Nevada SPCSA : Options for Structuring LEA Responsibilities

1. Nevada SPCSA: Options for Structuring LEA Responsibilities Revised 12 December 2018

2. Agenda for Today • Review Project Context & Objectives • Overview of Objective 1 • Key Activities • Key Findings & Exhibits • Preliminary Recommendations • Overview of Objective 2 • Key Activities • Key Findings & Exhibits • Preliminary Recommendations • Questions & Discussion

3. Project Context & Objectives This presentation outlines the preliminary findings from a scope of work that we have undertaken as contractors for the Nevada State Public Charter School Authority. The SPCSA initiated this project at the urging of the Governor’s Office and in collaboration with the Nevada Department of Education. Our initial project objectives were to: • Articulate a best-practice service delivery model for the SPCSA and NV charter schools, and • Recommend a process by which individual SPCSA-sponsored charter schools could qualify for and transition to independent local education agency status.

4. Objective 1: Key Activities Undertaken • Review of local context to understand how SPCSA operates today • Review of national landscape to understand how other states have addressed the question of LEA responsibilities • Benchmarking exercise with national peers to assess structure, staffing, resources, legal standing, and other factors for the SPCSA • Articulation of likely SPCSA responsibilities in the case that SPCSA must serve as the full LEA for its schools; • Analysis of SPSCA’s proposed staffing model for 2019-20

5. Objective 1: Key Findings • There is no perfect model for distributing LEA responsibilities and, as a result, local context is key to developing a sound plan for Nevada • Most national peers do not serve as the full LEA for their authorized charter schools • The two organizations that do serve as the full LEA (the South Carolina Public Charter School District and the Colorado Charter Schools Institute) have significantly higher levels of staffing • To serve as a full LEA, the SPCSA will need to build significant capacity - in particular, a team of up to six individuals to work with SPCSA schools on matters of special education services and compliance • To transition to a full LEA will take time and require significant change management because it will have a material impact on not just the SPCSA but also the charter schools and the NDE

6. Objective 1: National Peer Staffing & Budget Comparison This staffing comparison demonstrates that the Nevada SPCSA is staffed at low levels compared to the staffing for those statewide authorizers that also serve as a full LEA. The OPSB’s LEA office is also included for comparison.

7. Objective 1: Preliminary Recommendations In order to achieve success as a full LEA, the SPCSA will need to meaningfully enhance its staffing and may need to undertake significant restructuring activities - for this reason, we recommend: • The SPCSA should work in partnership with the NDE according to operationalize full LEA responsibilities over the course of the next two to three years. • The SPCSA should be restructured to operate in the long run with two parallel portfolios of charter schools: one portfolio of schools that have achieved independent LEA status, and another that is not eligible for independent status due to capacity, scale, or other considerations.

8. Objective 2: Key Activities Undertaken • Review of SPCSA survey findings regarding LEA transition; • Discussion with staff at NDE, SPCSA, a large NV charter school organization, and others • Review of national landscape for LEA transitions; • Analysis of Orleans Parish School Board (Louisiana) experience with permitting schools to become their own LEA;

9. Objective 2: Key Findings • SPCSA charter schools need the opportunity to learn what it means to serve as their own LEA; • Prior to any transition, the SPCSA and the NDE need to reach an explicit agreement on how each party will engage with independent LEA charter schools on questions of support and oversight; • The SPCSA may always need to serve as the LEA some of its schools and will need to develop the appropriate structure and staffing to accommodate a mixed portfolio of schools (some but not all as independent LEAs)

10. Objective 2: Lessons Learned from OPSB’s Charter LEA Transitions

11. Objective 2: Roadmap to Prepare for Charter LEA Transitions

12. Objective 2: Preliminary Recommendations We recommend that the SPCSA work with the NDE to develop a process according to which all current SPCSA schools have an opportunity to learn about independent LEA status, receive topical professional development and technical assistance, demonstrate the capacity to serve as their own LEA, and transition to independent LEA status no earlier than the 2021-22 academic year. We recommend that the SPCSA defer to the NDE as to what is an appropriate volume of independent LEA transitions to undergo each year; given the work associated with creating and overseeing a new LEA, it could be that it is best to limit LEA transitions to only a few organizations per year.

13. Questions & Discussion • What initial questions do you have? • Where would you like to drill down and review supporting documentation? • What would you like us to explore further?