Public Charter Schools Eligible to Apply Directly for Student Investment Account Grants

Oregon Department of Education sent this bulletin at 10/21/2022 10:57 AM PDT

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Public Charter Schools Eligibility - Special Message

Public Charter Schools Eligible to Apply Directly for Student Investment Account Grants

Non-virtual public charter schools that meet specific criteria are eligible to apply for Student Investment Account (SIA) funding under the Student Success Act (SSA)1. These public charter schools must have a student population of which at least 35% is composed from the following student groups:

  1. Economically disadvantaged students who are eligible for free or reduced price lunches under the United States Department of Agriculture’s current Income Eligibility Guidelines2;
  2. Racial or ethnic groups that have historically experienced academic disparities including American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African American students, Hispanic/Latino, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and multiracial3; or
  3. Students with disabilities who have an Individualized Education Program (IEP)4.

In addition to the public charter school having at least 35% of their student population made up of the above student groups, for any percentage used to calculate the charter school’s qualifying percentage, the charter school’s percentage must be greater than the district’s percentage in the same category.

The list below is preliminary, pending a temporary rule change adoption5 by the State Board of Education that ODE is proposing. The SIA Team is seeking a rule change to allow the use of the 2018-19 Economically Disadvantaged data for determining the charter school eligibility for economically disadvantaged students. Due to the nutrition waiver from the federal government as pandemic relief and support, Economically Disadvantaged data for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years are not reliable or accurate. The temporary change would provide the most accurate list in line with the intent of the law given these data impacts.

Data used to preliminarily determine which public charter schools are eligible to apply for funds independently for the 2023-25 biennium are based on the 2018-19 Spring Membership report for the Economically Disadvantaged data, and the 2020-21 Spring Membership for racial/ethnic and special education data. Both were derived from the 3rd period cumulative average daily membership collection as this is the most recent available data source.

Note: A charter school that is eligible to apply independently is not required to do so and could still choose to join within the application of their sponsored district, if that sponsoring district is inviting all charters they sponsor to join the application. 

Public Charter Schools Eligible to Apply Independently for the SIA for the 23-25 Biennium.

View the list here.

 

If you have any questions, please reach out to Debbie Green (debbie.green@ode.oregon.gov) or the EII Team (ode.eii@ode.oregon.gov).  

 

1 ORS 327.185(1)(b).

2 ORS 327.180(2)(b).

3 OAR 581-014-0001 (adopted 9/18/2020).

4 OAR 581-014-0001 (adopted 9/18/2020).

5 The SIA Team is seeking this adoption at the December 2022 State Board of Education meeting.