URGENT

The Commissioner's Rules state that "a member of the governing body of a charter holder or a member of the governing body of a charter school must complete a training course consisting of 12 instructional hours, delivered by a course provider registered under §100.1107." The training must be completed "within one calendar year of appointment or election to such governing body." And "at least the first six hours of the training course" must be completed by December 8, 2003.

To help your charter comply with these rules, the North Hills Charter School and the Charter School Resource Center are hosting board training workshops this summer, at no cost to charter school board members and one administrator per charter. Twelve hours of state-mandated board training will be offered in four different cities on the following dates. (Our training will not be offered again until summer 2004.) See attached registration form and agendas. Registration is required - no walk-ins. It is essential that your board members attend as much of the training as possible prior to the deadline. Reservations must be made three days prior to each event.

Many charter school board members and administrators attended up to six hours of board training at the charter school conference in Austin on May 5-6. (Those topics with an * on the following pages were offered at the conference.) Board members and/or administrators do not have to repeat any of the board training that they received at the charter school conference. Each charter that had an attendee participating in this board training received one copy of PACE I (Governance Manual) and PACE II (Board Policy Manual). Please bring those manuals with you to the remainder of the board training. Any charter, that has not yet received a set of the manuals, will receive one set per charter at the training.

 BOARD TRAINING LOCATION AND DATES

DALLAS	July 18 & 19 North Hills School 606 East Royal Lane Irving 972-501-0645
SAN ANTONIO	July 25 & 26 La Escuela de las Americas 2300 W. Commerce, Suite 200 210-978-0562
CORPUS CHRISTI	August 1 & 2 M.L. Garza Charter School 4129 Greenwood 361-881-9988
HOUSTON	August 8 & 9 KIPP Academy 10711 KIPP Way 832-328-1051

TEA LEGISLATIVE BRIEFING BOOK The Governmental Relations Division at TEA has posted the Briefing Book on Public Education Legislation for the 78th Texas Legislative Session. This resource compiles new legislation coming out of the recently completed legislative session. The book contains laws that apply to both school districts and charter schools. The briefing book will not be available in hard copy, so please download yours from the TEA website at www.tea.state.tx.us/tea/LegBreBooJun03.doc.

CHARTER SCHOOL ORIENTATION The Charter Schools Division at TEA is hosting a two-day charter school orientation program on Monday & Tuesday, July 28 & 29, 2003, in room 1-104 of the William B. Travis Building at 1701 N. Congress Avenue in Austin. The program will consist of presentations by many agency divisions. New charter school staff members are strongly encouraged to attend an orientation program before starting school. Staff members from existing charter schools also are welcome, as are ESC staff and other interested parties. Please register on our webpage at www.tea.state.tx.us/charter/orientation.htm or by calling (512) 463-9575. Parking is available on the roof in Garage Q on San Jacinto between 16th and 17th streets. Due to increased security, you will need to provide your license plate number to staff immediately upon arrival. Cars parked on other floors of Garage Q or in other state garages may be ticketed and/or towed. Parking is also available in two University of Texas parking garages just off MLK Boulevard for approximately $7.00 per day. There is no charge for the orientation program.

BOARD TRAINING WORKSHOPS

Download the PDF version of the Registration Form. Please duplicate this form if necessary. You must register to attend - no walk-ins.

Friday 4:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. (Sections 1-4)

1. Open Meetings* (Conference Board Training Part V)	Bob Schulman
2. Open Records* (Conference Board Training Part VI)	Bob Schulman
Supper
3. Health, Safety, and Discipline* (Conference Board Training Part IV)	Bob Schulman
4. Q and A on Sections 1, 2, & 3	Rosemary Perlmeter Bob Schulman Patsy O'Neill, Moderator

Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. (Sections 5-12)

5. School Law A* (Conference Board Training Part I) Staying Out of Court	Bob Schulman
6. School Law B* (Conference Board Training Part II) Nepotism, Conflicts of Interest	Bob Schulman
7. School Law C* (Conference Board Training Part III) Special Education	Bob Schulman
8. School Finance A Public funds and property, audits, student attendance accounting, federal funds, property management, grant administration	David Greak
Lunch
9. Accountability Statewide assessments, PEIMS, dropout reporting, student performance	Susan Barnes/Ertha Patrick
10. School Finance B Bank depository contracts, capital financing, liabilities/duties of the board	David Greak
11. School Finance C Second half of Module 10	David Greak
12. Q and A on Sections 8, 9, 10, & 11	Susan Barnes/Ertha Patrick David Greak Rosemary Perlmeter, Moderator Patsy O'Neill, Moderator
* Topics covered at our conference in Austin on May 5 - 6 have an asterisk.

Friday 3:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. (Sections 8-12)

8. School Finance A* Public funds and property, audits, student attendance accounting, federal funds, property management, grant administration	David Greak
9. Accountability Statewide assessments, PEIMS, dropout reporting, student performance	Susan Barnes
Supper
10. School Finance B Bank depository contracts, capital financing, liabilities/duties of the board	David Greak
11. School Finance C Second half of Section 10	David Greak
12. Q and A on Sections 8, 9, 10, & 11	Susan Barnes David Greak Patsy O'Neill, Moderator

Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Sections 1-7)

5. School Law A* (Conference Board Training Part I) Staying Out of Court	Bob Schulman
6. School Law B* (Conference Board Training Part II) Nepotism, Conflicts of Interest	Bob Schulman
7. School Law C* (Conference Board Training Part III) Special Education	Bob Schulman
Lunch
1. Open Meetings * (Conference Board Training Part V)	Bob Schulman
2. Open Records * (Conference Board Training Part VI)	Bob Schulman
3. Health, Safety, and Discipline * (Conference Board Training Part IV)	Bob Schulman
4. Q and A on Sections 1, 2, & 3	Bob Schulman Patsy O'Neill, Moderator
* Topics covered at our conference in Austin on May 5 - 6 have an asterisk.

READING WORKSHOPS TEA's Office of Statewide Initiatives is pleased to host two days of Professional Development Training for all K-2 charter school teachers at no cost. The Center for Academic and Reading Skills (CARS) will provide this training for TEA. Registration is required by calling Laura Powell at 713-500-3727. See attached flyer for dates and locations in three different cities.

US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION GRANT Log onto the following website to learn more about this federal grant for charter schools: www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/index.html.

• Small, Rural School Achievement (SRSA) Program - Deadline July 23, 2003