Introduction

Charter Renewal Application Instructions:

These instructions were created to assist you in the creation and submission of your school’s charter renewal application with Albuquerque Public Schools' (APS) Office of Innovation and School Choice.  A seven-member renewal team will be formed to review each renewal application and develop a consensus recommendation for action to the APS Board of Education, who makes the final determination on the renewal. The board may decide to; renew, renew with conditions, or deny.

Sections of the Charter Renewal Application

The APS Charter Renewal application consists of three parts and includes an Appendix.

1. Part 1- School's Executive Summary;
2. Part 2- Record of Performance (Self-Report)
3. Part 3- Plans for the Next Charter Term (Self-Study); and
4. APPENDIX - School provides: Documents to be notarized (Petition of Support from Employees and Petition of Support from Households), Lease documentation, Performance Framework Reports and Amendment Requests. All digital documents, scanned pages, and large images (file size) should be included in Appendix. The  Appendix file should be saved as a separate .pdf to be submitted along with the Renewal Application (MS Word).

Getting Started

• It is important that you thoroughly read the online APS Charter Renewal Application instructions before you begin to prepare your written document.
• Review your current charter, including any approved amendments, prior to completing the Renewal Application.
• Review the Charter Renewal Rubric, which the renewal team will use to evaluate your application.
• Use this Renewal Application MS Word file to enter your responses directly into the text box fields provided within each section (Part 1, 2, 3 and the Appendix) by:
• Citing the analysis of student achievement data conducted by your school’s Core Team
• Citing evidence from your analysis when making claims

Charter School Authorizers

Charter schools that are up for contract renewal have the option to seek renewal from either their local chartering authority (district) or the state chartering authority, Public Education Commission (PEC). All renewal applications must be submitted on October 1st of the year prior to when the contract expires. In accordance with Subsection A of 6.80.4.13 NMAC, the chartering authority must then rule in a public meeting on the renewal of the application no later than January 1st of the fiscal year in which the charter expires.

Four Reasons for Non-renewal or Denial

New Mexico law, in subsection K of Section § 22-8B-12 NMSA 1978, includes the four reasons for non-renewal of a school’s charter. It provides that a charter may be suspended, revoked, or not renewed by the chartering authority if the chartering authority determines the charter school:

• committed a material violation of any of the conditions, standards, or procedures set forth in the charter;
• failed to meet or make substantial progress toward achievement of the department’s minimum educational standards or student performance standards identified in the charter application;
• failed to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management;
• violated any provision of law from which the charter school was not specifically exempted.

Thank you for your quest to provide quality, educational choice for the greater Albuquerque community.

Please contact Dr. Joseph Escobedo, Director of Charter Schools at (505) 880-3790, or escobedo_j@aps.edu with any questions regarding renewal.

This page was last updated on: March 2, 2020.