Friday, February 6th, 2009 at the OAPCS Office (33 N. Third Street, 6th Floor), from 9 am - 12 noon.
Lorrie Germann, eRate Manager for eTech Ohio will walk participants through the filing of the Form 471 eRate Form. To be able to participate in the eRate Program, your school must have submitted a Form 470 byJanuary 15th.
Please contact Melissa Cartier to secure your seat at this workshop. Melissa can be reached at mcartier@oapcs.org, or (614) 744-2266, ext. 200.
The Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools (OAPCS) is committed to visiting Ohio's charter schools during the next few months.
If your school is hosting a activity that you would like for the OAPCS to come and be a part of, or you would just like to share a typical school day, please contact Kelly Buskirk to make arrangements for a member of the OAPCS staff to visit your school. As your state association, it is important for us to see - first hand - the accomplishments you and your team are making with students on a daily basis.
Opening at OAPCS
The Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools has an immediate opening for a part-time regional representative in the Cleveland/Toledo area. If you or someone you know is interested in joining the OAPCS team, please review the job description and contact Crystal Craig.
Contact Us
Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools
33 N. Third Street,
Suite 600
Office: (614) 744-2266
Fax: (614) 744-2255 www.oapcs.org
The next two months are critical community charter school action months. On January 28, the Governor will be making his state of the state address. The following week the Governor will present his biennial budget. The Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools is in the midst of an advocacy campaign intended to impact this political and budgetary process. The OAPCS campaign will affect schools, parents, legislators and lobbyists. You may have already felt the impact of some of these initiatives through focus groups, surveys, and other related outreach.
Sometime in the next two weeks, each member school of the Ohio Alliance will receive a suite of five monographs, brochures on specific topics related to charter schools. They are titled as follows:
Straight Talk About Charter Schools – (A general overview on charters)
Straight Talk About e-Schools
Straight Talk About Dropout Recovery Schools
Straight Talk About Special Purpose Schools
Straight Talk About “For-Profits”
(A sixth piece is a one-sheet “fast facts” about charter schools)
What can you do?
Use these concise and straight-forward documents to “set the record straight” about charter schools and to counter myths that have been manufactured against community charter schools.
Share the documents with staff, parents and board members. All will be available on our web site filed under “reports.”
Be proactive with your legislators about your school’s interests, needs and role within your community and of course about the importance of maintaining school-choice options.
Finally, if you need information or data related to your representatives (voting record, number of schools they represent, number of students they represent, etc., please contact Catherine West in our offices. We have these data.
Special Report: “An Evaluation of the Economic Benefits of High School Education”
Members will also be receiving “An Evaluation of the Economic Benefits of High School Education”a study commissioned by the OAPCS and prepared by the Economics Center for Education & Research at the University of Cincinnati. This 30-page report makes a powerful case for the role of dropout-recovery charter schools. Typically 40,000 students drop out of Ohio high schools every year. Three teasers from the report's conclusions:
On average, individuals who complete their high school education can realize a lifetime benefit of over $470,000.
In a lifetime, each high school graduate will contribute an additional $26,508 in income and sales tax and require $105,280 less in government assistance, and, as a graduate instead of a dropout, would save the state of Ohio $77,714 in incarceration costs.
Upon adding all productivity benefits and savings to the government, this report concludes that Ohio residents can realize a full lifetime benefit of more than $661,493 per high school graduate.
Look for this important report on our web sitein the next week. Members will receive a complimentary copy in the mail.
Finally, don’t count on others do the important advocacy work for our charter school community. At this critical juncture, we need everyone’s help. Please contact Catherine West if you are interested in helping with our grassroots advocacy campaign. It’s one for all and all for one.
OAPCS launches membership and grassroots advocacy surveys
The Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools (OAPCS) is hoping you will take a few minutes to complete two very important surveys.
The charter school and associate membership annonymous survey will use your feedback to assess products, services and programs that OAPCS will provide to you in 2009. A printed version of this survey was sent to you the first week in January. Please submit take a few moments and complete this online or by filling out the hard copy and return it to OAPCS by Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009.
