Author: acs@@dmin

Phoenix (Feb. 14) – The Arizona Charter Schools Association is pleased to announce Jake Logan will serve as President & CEO for the non-profit organization.

Logan is an Arizona community leader and public policy expert with 25 years of experience in business and politics. As President & CEO of the Association, he will be charged with leading strategic planning, policy, communications, fundraising and other initiatives for the state’s leading charter support organization. More than 550 public charter schools serve nearly 200,000 students statewide.

“On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, we are excited to have Jake lead our organization,” said Jay Heiler, Chairman of the Association Board of Directors. “His years of experience, both in public policy and as a member of the Arizona State Board for Charter schools – combined with his strong leadership skills – make him an ideal leader for our organization.”

Phoenix (Jan. 28, 2019) – The Arizona Charter Schools Association is pleased to announce that the State Board of Education has approved $10 million in federal Charter School Program grants. These dollars will increase the number of high-quality, public charter schools serving disadvantaged students in Arizona. The schools will create nearly 3,000 additional seats for Arizona’s students. Via the Charter School Program, the federal grants commit $250,000 annually for five years to eight schools that will cater to underserved students by either opening new schools, replicating campuses, expanding enrollment or adding grade levels.

“The Arizona Charter Schools Association applauds Governor Ducey for his continued commitment to K-12 education, as demonstrated by his proposed Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2020.

“In public education, everything starts with a great teacher. That’s why it’s so important the Governor’s spending plan allocates critical funding to further boost teacher pay, making good on the Governor’s promise to increase average teacher compensation 20 percent by 2020. These dollars will help public charter schools recruit and retain quality teachers for our classrooms. Added funding for school counselors is another urgent need in our schools that this budget takes a solid step toward addressing,” said acting Association CEO Robert Di Bacco.

“Additionally, this budget proposal significantly augments the existing Results Based Funding initiative to incentivize and reward high-achieving public schools, especially those serving low-income students. Arizona needs more quality classroom seats in outstanding schools, and Results Based Funding is one more tool to achieve this.

“Lastly, Governor Ducey’s budget plan proposes an extra $785,500 for the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools – enabling the oversight body to hire 10 extra staff to monitor academic, operational and financial performance at charter schools, as well as investigate complaints. The Arizona Charter Schools Association supports this effort to root out misconduct and ensure accountability on behalf of Arizona taxpayers and the nearly 200,000 students attending charter schools statewide.”

Phoenix (Jan. 17, 2019) – The State of Arizona has issued final school letter grades for 2017-18, finding nearly 4 in 10 public charter schools earned an “A” grade and almost 7 in 10 received an “A” or “B” grade. For the sake of comparison, 1 in 4 district schools received an “A,” and just over half got an “A” or “B” grade.

State-issued A-F school grades were initially made public in October 2018. Final performance scores now announced come following a multi-month appeals process in which letter grades were amended for 25 schools statewide. The latest charter performance scores for 2017-18 represent an improvement over 2016-17, when 66 percent of public charter schools earned an “A” or “B” grade.

Phoenix, Ariz. (November 19, 2018) – Arizona’s public charter school movement is approaching its 25th year of providing high-quality educational options to the state’s students. Charter students have outperformed their peers on the state’s AzMERIT test for four years in a row and outpaced the gains of their state-level peers on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 2017. Arizona’s charter sector also led the state in the percentage of A-and B-rated schools for the second year in a row.

Our charter teachers, schools, leaders and supporters serve as the main catalysts for this success. The Association is proud to celebrate these success stories through our 2018 Charter Awards, highlighting outstanding examples of public charter school excellence in teaching, academic leadership and school-wide success.

We will honor our winners and finalist at a ceremony on Dec. 5 at the Hotel Palomar in downtown Phoenix.