What's the Difference Between Pueblo and Denver?

For the Cesar Chavez Academy of Denver there are many differences with the rest of the schools operated by the Cesar Chavez School Network. According to Jeremy Meyer at the Denver Post, Denver Pulic Schools (DPS) has welcomed the new charter school and its being very well received by the community.

One thing about DPS -- they're quick to learn from others and employ those best practices. There are some fundamental differences between the Denver and Pueblo charter schools that will increase the likelihood of success for the Denver school.

DPS required CCA-Denver to form its own governing board, without any overlap with the Network board. The Denver school operates with autonomy, not just from DPS, but also from the rest of the schools within the CCA Network. Network charter schools all share business services, which is more cost effective, but CCA-Denver operates with significantly more autonomy than the other Network schools.

DPS will only execute charter contracts with a governing board and not a management company. The state Charter School Institute (CSI) executed a contract with the Network (a management company) and not the individual school boards. In fact, the individual schools don't have their own boards at all. CSI had to backtrack and they're now in the process of negotiating a charter contract with governing boards. Just last week the CSI board approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the CCA-North/Colorado Springs school, which is a segue to being able to execute a charter contract with a newly formed board. Currently the CCA-North school is not its own legal entity and couldn't enter into a traditional charter contract. The school is in the process of formulating its own governing board.

DPS is also ahead of the curve on having clear and precise charter contracts when it comes to academic achievement. They use a district-wide system of measuring academic performance and it applies to all schools, not just public charter schools. The School Performance Framework (SPF) is a one page "dashboard" of key performance indicators. DPS charter contracts detail specific actions should a charter school fail to make progress.

Finally, DPS won't tolerate a charter school with problems, as evidenced by the recent closure of Challenges, Choices and Images. When that charter school had financial and governance problems, the school closed.

So what's the difference between Pueblo and Denver? There's a vast difference between the experience level and philosophy of the charter authorizers. DPS has embraced its role as a charter authorizer by defining its philosophy of monitoring and oversight while at the same time establishing the district as the manager of a portfolio of choice options. The district details its academic and choice needs within the district in a Request for Proposals and then allows the community to create those choice options. DPS has charter schools, contract (district-operated autonomous) schools, private schools contracted for specific grade levels, innovation schools and an array of choice programs within its traditional school system.