Four regulations related to charter schools became effective on March 9 and address charter school student application, lottery and enrollment; evaluation of charter school authorizers; charter school appeals process; and conversion charter school petition, conversion and operation. The regulation addressing the evaluation of authorizers, 701 KAR 8:020, and the training it requires have caused the most concern and confusion for school board members. For some clarity, we’ll turn to five commonly asked questions about charter authorizer training.
What does 701 KAR 8:020 require regarding authorizer training? The regulation states, in pertinent part, that authorizers with eight or fewer years of experience (which, of course, includes all school board members in 2018) must complete 12 hours or competency-based training annually and authorizers with more than eight years of experience must complete eight hours or competency-based training annually within these topics:
1. Financial governance and transparency;
2. Conflict of interest;
3. Charter application;
4. Charter school contracting;
5. Charter school monitoring;
6. Charter school renewal, nonrenewal, and revocation;
7. Charter school closure;
8. Ethics;
9. Curriculum and instruction;
10. Education services provided for special needs, at risk, English learner, gifted, and other special population students; and
11. Physical restraint and seclusion of students.
All authorizer training must be approved by the commissioner of education.
How does charter authorizer training interact with existing board training requirements? During the regulatory process and in response to a request KSBA made in its public comments, the Kentucky Board of Education added language to make clear that relevant training could be counted toward the other already existing board member training requirements (KRS 160.180 and 701 KAR 8:020). Specifically, per the regulation, authorizer training “may also count toward the board of education member training requirements of KRS 160.180, to the extent the requirements of both are met by the content of the training.”
The Kentucky Department of Education also has repeatedly stated that the regulation was intended to put authorizer training in line with existing requirements, for maximum overlap with other training topics already required of school board members. This is analogous to dual credit. Of the 11 areas of training specified in 701 KAR 8:020, several topics (e.g., financial governance and transparency, conflicts of interest, and ethics) have already been incorporated into existing KSBA trainings.
What is the deadline to complete authorizer training?Board members have until December 31, 2019, to complete the initial 12 hours of authorizer training and can combine training taken in both 2018 and 2019 to do so. In 2020 and beyond, authorizer training will be tracked and reported to the KBE on an annual basis, the same way existing board training is tracked and reported by KSBA.
Is charter-related competency-based training currently available? While competency-based training is an option in lieu of seat time for authorizers, KSBA is unaware of a competency-based program specific to charter schools. However, KSBA and KDE are collaborating to maximize the amount of authorizer training that overlaps with existing board training requirements and anticipate developing a charter-related competency-based program as well as additional online training resources in the future.
What else do I need to know about authorizer training at this time? Board members should recognize that a lack of training does not alleviate a board’s authorizing responsibilities. The required training supports high-quality charter authorizing but is not a prerequisite to a board receiving and reviewing charter applications as required by law.
For more information, including details about upcoming training opportunities, please visit our website.
You can also call KSBA at 800-372-2962.