Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024
A. The division will conduct an annual site
visit to provide technical assistance to the state charter school, and to
evaluate the school's annual progress toward the performance framework goals
and compliance with the charter contract. The division will prioritize
completing the annual site visits and presentation of final annual reports for
those state charter schools that have submitted a renewal application and those
state charter schools that have an unresolved annual report notice showing
unsatisfactory performance or a corrective action plan in place.
B. The division's site visit will include
review of whether the state charter school is:
(1) complying with the terms of the charter
contract, including any conditions;
(2) meeting the indicators and targets as set
forth in the performance framework;
(3) correcting or has corrected
unsatisfactory performance;
(4)
correcting or has corrected uncorrected unsatisfactory performance identified
in an annual report notice; and
(5)
completing or has completed actions that cure intervention imposed by the
commission pursuant to
6.2.9.13 NMAC.
C. Phase 1, phase 2 and final annual reports
will be completed by the division according to the following procedures and
deadlines:
(1) The division and state charter
school may extend or revise deadlines in the process for phase 1 by documenting
an agreement as to a new deadline in writing. If the school does not offer an
appropriate deadline for purposes of providing the division with the missing
information, the division director will impose a deadline with which the school
shall comply.
(2) To create a phase
1 annual report, the division will include demographic and other information on
the state charter school available to the division from the department and
conduct an annual site visit.
(a) The division
will provide at least 30 days prior written notice of each state charter
school's annual site visit and include a copy of, or a hyperlink to, the
approved site visit protocol in the notice. Site visits will not be scheduled
if a state charter school notifies the division that critical testing is
scheduled for the date of the proposed site visit. If the division does not
provide 30 days advance notice, the annual site visit will be rescheduled upon
written request of the state charter school. If the annual site visit needs to
be rescheduled for any reason, it may be rescheduled at any time after the
initial 30-day period, and an additional 30-day notice is not
required.
(b) The division and the
state charter school will conduct an exit meeting at the end of the annual site
visit outlining the initial results of the division's findings. If the division
determines that the state charter school did not provide information necessary
for the division to complete its annual site visit evaluation, the parties will
memorialize a list of missing information and the time frame for providing the
information to the division during the exit meeting.
(c) Within 30 days following the exit
meeting, the division will upload a phase 1 annual report based on the annual
site visit findings to a data platform available for the state charter school
to review at any time. The state charter school will provide missing
information or correct the information to the division within the time frame
agreed to by the division and the school.
(3) In order to complete the final annual
report, the following actions will take place:
(a) No later than 45 days prior to a
commission meeting to consider the final annual reports, the division will
provide to the state charter school for review and comment a phase 2 annual
report reflecting performance, including all information that has been made
available. The division will identify in the phase 2 annual report
unsatisfactory performance, uncorrected unsatisfactory performance, the facts
in support of unsatisfactory performance, and the division's recommendation to
the commission. The phase 2 annual report shall contain the division's initial
assessment as to school's performance according to the rating set forth in each
completed section of the performance framework, and may contain the division's
recommendation to the commission regarding the commission's annual report
notice, including the specific type of notice that the division is recommending
be issued, its factual basis for that recommendation, and the recommended time
frame for completion of the corrective action.
(b) The state charter school may provide a
written response to the division's phase 2 annual report within 20 days of
receipt from the division, including the state charter school's response to the
division's assessment regarding correction of unsatisfactory performance if the
state charter school received an annual report notice from the commission for
the previous school year. The response shall include documents or other
evidence to support the state charter school's response.
(c) The division will consider the state
charter school response and create a final annual report or a final annual
report completed in part and include all unresolved state charter school's
responses, if any, to the phase 2 annual report. The division will provide the
final annual report to the school and the commission seven days prior to the
commission meeting at which the final annual report or the final annual report
completed in part will be considered by the commission. The division may move
presentation of an annual report to the next meeting of the commission if it
needs more time to consider changes proposed by a state charter
school.
(d) The division will
present its final annual report or the final annual report completed in part to
the commission at a public meeting, and the state charter school may attend the
commission meeting at which the final annual report will be
discussed.
(4) If a final
report has been completed in part, when the reserved sections can be completed,
the annual report may be reopened and those reserved sections may be completed
using the phase 2 process set forth above related to the reserved sections;
however no sections other than those reserved may be
reopened.
D. The
commission shall take the following steps after consideration of the final
annual report or final annual report completed in part.
(1) The commission will:
(a) accept the final annual report or final
annual report completed in part at a public meeting of the
commission;
(b) issue an annual
report notice; or
(c) if
circumstances exist to support revocation, take action to start a revocation
process pursuant to this rule.
(2) If the commission votes to issue an
annual report notice other than notice of exemplary or satisfactory
performance, or to commence action under the intervention ladder when the
division recommended the issuance of a notice of exemplary or satisfactory
performance, the commission's notice shall include a notice to the state
charter school that it may, within 10 days of receipt of the notice, present a
written response to the commission's action(s) to be included in the record of
performance of the charter school. The state charter school may also request an
opportunity to be heard at the next meeting of the commission and request
reconsideration of the commission's decision to impose corrective
action.
(3) Within 10 days after
the commission meeting the commission shall provide a written notice to the
school if the commission has accepted the final annual report or final annual
report completed in part, identify the annual report notice issued by the
commission, and reference the annual report which identifies the unsatisfactory
performance requiring corrective action with sufficient specificity such that
the state charter school can take appropriate measures to correct its
performance.
(4) The final annual
report or final annual report completed in part and the action of the
commission shall be made part of the record of the state charter school
performance. If a state charter school later corrects unsatisfactory
performance, the final annual report or final annual report completed in part
shall not be reopened and the rating changed; instead, the corrected
unsatisfactory performance shall be noted in the final annual report for the
next year or in the assessment of a renewal application, if the state charter
school is submitting a renewal application that year.
(5) Any action to revoke or not renew a state
charter school's charter contract will be in accordance with the state charter
school's charter contract, and applicable laws and rules.
E. Acceptance of an annual report shall be by
action taken by the commission at a public meeting that acknowledges receipt of
an annual report from the division as part of the record of performance during
the contract term.