Guidance for Applicants

Transcription

1 Charter School Business Plan Guidance for Applicants Charter Schools Institute The State University of New York

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3 Charter School National Authorizing Leader Business Plan Guidance Introduction As part of the SUNY Charter Schools Institute (Institute) RFP for Establishing a New Charter School, the Institute requests Business Plans for charter schools in New York termed notfor-profit education corporations that partner or intend to partner with not-for-profit charter management organizations (CMOs) or educational service providers (ESPs). The Institute carefully reviews these submissions to verify the organizational and fiscal capacity of partner organizations to fulfill contractual obligations to charter schools, and help assess the risk associated with replicators opening new schools. The Business Plan supports the Institute s work in evaluating the capacity for growth, whether the applicant is a single school seeking to replicate or a larger network of schools looking to grow. This document provides specific technical guidance and critical information about SUNY expectations for the submission of a Business Plan and is organized by the individual questions (requests) contained in the Institute s RFP for Establishing a Charter School, Appendix A: Business Plan Requirements and Guidance. The Business Plan component of the RFP focuses on eight key areas: Mission, Vision and Growth Plan; Market Analysis; Organizational Capacity; Network Management; Human Capital; Financial Plan and Capacity; Prior Performance; and Organizational Background. 3

4 4 Charter School Business Plan Guidance for Applicants Section 1: Mission, Vision and Growth Plan This section focuses on a high level overview of the organization s strategic vision for expansion, the specific timeline for rolling out new schools, and an assessment of the risks associated growth. 1. The Business Plan should include the organization s mission and vision. These may differ from the education corporation or school-level missions and visions. The Business Plan should also provide a narrative describing the organization s five-year growth plan. 2. The response should be well organized, clear and include all information found in the request. 3. The response to this request should provide insight into the organization s expansion plans and the decisions related to the pace and scope of the proposed growth. Further, the response should explain why the organization is well positioned to implement the growth plan. 4. Respondents should demonstrate an understanding of the challenges of replication in general and as they relate specifically to their organization s growth plans. The response should detail specific risks and explain how the organization will minimize the impact of each of these risks, and ideally provide contingency plans for them. Examples may include: Inability to secure facilities/facilities financing; Ability to raise philanthropic funding; Insufficient leadership pipeline/ability to recruit school leaders; and Ambiguous student performance outcomes and the need to curtail expansion if performance drops. 5. This request only applies to applicants who have already replicated or those who applied to replicate, were approved, but for some reason did not do so. Applicants who are proposing the first replication should respond N/A. Section 2: Market Analysis This section requests an explanation of the organization s targeted market selection and an assessment of the market attractiveness. 1. The response to this request should provide a brief description of the organization s target markets in New York State and identify the specific attributes that make these markets attractive to the organization. Further, the response should describe the strategic decision making process for selection of target markets. 2. See the guidance immediately above, no further guidance is required for this request. 3. The response to this request should provide an assessment of the organization s ability to meet enrollment projections and identify/hire staff in the targeted communities. A well written response will describe the competitive forces in the target community and explain why the organization is well positioned to be successful during the relevant time frames. Section 3: Organizational Capacity This section assesses the current and future capacity of the organization s leadership team and governance board to open and operate new schools in accordance with the growth plan. 1. The response to this request should provide the following: An overview of the organization s leadership structure and a brief job description for each position on the leadership team. For existing members of the leadership team, a description of team members experiences and areas of expertise (Please be sure to highlight how this team is uniquely qualified

5 Charter School Business Plan Guidance for Applicants 5 to successfully implement the organization s growth plan. Provide evidence and describe experiences that reflect the team s capacity to realize the proposed expansion). Resumes or detailed biographical statements for each member of the leadership team must be provided in the referenced Appendix. 2. The response to this request should explain the governance structure of the organization and its relationship to the education corporation and school governance structure(s). If the organization is a single charter school education corporation that does not contract with a CMO, ESP or partner organization providing a majority of the educational management services, the response to this request should explain the role of the education corporation board in managing any centralized functions versus managing the schools. If the education corporation and/or CMO, ESP or partner organization providing a majority of the educational management services has a board of trustees that is distinct from the school committees or board(s), the response to this question should articulate the responsibilities of each governance entity, the relationship between them, and any members that they would have in common. 3. If all of this information has already been provided as part of the RFP, please note or cross reference as such in response to this request and do not attach a second copy of the resumes. 4. The response to this request should highlight the collective experience and expertise of the organization s board of trustees/directors as it relates to the organization s mission, vision and strategic growth plan. 5. The response to this section should include a narrative overview of the organization s planned staffing over the next five years. If the applicant is a New York charter school education corporation that does not plan to partner with a CMO, ESP or partner organization providing a majority of the educational management services, the response to this request should describe any proposed staffing for a central office that serves the education corporation s schools. In addition to the narrative description, please provide the staffing table and organizational charts as requested. Section 4: Network Management This section seeks to gain insight into the role of the CMO, ESP, partner organization or education corporation, as the case may be, vis-à-vis its schools. This includes the services and/or goods provided to schools, the management and oversight of the schools, the fidelity of the model across schools, and the school-level degrees of flexibility. 1. The response to this request should provide a detailed description of the organization s structure and the role of any centralized offices in the management or oversight of the schools. If there are multiple levels of central offices, the response should explain the role of each office vis-à-vis the schools and how the offices interact. 2. The response to this request should provide a comprehensive description of the services provided by the organization to the schools and the cost for these services. The response should specifically delineate those services that are included in the proposed management contract and those that are shared among schools or separately billed by the CMO, ESP or partner organization providing a majority of the educational management services. If the organization is a New York charter school education corporation that does not partner with a CMO, ESP or partner organization providing a majority of the educational management services, the response should describe any centralized services, how costs are allocated to the various schools and how the schools will pay for those services (in the case of shared service agreements among education corporations). 3. The response to this request should provide a high-level description of the key systems and structures that the organization utilizes to deliver the services described in response to the previous question including any subcontractors or key licensed intellectual property.

