NATIONAL
CHARTER SCHOOLS WEEK

A thousand Texas charter school founders, board members, directors, and teachers will celebrate National Charter Schools Week at the seventh annual Texas Charter School Conference at the Renaissance Hotel in Austin on May 5-6, 2003. Hotel regulations do not permit us to allow any more attendees in the ballroom. Unfortunately we have had to turn away more than forty people due to fire code regulations. Please be advised that we cannot accept any walk-ins.

BOARD TRAINING SESSIONS All registered charter school board members may attend the board training sessions at the conference. These six sessions will be held in the largest breakout room at the Renaissance Hotel which seats 225 people. In order to accommodate the anticipated number of board members in a 225-person room:

• All registered board members may attend the board training
• Only one registered charter administrator from each charter will be allowed to attend the board training sessions, due to the size of the room.
• Only one registered member from each ESC will be allowed to attend the board training sessions, due to the size of the room.

The board training sessions are only able to accommodate these three categories of attendees. Unfortunately due to room limitations we will not be able to accommodate additional participants in this one room. The TEA and the Resource Center haveassembled 78 other important and useful breakout sessions for administrators, teachers, ESC representatives, teachers, and other attendees, on a wide variety of topics. The description for each session is attached.

OVERFLOW HOTELS The Renaissance Hotel is completely booked therefore hotel room reservations will need to be made by calling the Holiday Inn Northwest at 512-343-0888 or the Staybridge Suites at 512-349-0888. When you call let the hotels know you are with the Texas Charter School Conference to receive the special room rate.

SIX FLAGS OVER TEXAS BUFFET DINNER All registered attendees for the seventh annual Texas Charter School Conference are invited to the Six Flags Over Texas buffet dinner Monday evening, May 5th from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. at the University of Texas Alumni Center. Bus transportation will be provided from the Renaissance to the Alumni Center. Unfortunately space prohibits us from allowing anyone other than registered attendees with a name tag to attend the dinner.

CONFERENCE CHECK-IN will be open on Sunday, May 4^th from 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. and on Monday, beginning at 8:00 a.m. at the Renaissance Hotel. Check-in tables will be located on the Atrium Level adjacent to the ballroom. Conference packets and nametags will be available at this time. To avoid standing in line with 850 other attendees on Monday morning, we encourage you to check-in on Sunday evening if possible.

THE RAPOPORT ACADEMY, through a two year dissemination project, is developing a best practices guide so that charter schools can access information to increase effectiveness. The areas being covered include curriculum, staff development, parental programs, acronyms - and a section of useful forms compiled through a collaboration of: Rapoport Academy, The North Hills Charter and the Resource Center. Hopefully this project will help all charter schools access information rather than having to always "reinvent the wheel." For additional information please visit www.educational-best-practices.org .

GRANT APPLICATION / AMENDMENT DEADLINE MAY 15, 2001 The application / amendment deadline for IDEA-B Formula, IDEA-B Capacity Building, and IDEA-B Preschool federal funds is Thursday, May 15, 2003. The WEB SAS system for applications and amendments can be accessed through the web address: http://barton.tea.state.tx.us/websas

NOTE: If your new charter submitted a Special Child Count - October 1, 2002 then you may have funds in the WEB SAS system. If your charter submitted a Significant Expansion Act Special Child Count - November 1, 2002, then you may have funds in the WEB SAS system. Funds not applied for by May 15, 2002 will not be available after that date. For more information on your Charter's application/ amendment status, please contact the Special Education Director at your Regional Education Service Center (ESC). .