Required Texas and Federal Posters for Charter Schools

Did you know that it is required that certain literature be prominently displayed in an area that your employees are likely to easily see it? The Texas Workforce Commission has established a great website for workplace compliance posters. This website will also take you to the Federal U.S. Department of Labor website for more information. The … Read More

Updated State Aid Template available from TEA

The Charter School 2020-2021 State Aid Template is NOW AVAILABLE on the Texas Education Agency website! Over the last several months, Charter School Success has been working with our client charters to help develop their 2020-2021 budget, using the 2019-2020 State Aid Template information and calculations. Now that the 2020-2021 Estimate of State Aid Template … Read More

National School Lunch Program

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is an extensive, federally assisted meal program meant to provide nutritionally balanced meals to school children of need throughout the nation. In FY 2019, schools served over 4.8 billion lunches to children nationwide. The NSLP fed more than 30 million students. At the federal level, the program is administered … Read More

Fiscal Policies

Operating a Charter School is engaging for administrators but can also be very rewarding on many levels. It is also serious business. Charter Schools should have internal controls in place to provide reasonable assurance that their goals and objectives are accomplished. Internal control is all the policies and procedures management use to achieve the following: … Read More

Budget Amendments

When do you need a Budget Amendment? During the fiscal year of a charter school, the school’s board may need to amend the school charter approved budget to reflect changes in operations, the educational programs, demographics, or enrollment since the beginning of school. Budget amendments are an essential part of the budgetary process and are … Read More

The Budget Process

One important purpose of budgeting is to provide the best possible educational opportunities for every student in an educational institution. Budgets should also reflect the administration’s ability to manage the financial affairs of the school. A budget is an outline of educational programs and services with costs affixed to specific purposes to effectively direct the … Read More

Financial Compliance and Accountability

Because Texans trust charter officials to spend money wisely and efficiently, the state’s financial accountability systems for public charters provides a report that annually examines school funding and compliance issues to confirm that spending has been appropriate.  This report is referred to as Charter FIRST. Districts and charters must also have an outside auditor examine their financial records each … Read More

What Information is Public Information?

In the spirit of transparency, the Texas Public Information Act (TPIA) was adopted to help make governmental information accessible to the public. Charter schools, as a qualifying governmental body according to TEC 12.1051(a), must adhere to the regulations and responsibilities outlined in the act. This means that any member of the public for any reason … Read More

Open Meetings: What constitutes a quorum?

In the spirit of transparency, the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA) was adopted to help make governmental decision-making accessible to the public. Charter schools, as a qualifying governmental body according to TEC 12.1051(a), must adhere to the regulations and responsibilities outlined in the act. One of the important definitions outlined in the TOMA is that … Read More