6 6 Charter School Business Plan Guidance for Applicants Section 5: Human Capital 4. No guidance is required for this request, which is self-explanatory. 5. The Institute prefers to review a draft agreement in response to this request, even if the parties are still negotiating certain provisions. 6. The response to this request should address which entity has primary decision making authority and responsibility for the specified functions and any additional items the organization deems important. 7. The response to this request should provide details regarding the critical aspects of the educational and organizational models that are constant across all of the schools that the organization manages. 8. No guidance is provided for this request, which is self-explanatory. 9. The response to this request should detail the systems used to measure and evaluate both academic and non-academic performance of each school and the network as a whole. It should include key metrics used and describe the systems that the organization uses to collect data and monitor school performance. In addition, the response should describe how the organization addresses underperformance and describe the corrective action plan for schools that fall short of the organization s or authorizer s goals. 10. The response to this request should provide insight into what point the education corporation would choose to close an underperforming school and, for applicants applying with a partnering CMO or ESP, at what point the partnering organization would pull out of an under-performing school or urge the education corporation to close the school. This section seeks to understand how the organization intends to identify, recruit, develop and retain the organizational and school level staff necessary to realize the planned growth. 1. The response to this request should discuss the specific measures that the organization will take to add the leadership capacity necessary to realize the growth plan. It should also address: How the organization plans to identify leadership internally and externally; Who will be responsible for hiring leaders; The formal and informal systems in place to prepare leaders to assume their responsibilities; The organization s philosophy regarding internal promotions; The timing for identifying leaders in relation to the launch of a new school; and, Internal or external leadership training programs. 2. The response to this request should address how many staff the organization plans to hire each year and identify who specifically is responsible for recruitment and hiring at the organizational and school levels. Further, it should address how the organization will ensure that there are sufficient highly qualified candidates for all positions and describe the steps that the organization is taking to align the recruitment strategy with the growth plan. If applicable, the applicant may choose to refer to information from the response to Network Management, item 6 instead of repeating information. 3. The response to this request should provide a clear explanation of the evaluation process for school leaders. It should describe who, or which entity, is responsible for oversight and evaluation of school leaders and specifically address the role of the organization and New York charter school education corporation in this endeavor. Further, it should describe the metrics used to evaluate leadership, and the frequency of the evaluations. A strong response will also address the specific actions that the organization will take when school leaders are performing unsatisfactorily. 4. The response to this request should explain the organization s approach to compensation including salaries and benefits. It should discuss how the compensation structure enables the

7 Charter School Business Plan Guidance for Applicants 7 organization to attract and retain high quality staff and describe any incentive structures such as bonuses or merit pay. It should also describe how salaries compare to those in other charter schools and local districts. In addition, the organization should provide salary ranges and school level positions. Section 6: Financial Plan and Financial Capacity This section requests information necessary to evaluate the organization s financial health, and the viability of the proposed growth plan. 1. The financial model should integrate the individual school (if applicable), affiliates and network budgets to provide a consolidated summary for the organization. For the school level budgets, the applicant can either use the budgets prepared for the RFP or create new school level budgets as part of the integrated budget model. The organization should use revenue growth assumptions that are conservative and expense growth assumptions that are realistic. The school level and central office budgets should detail all major assumptions including but not limited to: Planned enrollment; Revenue; Local, state and federal per pupil revenues; Other public funds; Committed philanthropy; Non-committed philanthropy; Student fees; Other income; Personnel expenses; Salary table and number of staff by position; Annual salary increases; Benefits and payroll tax expenses; Non-Personnel expenses; Detailed breakout of all non-personnel expenses and associated assumptions; Management fees; and Capitalized expenditures. 2. A strong budget narrative will serve as a guide to the reviewer and provide budget highlights as well as detailed assumptions for all portions of the budget. Further, the narrative should address contingency plans in the event that the revenues are lower or expenses are higher than anticipated in the financial model. 3. If the budget includes fundraising revenue, the organization should provide a detailed development plan including a description of the staff divested to development. If the budget does not include any fundraising activity, please respond N/A to this request. 4. The response to this request should outline the school s and organization s distinct responsibilities as they pertain to financial management and financial oversight. Further, it should detail the process and frequency by which key financial information is communicated to and reviewed by both the school and the organization. Additionally, the response should address how financial management decisions are made for the proposed school including the parties involved in the decision making process.

8 8 Charter School Business Plan Guidance for Applicants 5. The response to this question should provide a detailed explanation of the organization s approach to school facilities. It should identify the entity that is responsible for acquiring and maintaining the school facilities for the schools and describe that entity s relationship to both the school and the organization. If costs related to the facility will be borne by the proposed school, it should identify the level of capital support the organization (or related party) is willing to provide to the school.