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Outside operators receive charters or contracts to run charter or contract schools, generally for three, five or eight-year terms. As part of the routine management of these schools, an evaluation (called operator renewal) conducted in the final year of the contract or charter leads to a decision on whether to renew the contract or charter for a subsequent term, or to non-renew the contract or charter.
City Schools’ operator renewal criteria are based on state law (§ 9-101, et seq., MD. CODE ANN., EDUC.) and Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners’ policy IHBJ and associated administrative regulations (IHBJ-RA and JFA-RA). The Board’s policy requires that schools up for renewal be evaluated on multiple measures including, but not limited to, the following:
The renewal process is a component of City Schools’ annual review of its schools, designed to ensure that students and families across the district have access to school options that meet their interests and needs.
The process uses the following components:
The Charter and Operator-led Schools Advisory Board reviews these materials to inform the renewal recommendations it makes to City Schools’ CEO.
The CEO, through administrative review, considers the recommendations of the Charter and Operator-led Schools Advisory Board, and the quantitative and qualitative review, and then makes her own recommendation to the Board. In some instances, the nature or severity of an issue raised during the renewal process is serious enough to give it extra weight in formulating the renewal recommendation and, ultimately, the renewal decision, especially in instances where the issue affects the well-being of students, staff, or the district as a whole. The components of the review and the CEO’s recommendation are summarized in a renewal report for each school.
The ultimate decision on all operator renewals rests with the Board, which considers the recommendations and rationale of the CEO, the operator renewal report, testimony given at public Board meetings and work sessions, the contents of the official record and the factors listed in policy IHBJ and administrative regulation IHBJ-RA for charter schools, and, for non-charter schools, policy FCA and administrative regulation FCA-RA. This includes the Board’s ability to consider prior partial renewal terms afforded to operators who have had serious challenges in the prior renewal that remain issues that continue to affect the wellbeing of students, staff, or the district as a whole based on evidence in this renewal process. In particular, as Policy IHBJ states, “[t]he Board may decide that a public charter school is not eligible for two consecutive partial renewals.”
The timeline has been extended for the 2022-23 renewal process so that 2021-22 MCAP scores can be considered prior to renewal recommendations being made.
MCAP data is considered in three metrics used in the renewal rubric:
Ratings for these metrics will be pending until the release of MCAP data. Once the data is available, operators will have a chance to provide supplemental information, these metrics will be rated, and renewal recommendations will be formulated considering the entirety of the renewal rubric, including the supplemental information provided by operators. We now know that MCAP data will be released on January 27, 2023. This release date is later than originally expected and will require an extension of the renewal timeline. The updated timeline is below.
Actions | Timeline | |
Renewal application due from operators | September 1, 2022 | |
Charter and Operator-led Schools Advisory Board reviews renewal applications and provides advice to the CEO on renewal recommendations | September to October 2022, and January 2023 | |
District presents preliminary findings of strengths and weaknesses to Board at public meeting | November 9, 2022 | |
Work Session announcing CEO's renewal recommendations and providing operators the opportunity to provide oral testimony to Board in a meeting open to the public | January 26, 2023 | |
Board votes on renewal recommendations | February 14, 2023 | |
Work Session providing operators the opportunity to provide oral testimony to Board in a meeting open to the public | February 16, 2023 | |
Board votes on renewal recommendations at a special meeting | February 23, 2023 |
Updated February 24, 2023
Operator Renewal | |||||
School | Renewal Recommendation | Community Letter | Renewal Reports | School Effectiveness Review | Board vote (February 23) |
Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys | 3-year renewal with conditions | Letter | Report | Spanish | Effectiveness Review | In Favor-11 Absent-0 Abstain-1 Opposed-0 |
Baltimore International Academy | 3-year renewal | Letter | Spanish | Report | Spanish | Effectiveness Review | In Favor-10 Absent-1 Abstain-0 Opposed-0 |
Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women | 3-year renewal | Letter | Report | Spanish | Effectiveness Review | In Favor-10 Absent-1 Abstain-0 Opposed-0 |
Coppin Academy | 3-year renewal | Letter | Report | Spanish | Effectiveness Review | In Favor-10 Absent-1 Abstain-0 Opposed-0 |
The Crossroads School | 8-year renewal | Letter | Spanish | Report | Spanish | Effectiveness Review | In Favor-10 Absent-1 Abstain-0 Opposed-0 |
Empowerment Academy | 8-year renewal with conditions | Letter | Report | Spanish | Effectiveness Review | In Favor-10 Absent-1 Abstain-0 Opposed-0 |
Hampstead Hill Academy | 8-year renewal | Letter | Spanish | Report | Spanish | Effectiveness Review | In Favor-10 Absent-1 Abstain-0 Opposed-0 |
Lillie May Carroll Jackson School | 3-year renewal | Letter | Report | Spanish | Effectiveness Review | In Favor-10 Absent-1 Abstain-0 Opposed-0 |
Midtown Academy | 8-year renewal with conditions | Letter | Report | Spanish | Effectiveness Review | In Favor-10 Absent-1 Abstain-0 Opposed-0 |
Patterson Park Public Charter School | 8-year renewal | Letter | Spanish | Report | Spanish | Effectiveness Review | In Favor-10 Absent-1 Abstain-0 Opposed-0 |
REACH! Partnership School | 5-year renewal | Letter | Report | Spanish | Effectiveness Review | In Favor-10 Absent-1 Abstain-0 Opposed-0 |