Technical Assistance Resources
On a per pupil basis Idaho’s public charter school sector has been one of the nation’s fastest growing, rapidly diversifying, and highest achieving over the last five years. This growth was stimulated in part by a 2018 $22 million federal CSP grant awarded to the statewide charter school support organization Bluum. Bluum is the lead organization for this Building on Success for Future Excellence CSP grant proposal and will manage this grant. For a quick overview, see Idaho Public Charter School Basics.
Idaho Public Charter School Commission
The Idaho Public Charter School Commission offers a wealth of charter-related resources – links, tools and templates covering operations, finance planning, Performance Framework, and more:
- Support Materials – Find a pre-opening checklist and timeline, board and governance resources, and info about additional charter support organizations.
- PCSC Policies
- Research & Organizations – A list of organizations which provide additional support for charter schools in Idaho.
- New & Transfer Petitions – Idaho statute describes the process through which the PCSC may consider new charter petitions. Administrative rule and PCSC policy provide additional structure. Webinars on this page provide additional information about preparing a new petition, the petition process submission timeline, preparing a new petition budget, and the role of the authorizer.
Idaho State Department of Education
- Charter 101 Workshops – In Idaho, any organization submitting a charter school petition is required to attend the Charter Start 101 Workshop presented by the Idaho State Department of Education. Click the “Training” tab for current schedule, or contact Rachel Burk for more information.
- National Charter School Resource Center – The National Charter School Resource Center produces and gathers templates, best practices, and videos from supporting education organizations to provide the ultimate resource bank for the charter sector.
- Accountability – Schools can click here to understand Idaho’s ESSA indicators for the school report cards. For more information, contact Josh Noteboom.
- Idaho Charter School Growth Opportunities – Prepared by EcoNorthwest
Idaho Charter Law
- HB 422 Webinar– Idaho charter school legal expert and attorney, Chris Yorgason, shares what the Accelerating Public Charter School Act rewrite means for the state’s public charter schools and their efforts to educate students in the coming months and years.
The Request for Application competition will be announced on Bluum’s website. The following items are helpful to applicants during that process.
General Information
Budget and Finance
- 2024 Budget Narrative and Project Budget Instructions
- Federal CSP Grant Allowable Cost Guide
- Charter School Policy Manual
- How to Add a New Organization Profile on Grants.gov
- List of School District/Charter School Policy Links -The Idaho School Boards Association advocates for Idaho students and public education with leadership and service for local school boards.
Project Narrative
Priority Points
- Locale Lookup Tool –“Rural community,” for the purposes of the Federal CSP Grant application, is a community served by one or more local educational agencies (LEAs) (a) with a locale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43; or (b) that include a majority of schools with a locale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43. Applicants are encouraged to retrieve locale codes using this tool.
- Demographic and Enrollment Link– Use this state data resource to determine the school’s expected or actual demographics and enrollment, and to compare your expected demographics to the demographics of the source district(s) of the students
Community Engagement Plan
- Assessing Community Needs: Strategies for Charter Schools and Authorizers (wested.org)– As part of a body of work that focuses on the role of community needs and interests in charter authorizing, this brief provides guidance to charter school operators and authorizers about promising practices for assessing community needs. The brief provides examples of strategies that two charter schools and two authorizers have used for assessing community needs.
- Allowable Cost Guide
- Sales Tax Guidance
- CSP Procurement Policies for Idaho Charter Schools Webinar 05/25/21
- Charter School Facility Refinancing Guide & Toolkit – This peer-reviewed guide and toolkit, authored by Elise Balboni, will be a valuable asset for not only charter schools in Idaho, but other schools across the country that are in the process of financing or refinancing their charter school facilities. It is our sincere hope this guide will help schools maximize every dollar spent on facilities so they can spend more in the classroom with their students.
- Checklist for Sub Grantee Monitoring
- How to Create and Administer a Community Survey in the Charter Sector (wested.org) – This brief is part of a body of work that focuses on how community needs and interests can inform charter schools and charter authorizing, and offers guidance to authorizers, district offices, and CMOs on how to gather actionable insights about their community by using surveys. It presents some step-by-step recommendations for the process of administering an effective survey, specific to the charter sector.
- Establishing an Idaho College or University as an Authorized Chartering Entity – 2022
- Idaho Charter Market Analysis: Exploring Growth Opportunities for Idaho Charter Schools – 2022
- 2019 NACSA Authorizer Evaluation Report: Idaho Public Charter School Commission (IDAHO PCSC)
- Why Universities Choose to Authorize Charter Schools
- Treasure in the Valley: Demographic Changes and New School Opportunities in Ada and Canyon Counties
- Shifting Sands: Idaho’s Changing Student Demographics and What it Means for Education
- Idaho Charter School Growth Opportunities – 2019
- Idaho School Closure Plan
- Idaho Public Charter School Current Statute