Association President and CEO Jake Logan sat down with Chamber Business News to discuss the state of Arizona’s charter movement, proposed legislation at the State Legislature and his vision for school choice in the state.
Logan also shares some tidbits from his personal and professional life, including his early life in southern Arizona, his tenure on the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools and how he developed his passion for education and charter schools.
By Eric Berschback
There are 554 public charter schools in Arizona, and nearly 200,000 public charter school students – but which cities in Arizona have the most parents and students choosing charters? To find out, we combined the physical address of every school in Arizona with each school’s enrollment figures from ADE’s 2017-18 enrollment file. The result was a city-level view of just how many students and parents are opting for public charter schools.
Phoenix unsurprisingly leads the way in absolute public charter student enrollment. Its 48,000-plus public charter students represent about 25 percent of all public charter enrollment in the state, and 20 percent of all public school students who attend a school – district or charter – within Phoenix. The top 20 cities for absolute public charter school enrollment in the 2017-18 school year are shown in the following table:
By Tara Boedigheimer
In 2011, when our son Drew was just two years old, we experienced every parent’s worst nightmare.
We were given the shocking and completely unexpected news, by a pediatric cardiologist, that our precious boy was critically ill with a very rare form of cardiomyopathy–and in need of a heart transplant. It was the only thing that could save his life. Not only that, he needed it immediately and the transplant program at Phoenix Children’s Hospital was very new and not approved by our insurance to handle Drew’s situation.
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.”
Association Chief Academic Officer Ildi Laczko-Kerr spoke with KTAR on Thursday to discuss the updated A-F letter grades and academic performance of public charter schools.
Nearly 40 percent of charter schools received an “A,” while 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.
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.
By Jamar Younger
Association COO/CFO Rob DiBacco recently sat down with Procurify, a company that helps organizations align spending with their business objectives, to discuss how he manages financial operations for the Association, ways to scale spend management sustainably and tips for how educational institutions should implement a purchasing process.
Di Bacco covers these topics and other lessons learned from a long career that’s spanned from the corporate world, where he worked as a bond underwriter for the Travelers Group, to Chile and Argentina, where led and founded The Gaia School, and finally to Arizona, where he’s handled the Association’s finance and operations for eight years.
By Jamar Younger
As we approach the 25th anniversary of public charter schools in Arizona, charter school enrollment continues to surge with almost 200,000 students now attending the state’s charter schools.
This growth, along with the increasing prevalence of open enrollment, signals that parents are demanding more and varied choices for their students.
The State Board for Charter Schools on Monday added even more choices for families by approving charters for 10 new schools that plan to open for the 2019-20 school year.
These new public charter schools will add 3,187 new seats for Arizona students and families who are seeking more diverse educational options. As part of our strategic efforts to increase access to quality charter schools, the Arizona Charter Schools Association contributed to the creation of more than 2,600 of these seats by providing support to these new schools through consulting, charter application reviews, mock interviews and other workshops.
These new charters will be spread throughout the Phoenix Valley, situated in areas such as Maricopa, Apache Junction, Phoenix’s Maryvale neighborhood and Goodyear.