What Authorizers Expect of Charter School Governing Boards (or Should)
Behind most charter school revocations, nonrenewals, voluntary closures, and other serious school problems are failures of governance. Behind many failures of charter school governance are inadequate attention to and engagement with governing boards by their authorizers. Responsible authorizer engagement with charter governing boards can help protect the school, improve school-authorizer relationships, and build trust, and lead to improved school performance—without compromising the school’s autonomy.
This session by the CDE-supported Charter Authorizer Support Initiative (CASI) will review the basic legal requirements for a charter school’s governing board and the authorizer’s related oversight responsibilities. Beyond legal requirements, the session will explain other reasonable expectations and suggestions that authorizers may have of school governance and of the authorizer’s engagement with the governing board—in the self-interest of the school and governing board, mutual trust in authorizer relations, and school performance for students.
In small groups and then reporting out, participants will hear about one other’s current practices and ideas for charter school governance and authorizer relations, and explore additional ideas. Participants should come away with a checklist of things about the governing board and its relations with its authorizer to take home and look into and consider.
Presented by
Cynthia Tapia
Board President
Oxford Day Academy
Cynthia is a Financial Administrator in the Santa Clara County Office of Education Charter Schools Department, providing fiscal oversight to Santa Clara County Board of Education authorized charter schools. Previously, she was a Business Manager at Escuela Popular, a K-12 charter school in East San Jose, and an Accounting Manager at The Foundation for Hispanic Education, a charter school organization in East San Jose operating three charter high schools. Over ten years in charter school operations experience, she has led and managed charter school finance and accounting operations. Her work has fostered a deep commitment to bridging educational equity gaps for underserved and underrepresented communities. This commitment is at the forefront in her role as Board President of Oxford Day Academy, a nonprofit charter high school in East Palo Alto, as she leads governance strategies that prioritize student achievement, community impact, and financial sustainability for the mission-driven work.
David Patterson
President, Board of Directors
CCAP (California Charter Authorizing Professionals
Dr. Patterson has more than three decades of helping develop high-performing schools. He is a founding member and President of California Charter Authorizing Professionals (CCAP), a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening charter school authorizing in California. Dr. Patterson is also the founder of the Rocklin Academy Family of Schools and is Executive Director Emeritus. Rocklin Academy schools include three high performing Core Knowledge elementary charter schools and a college preparatory middle-high school. David is serving his third term on the Placer County Board of Education and has previously served as a board member on the Rocklin Unified and Del Paso Heights School EDS. Dr. Patterson was the Executive Director and Director of Governmental Relations for the California Network of Educational Charters. Dr. Patterson served for ten years at the California Department of Education where he served as the Department’s point person for charter schools.
Michelle Johnson
Director - Charter Schools Department
Santa Clara County Office of Education
Dr. Michelle Johnson is Associate Director of Santa Clara County Office of Education’s (SCCOE) Charter Schools Department, where she has served since 2016. Prior to joining SCCOE, she was Superintendent of Luther Burbank Elementary School District, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services for Travis Unified and Val Verde Unified, Director of Business Services for Palo Verde Unified, and principal of two elementary schools. She also teaches Visionary Leadership for SCCOE’s Educator Preparedness Program, which helps aspiring administrators complete their administrative services credentials.
Tom Hutton
Executive Director
California Charter Authorizing Professionals (CCAP)
Tom Hutton, Executive Director of the California Charter Authorizing Professionals, has worked on behalf of school districts, authorizers, and charter schools. He is a former attorney who served in-house with the National School Boards Association and later in private practice in Seattle. As a law student, he was a co-founder and governing board member of a law-themed high school in the District of Columbia. More recently, Tom served as executive director of the Hawaii State Public Charter School Commission, an independent consultant to charter authorizers nationally, and executive director of the Education Law Association.