Charter Compass: Helping Charter School Boards Navigate with Confidence

Is Your School Showing Signs of Distress?  What Every Charter Board Should Know

This episode covers research from the National Charter School Resource Center that provides a framework for indicators of distress. We cover each of the following areas:

• governance and leadership
• enrollment and financial health
• staffing and school culture
• attendance, behavior, and student outcomes

Each indicator in isolation may not be a signal of distress, but as you look at trends in each area and across areas, problem issues can be identified. So what then? We discuss what boards should do when they see warning signs.

This episode covers procurement. We talk about the board's responsibility with procurement policy. The resources with the Division of Purchasing and General Services. Basic purchasing rules and ways to avoid fraud. There are many things to consider, so this episode acts as a general overview with resources to help you dive deeper as needed.

Here are many of the areas we discuss and active links:

• Utah Code 63G-6a and Utah Administrative Code R33
• Division of Purchasing and General Services
• Procurement fraud training slides
• Purchasing flowchart

In this episode we're talking about something every school hopes it never needs but always should be ready for: crisis communication. We'll cover why charter schools need a plan, who should speak for your school, how to communicate with different audiences, and the principles of good media relations.

The National Charter School Resource Center has done extensive research on indicators of distress in charter schools, specifically to help boards and school leaders identify problems early—before they become so serious that recovery becomes difficult. 

This episode discusses these warning signals. We also cover basic questions the board can ask to start the process.

Finance 101 covered board fiscal responsibilities. Finance 102 covered the financial discussion to have in board meetings.

Finance 102: Financial Oversight Gets Real covers the discussion boards should have in the their board meetings, including questions to ask and reports to examine.

We suggest the top five items to review:

1. Budget versus actual
2. Revenue
3. Cash
4. Fund balance and reserves
5. Restricted funds

Finance 101 covers the board responsibilities. Finance 201 covers what financial red flags to watch for.

In the next three podcasts, we cover finance. Finance 101 will cover board responsibilities and what financial policies you should have in place. 

In Finance 101 we'll discuss the following rules and law: 

• Utah Administrative Code R277-553
• Utah Administrative Code R277-113
• Utah Code 53G-5-404
• Utah Code 53G-7-401

Finance 102 will cover what the board should be looking at during board meetings and Finance 201 will cover signals of financial distress.

In this board training podcast we're talking about board retreats: why they matter, how to plan one, what to talk about, and what goes into a strategic plan your board will actually use.

Whether your board is new, newish, or experienced a board retreat is the time to dig deeper into the "state of the school." We also discuss developing a strategic plan and the top five components in an effective strategic plan.

This episode draws from an interview with former Academic West president, Kim Dohrer and Kara Finley found at Charter School Conversations.

In this episode, we cover the website requirements for Utah public charter schools. As you will learn, there are a few charter school specific requirements, but many that overlap with all public schools. You can view many of the requirements in a 2021 article originally shared in Charterology. 

We have also prepared a website requirements document for Pre-Operational schools of the website requirements which applies to all charters schools. This document includes some select rules so you can read exactly what the rule or law requires.

Have you ever been in a meeting and felt like you were listening to a foreign language? 

Education has a language of its own, often formed with acronyms. This podcast covers LEA, SCSB, WPU, and more! 

Here are accompanying resources disucussed:

Education Acronyms Quick Guide

Education Acronyms A to Z

Education Acronyms by Category

WPU funding formulas: Utah Legislative Code 53F-2-302 Determination of weighted pupil units, 53F-2 Basic program (all weighted pupil units)

As always, reach out to us with any questions!

In this episode, we explore one of the most important transitions for any charter school board: onboarding new members. Serving on a governing board is a big responsibility, and how new members are welcomed, trained, and supported makes all the difference.

We’ll cover:

• The four core oversight roles every board member must understand
• The difference between governance and management—and why it matters
• What school-specific knowledge new members need to be effective
• Key compliance steps like background checks and conflict disclosures
• The importance of ongoing training, self-education, and mentorship

Whether you’re onboarding new members or stepping into board service yourself, this episode offers a clear roadmap for building confident, mission-driven governance from day one.