Opinion: Delaware’s charter schools must embrace a new standard of accountability

3-minute read

It’s charter school renewal season once again and now is the perfect time to reflect on what this means for our schools.

Every five years, charter schools are required to renew their charters. The charter is the agreement between the school and their authorizer, the governing body which grants them specific rights, powers, and responsibilities. This is a rigorous process that ensures they are living up to the promises made to their authorizer, board, parents, students, and communities. The process places charter schools under a lot of scrutiny – a level of oversight not typically experienced by district schools, which do not face such renewal requirements. Yet, despite this, there is a common misconception that charter schools operate with less accountability and lower standards.

Charter schools operate with a unique blend of flexibility and accountability. Flexibility allows them to be innovative and creative, but it comes at a cost — strict accountability measures that seem to increase over time. Unfortunately, while the accountability requirements have remained stringent, the flexibility these schools need to thrive has been slowly taken away.

The reality of charter school accountability

During the renewal process, each charter school must prove to its authorizer that it’s providing the outcomes promised when its charter was granted. This comprehensive evaluation covers everything from academic performance, including growth and proficiency, to financial transparency and organizational health. In addition to annual independent financial audits, charter schools must also ensure that they comply with most if not all regulations and maintain a safe and healthy environment for students and staff.

This year, six Delaware charter schools are up for renewal. Each school must provide a wealth of detailed information during this process, including their curriculum, how they plan to support students with learning differences, their academic progress over the past five years, in-depth financial information, and organizational health information. This intense evaluation process pushes these schools to reflect on their achievements and shortcomings, ensuring they are prepared to meet future opportunities and challenges.

A comprehensive review process

While a large part of the process is the review of academic performance, materials utilized and staff employed to meet these outcomes, our schools must also undergo an all-encompassing review of both their financial and organizational performance. Analysis of these areas includes many aspects of both, but two key areas are governance and fiscal management.

Boards of charter schools must receive governance training every three years to maintain high standards of leadership, ensuring they provide proper oversight without overstepping into the management of the school. This governance structure is critical in distinguishing successful schools.

In the financial area, each charter school is required by law to undergo an independent financial audit every year, ensuring transparency and responsible fiscal management. These audits are not only assessed annually and posted publicly on their website but are used as part of the extensive five-year financial performance review. Reviewing these measures is designed to confirm that charter schools are safe and healthy, financially viable and guarantee administrative integrity and full regulatory compliance.

Of note, while district schools are held accountable in different ways, they are not required to renew their existence every five years.

Flexibility paired with responsibility

One of the reasons charter schools are often misjudged is due to the flexibility they are given in how they meet their educational goals. This flexibility is critical — it allows schools to innovate, respond to the needs of their students, and adopt methods that might differ from traditional public school models. Flexibility is not synonymous with a lack of accountability or lower standards. In fact, it often enhances accountability and standards, as schools must prove that their methods are working.

In the end, we must ask ourselves: is there room to offer more flexibility across the board, in exchange for heightened accountability? The goal is the same for both charter and district schools — to provide high-quality education for our children. Charter schools have shown that this can be done through innovation and accountability. After 28 years, maybe it’s time for Delaware to think about how this balance could benefit the broader public education landscape.

Kendall Massett is executive director of the Delaware Charter Schools Network.