The CANEC board hopes these principles will help schools as they look to charter renewal. We encourage schools to review them and possibly revise them to meet your school's needs.

We would like to thank Eric Premack of the Charter Schools Development Center for his contribution in drafting the Renewal Principles. These principles will also be discussed during a half day workshop and other sessions on charter renewal at the CANEC conference.

1. MISSION & VISION CHECK

The renewal process provides an opportunity to revisit and refine the school's vision. Charter schools should:

1. Is our mission and vision clearly defined?
2. Is the mission and vision clearly understood throughout the school?
3. Does everyone at the school believe in our mission and vision?

2. HOW HAVE WE DONE?

Many charter developers are surprised when they review the terms of their charter document as they are reminded of the many goals and commitments they made so long ago.
Renewal requires that charter schools take stock of what they have accomplished and ask:

1. What did we promise in our charter?
2. How did we measure and assess our progress?
3. Do we have credible data documenting our progress?

3. DOES "CHARTER" STILL FIT

California's Charter Act is designed for educators who share a strong and common commitment to deliver student performance in exchange f evelop a school with few regulatory strings attached. If steps 1 and 2 lead to any substantive doubts about the school's commitment to students, or if there is any doubt about the school's willingness to be held accountable for results, continuing as a charter school probably doesn't make sense. Charter schools with firm resolve should reaffirm their commitment and make preparations to move to the next level.

4. DO WE HAVE A QUALITY CHARTER CONTRACT?

Too many California charters are documents filled with hopes and dreams, but lacking in the contractual rigor demanded in California's rough-and-tumble school district dominated charter process. Renewal is an important opportunity to upgrade charters to capture both hopes and dreams AND contractual rigor.
Charter developers should redraft their charter document into a binding, performance-based contract (or develop an equivalent memorandum of understanding) with all of the following elements:

1. A clear mission and vision statement
2. Measurable student performance goals and standards, aligned with newly- developed state content and performance standards.
3. A valid and reliable assessment system to measure student progress using a balanced mix of assessment tools, including the newly-required STAR test
4. All needed legal, fiscal, and other contractual provisions
5. A pre-determined monitoring and renewal process (see below)

5. CLARIFY THE MONITORING AND RENEWAL PROCESS

California's charter laws do not clearly specify the charter oversight and renewal process. Many school districts are lax in their oversight of charter schools. Other districts are unwilling to engage in a good faith charter review and renewal process.
To remedy this, charter schools undergoing renewal should add provisions to their charter that:

1. Clearly specify how the charter school will report to its charter-granting agency regarding student and school performance on an annual basis, as required by law.
2. Bind the charter-granting agency to review and formally respond to this dispute resolution matters, as now required by law, and which clearly specify how charter revocation proceedings would work in practice.
3. Bind the charter-granting agency to a good faith charter renewal process pursuant to a pre-determined process and timeline.

Renewal is a time to reexamine the fundamentals. While the above-listed steps are designed to ensure a fair accountability relationship between the school and its charter granting agency, the school should also examine (and if necessary establish) strong INTERNAL accountability structures and practices.
Charter schools should:

1. Reexamine their governance structures (bylaws, board composition and effectiveness, etc.) and ask whether the governing board is really holding the school accountable to its mission and vision. If not, it may be time to redraft bylaws, reconstitute the board, etc.
2. Undertake similar examinations of administrative staff and administrative practices, staffing policies and procedures, parent and student accountability relationships, and fiscal management and budgeting practices.