You can support the OAPCS grassroots initiatives by completing a brief grassroots survey by Friday, January 16. Completing the survey will provide us with information about your past grassroots activities and those in which you may participate in the future. A hard copy of the survey has also being sent to schools to accommodate those who prefer to mail the completed document to the OAPCS.
If you have completed these surveys, OAPCS would like to thank you.
21st Century Grants is a federally funded grant program that supports high-quality, before- and after-school learning opportunities and related activities for students who attend eligible schools. Amounts range from $50,000 - 200,000/yr, and there is not funding match required. To participate in the FY10 grant process, new applicants must participate in the Mandatory Overview Elluminate Session, to be held on January 29, 2009. Information on this session is included in the attached PDF and on the ODE website.
All participants must register for this training using ODE’s SAFE and STARS systems.
This is a competitive grant. The ODE contact is Cheryl K.Kish, Grant Coordinator, at (877) 644-6338. Charters are encouraged to apply and to partner with local agencies and traditional schools.
CCIP Application Is Open from February 2 to April 24, 2009—for FY 2010 new and continuation grant applicants.
The Public Charter Schools Program (PCSP) competitive planning/implementation and dissemination grants will be available from February 2, 2009 through April 24, 2009 in the Comprehensive Competitive Improvement Plan (CCIP) on the Ohio Department of Education Web site. Schools in their first three years of operation may apply for competitive implementation grants, while a planning grant of up to $50,000 will be available for work on an unopened school. Implementation recipients will be eligible for $225,000 annually for up to two years.
Any school that is currently receiving a PCSP grant must complete an annual CCIP continuation application to receive funding for years two or three. The award amount for currently funded schools remains $150,000 annually.
Competitive dissemination grants are available to schools in operation more than three years that have strong parental support, good fiscal strength and success in improving student achievement. They are invited to seek funding to develop and promote their promising practices to all Ohio public schools. Grant amounts will vary according to the project needs and timelines.
Comprehensive grant guidance for each grant and a sample application are posted in the CCIP Doc Library for Community Schools (accessible without logging into the CCIP) and on the OCS Web page “Community School Grant Information” (search “Funding for Community Schools”).
Please remember that failure to submit an application in “superintendent approved” status by the deadline will result in no funding. Malfunctioning computer equipment, failure to have a SAFE account for required approvers, or inability to access the CCIP, will not be accepted as grounds for an appeal.
2009 Elluminate Training Schedule for PCSP Grants
The Office of Community Schools (OCS) will be holding trainings for Public Charter School Program (PCSP) grant applicants every Tuesday throughout February. The topics will cover everything from how to use the CCIP to the individual grant requirements. A final session will provide sponsors an overview of the PCSP process as well as an opportunity for feedback on how effective the trainings were, any changes they would like to see made, and suggestions how OCS can work more closely with community school sponsors to promote PCSP grants and the development of high-quality community schools. Sponsors are welcome to attend any of the trainings. Please share information about the trainings with anyone who may be currently developing community schools, as well as those who are thinking about creating a new school. We encourage applicants to apply for the planning grant, as the planning year can be critical in developing a strong, high-quality school.
All training times are on Tuesday from 1:30 - 3:30pm. The session begins promptly at 2:00pm, so please be logged in before this time. The password for all sessions is PCSP. Use the following link to access the Elluminate site, and then use the calendar to select the training date:
2/3 – “How to Use the CCIP to Apply for Public Charter Schools Program (PCSP) Funding”
2/10 – “An Overview of the Public Charter Schools Program (PCSP) Planning and Implementation Grants: Important Points for Applicants”
2/17 – “Dissemination Grants for the Public Charter School Program (PCSP): Eligibility and Purpose”
2/24 – “Community School Sponsors: Timeline and Guidance for Grant Applicants”
Please contact Susan Moss at 614-644-3573, if you have additional questions.
The United States of America is getting ready to celebrate an historic moment with the inauguration of our first African American President, Barak Obama. OAPCS has compiled the following resources to assist you with planning activities for inauguration. There are many classroom related activities to connect students to this historical moment:
