The 2006-2007 FSP Calendar Opened on Wednesday, July 5th
The 2006-2007 FSP Calendar became available for data entry on Wednesday, July 5, 2006. Instructions for entering and sending the 2006-2007 FSP Calendar are available at the web link: www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/charter/chrt07.html

The deadline for the FSP Calendar is Wednesday, August 2, 2006, at 5:00 pm. "ENTER" and "SAVE" the Charter School Calendar as often as needed, but please do not "SEND" the calendar until the charter is fairly certain there will not be any foreseeable changes.

The tenth annual Texas Charter School Conference will be on November 27-28 in Houston and many charter schools may want to schedule staff development days on that Monday and Tuesday in order to bring a significant number of their staff to the conference.

Many charter schools also refer to the calendars of the traditional school districts in their area when planning their calendars. When a traditional school district in the charter school's area has a holiday or staff development day, it may cause a high rate of absences at the charter if the charter is not observing the same non-instructional day(s). Low attendance on these days is not a basis for a waiver.

HB1, passed during the recent special session, provided additional funding, a high school allotment, to traditional school districts and charter schools to help increase graduation rates and college-readiness rates. TEA will be required to adopt rules to guide schools in the implementation of programs under the high school allotment. On July 20, 2006, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Room 1-104 at the William B. Travis building in Austin, TEA staff will give an overview of the uses of the allotment funds and offer an opportunity for stakeholders to provide input into the rulemaking process.

The Division of Charter Schools at the Texas Education Agency is hosting a two-day charter school orientation on Monday and Tuesday, July 24 & 25, 2006, in room 1-104 of the William B. Travis Building located at 1701 N. Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas, 78701. The program will consist of presentations by staff members from many agency divisions. Administrators of new charter schools are required to attend an orientation program before starting school. Administrators from existing charter schools who are new or who have not recently attended an orientation session are strongly encouraged to attend. Staff members are also welcome, as are ESC staff and other interested parties. There is no charge for the orientation. A tentative agenda for the two-day program is on line at www.tea.state.tx.us/charter/registration/orientation.htm.

Participants for this event have been approved to park on the top level (Level 8) of Garage R, located on the northwest corner of San Jacinto and 17th Street. Please register online at www.tea.state.tx.us/charter/registration/orientreg.htm or by calling (512) 463-9575. For more information, please visit www.tea.state.tx.us/charter/registration/orientation.htm.