Mississippi Administrative Code
Title 10 - Education Institutions and Agencies
Part 402 - MCSAB Board Policies
Chapter 1 - Request for Proposals 2013
INSTRUCTIONS
Rule 10-402-1.1 - Instruction
Current through September 24, 2024
The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board (MCSAB) invites proposals for high-quality charter schools seeking to open in the 2014-2015 school year, or thereafter. MCSAB will give preference to applications for schools intended to help underserved students.
All applications should reflect how the proposed charter school will:
1 improve student learning;
2 close achievement gaps between high- and low-performing groups;
3 increase educational opportunities for all students, but especially for those with a likelihood of academic failure;
4 allow teachers and school administrators to have a direct voice in the operation of the school;
5 encourage the use of high-quality models of teaching, governing and scheduling;
6 provide for exceptional levels of results driven accountability;
7 create expanded opportunities for involvement in the education system by students, parents and community members; and
8 encourage the replication of successful charter schools, if applicable
All new schools approved through this process will be public schools subject to the legal requirements set forth in Mississippi Code § 37-28-3 et seq.
Process Overview & Materials
The 2013-14 statewide timeline for charter approval or denial decisions is as follows:
| DATE | ACTIVITY |
| 25-Nov | MCSAB Releases RFP |
| 22-Jan | Letter of Intent Due |
| 27-Jan | Technical Assistance Meeting in Jackson Or Remotely via Webinar (date TBD) |
| 14-March | Application Due |
| 21-March | Affected School Districts Notified |
| 28-March | Applications Reviewed for Completeness |
| 11-April | Application Revisions Due |
| 15-April | Capacity Interviews Begin |
| 27-May | Capacity Interviews End |
| 30-May | Final Review |
| 2-June | Vote on Acceptance/Acceptance w/ Amendments/Deny |
| 10-June | If needed, Amended Application Due |
| 16-June | Amended Application Accepted/Denied |
| 17-June | Contract Negotiations Begin |
| 27-June | Contract Finalized |
Application Content & Review Process: The Mississippi Charter Schools Act, Mississippi Code §§ 37-28-3 et seq., designates the contents required in a charter school application. This Request for Proposals contains appropriately detailed questions and guidelines concerning the format and content essential for applicants to demonstrate the capacities necessary to establish and operate a successful charter school and sets forth the mandatory elements which applicants must include in a proposed school plan. This Request for Proposals also incorporates fully herein by reference the Application Toolkit, which sets forth the performance framework for charter school oversight and evaluation and provides templates for use in the application. Finally, this Request for Proposals also incorporates fully herein by reference the Mississippi Charter School Application Evaluation Ratings and Sample Scoring Criteria, which sets forth the criteria that will guide the Authorizer Board's decision to approve or deny a charter application.
Letter of Intent: All applicants are required to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) prior to submitting a completed application. The Letter of Intent template is available in the Application Toolkit. This provides formal notice to MCSAB regarding applicants" intention to submit an application to open a public charter school for during the 2013-2014 charter approval process. This letter is non-binding.
Complete Application:
Subsequent Information: Within 5 days of receipt of the application, it will be reviewed for substantial completeness. Should the application fail to be substantially complete, it will not be reviewed upon the merits. MCSAB may request additional information at any time during the process, but will not accept unsolicited information from the applicant. This includes e-mail explanations, alterations to the plan, and/or comments to staff or board members. The plan submitted is considered final.
Formatting and Submission Requirements
* The final application must be submitted on three separate CD-ROMs. Each CD-ROM must contain the attachments, budget forms and proposal narrative.
* The budget form(s) must be submitted in Microsoft Excel. The final proposal narrative and attachments must be submitted in PDF form.
* Submit a full version of the application, as well as PDF versions of the narrative proposal and each individual attachment.
* Font must be either Arial or Times New Roman, with one-inch page margins, single-spaced, no smaller than 11-point font.
* Each section of the application must adhere to the page limits as indicated in the Request for Proposals. Attachments requested do not count against the page limit.
* Templates and forms for several of the attachments are provided in the Application Toolkit. Relevant attachments are to be completed and included as part of the application.
* If a particular question is not applicable to the proposal, please respond "Not Applicable." A statement as to why the question is not applicable to the proposal may be requested upon review.
Deliver Letter of Intent by 5:00pm CT on January 22, 2014 via fax, e-mail, or mail and deliver Application by 5:00pm CT on March 14, 2014* via mail or in person to:
Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board
Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning
3825 Ridgewood Road
Jackson, MS 39211
Attention: Ms. Kim Gallaspy
E-mail: charterschools@mississippi.edu
*No late submissions will be accepted.
Application Review
A team of professionals will review completed applications. The Mississippi Charter Schools Act of 2013 ensures that the following areas of expertise are represented on the Authorizer Board:
* Public and Nonprofit Governance
* Assessment, Curriculum, and
* Management and Finance Instruction
* Public School Leadership
* Public Education Law
The MCSAB works collectively to assess the quality of each application using a standards-based rubric that identifies quality criteria within a variety of domains. Each of these domains is represented in an application section, detailed below. MCSAB's quality criteria have been established in partnership with a variety of local and national experts and in consultation with exemplars and best-practice research. The rubric used to evaluate this application is entitled "Mississippi Charter School Application Evaluation and Sample Scoring Criteria" and is available on the Mississippi Department of Education and the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning websites, and is incorporated fully herein by reference.
If the application meets or exceeds the standard in four of five criteria, the team will proceed to the capacity interview. Those applications deemed substantially incomplete or failing to meet the standard in four of five criteria will be cut. The primary purpose of the capacity interview is to assess the capacity of the school's leadership team and governing board to effectively oversee the school's program, organizational viability, and finances. The interview is designed to determine the group's understanding of academic and fiscal accountability, and the characteristics of the students and district the team plans to serve. The capacity interview will also provide an opportunity for the application reviewers to pose questions generated during the application review process.
Following the capacity interview, some teams may be asked amend the application to meet or exceed the criteria in five out of five categories. All applicants are expected to meet or exceed the standards in all five categories before a charter will be granted. Teams may also be asked to participate in an interview with the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board.
If you have questions or concerns during the process, please e-mail charterschools@mississippi.edu. Do not contact members of the Charter Authorizer Board.
Miss. Code Ann. § 37-28-15.
