ERIC Number: ED477873
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 2003-May
Pages: 18
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
A New Kind of School District: How Local Leaders Can Create Charter Districts. The Nuts & Bolts of Charter Districts.
Hassel, Bryan
This short paper discusses the advantages of and outlines key design issues for creating charter districts. The design issues are divided into three categories representing the three central elements of the environment the districts are trying to create for their schools: the opportunity to perform, incentives to perform, and capacity to perform. The paper also explains eight key questions and discuses options for addressing them: (1) How much and what kinds of autonomy should schools have? (2) How much emphasis should a charter district place on authorizing new schools? (3) How should a charter district convert existing schools to charter or contract schools? (4) How should a charter district hold schools accountable for results? (5) How should choice for families work? (6) How can a charter district help ensure a supply of high-quality schools? (7) How should district leaders distribute funding to schools in a charter district? (8) What is the best role for the central office in a charter district? The report concludes with a section on some of the challenges of implementation: the legal, political, and technical hurdles facing district leaders as they create charter districts. (Author/WFA)
Descriptors: Accountability, Charter Schools, Educational Change, Educational Equity (Finance), Elementary Secondary Education, Nontraditional Education, School Choice, School District Autonomy, School District Reorganization, School District Size, School District Spending, School Effectiveness, School Restructuring, School Support, State School District Relationship
Education Commission of the States, 700 Broadway, #1200, Denver, CO 80203-3460 ($8.50 plus postage and handling; qty. order discount available). Tel: 303-299-3600; Fax: 303-296-8332; e-mail: ecs@ecs.org; Web site: http://www.ecs.org. For full text: http://www.ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/publications/home_publications.asp?am=5.
Publication Type: Information Analyses; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Department of Education, Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Education Commission of the States, Denver, CO.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Support provided by the Public Charter Schools Program. For other documents in this series, see EA 032 588 and EA 032 590-591.