school district not included in the Walton Family Foundation Grant Partners Program. Applying for one of these grants requires completion of a relatively simple grant application, which is available through the Colorado League of Charter Schools.

Charter Application Review

The League offers a charter application review process as part of its New Schools Development Program. A team of reviewers will carefully read each section of your application and provide constructive feedback on the quality of your application as measured against the Standards for Developing Charter Schools. In order to participate in the Charter Application Review process, a high-quality, completed draft of your application should be emailed to the League at least two months prior to the district or authorizer’s deadline for application submission.

General Technical Assistance

Through the New Schools Development Program and the Member Services Program, a variety of technical assistance is available to charter schools actively working towards opening. Technical assistance is available in a variety of areas including: quality and accountability, data and assessment, leadership and capacity building, business management, instructional design and curriculum development, legal review, governance training, charter contract negotiations, and facilities planning and financing.

For additional information about these services, follow the links above or contact Jim Ford at the Colorado League of Charter Schools at 303-989-5356.