The Sponsor Assistant Network Staff are available to answer any questions you might have related to charter school sponsorship. You can browse other previously asked questions further down on this page, or send a mail to sponsors@educationevolving.org with your own question if you can't find the answer you're looking for.

Previously Asked Questions

Should a sponsor have a seat on the school board of schools they sponsor?

This has to be answered in two parts. First let's deal with the "start-up board. "The law does not prohibit the sponsor having a seat on the "start- up board." However, the Sponsor's Network recommends against this practice for two reasons: first, by being on the board, the sponsor is wearing two hats. It is the sponsor which has the responsibility to provide oversight of the school. By being a sitting board member, it now is part of the school. It cannot really do both without the potential for a conflict of interest. The second reason is that it removes the immunity from the sponsor. The law, at section 124D.10 subd 25 (c) provides: "The commissioner, a sponsor, members of the board of a sponsor in their official capacity and employees of a sponsor are immune from civil or criminal liability with respect to all activities relating to a charter school they approve or sponsor." If the sponsor is no on the charter school board, it may have erased that statutory protection. The second part of the answer addresses after the start-up board. The law provides that by the end of the third year of operation, the majority of the board must be licensed teachers that are employees of the school and the board must be selected by parents with students at the school and teachers at the school (120D.10 subd 4 (d)). At this point, the sponsor would not be eligible for the board.

What role does the sponsor have in terms of student achievement at the school?

Naturally the sponsor wants to provide as much assistance as it can to the school so that the students learn. Perhaps employees of the sponsor can do mentoring, tutoring or other volunteer work at the school. Also, depending on the competencies of the staff of the sponsor, it may be able to provide consultation in certain areas. Perhaps, during the course of oversight, the sponsor may identify areas needing improvement which may directly impact learning. However, the bottom line is that the sponsor is responsible for holding the school accountable for the provisions of the contract and not for the results which the school accomplishes.

If the sponsor is the organization responsible for granting the charter, what is the role of the Minnesota Department of Education and why do they do a complete application review?

The MDE has stepped into the application process for a very good reason. That being, until recently, some sponsors have not been doing their job. Some school applications which were very poorly prepared were given sponsor approval and the schools ended up on "the front page of the paper." These sponsors did not understand their very important role. They were told, "You just need to sign this affidavit. That's all you need to do." As a result of quite a few of these developments, the MDE simply had to step in and redo the application review. Discussions are now underway to change this as sponsors understand their vital role.