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.

THANKS to all of you who attended the seventh annual Texas Charter School Conference in Austin. Our keynote speakers, Howard Fuller, Mike Petrilli, Beth Ann Bryan, Mike Feinberg, and Dean Millot were very pleased to see so many Texas charter school leaders in attendance.

The TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF CHARTER EDUCATORS (ACE), American Youth Works Charter Schools, and the Austin Area Charter School Cooperative will host a conference on June 5-7, 2003 at the Omni Hotel in downtown Austin. (See Below)

TEA WEBSITE HOT TOPICS On the TEA home page under Hot Topics a new section has been added: TEA helpful forms, which can be found at www.tea.state.tx.us/tea/helpfulforms.html. These TEA forms include: PEIMS, Textbooks, Legal, Career and Technology, Charter Schools, and Driver Training. For additional information or to suggest a TEA form to be included on the website, contact Holly Noak in the Division of Charter Schools at 512-463-9575.

SECOND REQUEST - NATIONAL CHARTER SCHOOL SURVEY 2003 The Center for Education Reform will soon publish it's National Charter School Directory. If you have not already done so, please complete the attached survey as soon as possible and mail to them at the address listed at the bottom of the second page. For questions you may call 202-822-9000. PDF Survey

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).

WHO

The Charter Alliance Project (CAP), a partnership of the Association of Charter Educators, the Austin Area Charter School Cooperative, and American YouthWorks Charter School will host this conference featuring:

Keynote Speaker

DR. YVONNE CHAN
B.A., M.A., Ph.D., PDD.

Dr. Yvonne Chan is the Principal of the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Los Angeles, one of the most successful urban public schools and a conversion charter school in the nation. Vaughn serves as a model which has solved many public education challenges, including class size reduction to 20 students in all grades, universal preschool education, accelerated English learning, special education full inclusion, longer school day till six and longer school year of 200 days, a school-based clinic, museum, family center and business co-op, community library and university professional development center, a school-wide teacher peer-review system, and a performance pay plan for all staff.

WHEN

DINNER CRUISE: "A NIGHT OUT IN AUSTIN"
****NEW!****
THIS EVENT IS FREE TO ALL PARTICIPANTS!

Join us for a fajita dinner* Friday night on the tranquil waters of Town Lake! See the downtown Austin skyline, the Zilker Park Barton Springs corridor and the gorgeous limestone bluffs along the Missouri-Pacific railway. *Vegetarian choices will be available.

WHERE

WHAT

• Austin Area Charter School Cooperative
  
  • Learn to provide effective services for students with disabilities at your school. Topics will include compliance with IDEA regulations from the referral process through the development of IEPs and transition plans. Attendees will receive training with information and tools that will be extremely useful on a daily basis back at their schools. Information on special education cooperative development will also be provided.
         " Call Dr. Deborah Havens at 512-691-7696 for more details.
    
• Association of Charter Educators (ACE)
  
  • ACE will provide specific skills training in public relations, charter school funding, legislative advocacy, innovative programs and strong, statewide networks. A summary of recent legislative actions will be presented and discussed with Mr. Anthony Haley of the Celero Group. Strategies for identifying impact of the new laws on your school will be presented as well as implementation approaches.
         " Call Frances Teran at 210-978-0500 for more details.
    
• American YouthWorks Charter School (AYW)
  
  • A National Service Learning Leader School, AYW will provide tools for engaging students, increasing student achievement, and bringing new resources to your school through community relations. Sessions and site visits are built on the STARS model, a service-learning methodology developed by the Texas Center for Service-Learning, ideally suited for charter schools.
         " Call Rebecca Benz 512-236-6906 for more details.

• Thursday June 5^th, 2003
  • Registration- 8:00 to 11:00 AM
  • Luncheon with Keynote Speaker - Dr. Yvonne Chan - 11:30 AM
  • Concurrent Workshop Sessions - 2:00 to 4:45 PM
  • Free night to experience Austin!

• Friday June 6^th, 2003
  
  • Continental Breakfast - 7:30 to 8:30 AM
  • Workshop Sessions - 8:30 to 11:30 AM
  • Networking Luncheon -11:30 AM
  • Workshop Sessions - 1:15 to 4:30 PM
  • A Night Out in Austin" Dinner Cruise - 5:30 to 8:00 PM

• Saturday, June 7^th, 2003
  • Continental Breakfast - 7:30 to 8:30 AM
  • Workshop Sessions - 8:30 to 11:00 AM

FIRST THURSDAY

EXPERIENCE AUSTIN'S ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT

GET HERE. GET EDUCATED. GET A DISCOUNT ON SOUTHWEST AIRLINES!

To take advantage of this offer, please call Southwest Airlines at 1-800-433-5368 and reference the I.D. code: K0213.

Please call Lisa Kesterson at 512-583-3245 for general conference information.