Breaking Down the Most Popular Services for Your Charter School
With over 7,500 different schools in the United States, charter schools are one of the fastest-growing educational organizations in the country. Charter schools are an independently-operated version of a public school. They are not governed by the state, which is what distinguishes them from traditional public schools.
Because they are not governed by the state, charter schools have far more freedom in classroom structure and how they teach their students. They can focus more on individual learning and holistic methods, rather than training students to pass a test.
However, one hurdle that charter schools have is securing and maintaining the resources they need to run the school and educate their student body. When a charter school finds themselves in a position of needing to secure these resources quickly, they typically turn to a charter management organization (CMO) or partner organization that can provide charter school management services.
Let’s review some of the top services being offered to charter schools today.
Educational Services
Without the right educational services in place, your student body won’t get very far in the learning process. This is why CMOs and partner organizations offer a wide array of educational services. These include academic audits, instructional coaching, and the professional development of teachers.
Additionally, there are services available meant to support the educational system such as:
- Creating a discipline framework for students
- Collecting relevant student data and analyzing it
- Issuing standards-based report cards
- Ensuring academic compliance
- Providing instructional materials consultation
- Monitoring educational services
- Assisting with strategic hiring
- Helping with budgeting, time management, and leadership
Operations
Although the classroom is always the top priority, there’s plenty of office work that charter schools need assistance with. For instance, employee management is a critical service that CMOs and partner organizations offer to charter schools. Some of those services include:
- Creating job postings and conducting interviews with teachers and support staff candidates
- Onboarding employees and providing them with coaching
- Handling employee documentation, HR best practices, compliance issues, terminations, and disciplinary action
- Facilitation of workers’ comp claims
Additionally, operations can reach far beyond direct employee management. CMOs and partner organizations can provide assistance with or take over full responsibility of:
- Benefits – enrollment, retirement plans, package development
- Payroll – PTO, payroll administration work, state tax account creation
- Compliance – permit management, contract renewals, electronic filing system
- Risk mitigation – school safety, insurance, litigation coordination
- PR & marketing – website, coordination of events, marketing strategy
- Governance support – board coaching and compliance
Finance
Finally, charter schools need to keep their finances top-of-mind to ensure they are able to pay their staff, the school’s bills, and other related expenses. If a charter school doesn’t have a department lined up that can handle this, they can turn to a CMO or partner organization to provide this service for them. Top financial management and reporting services include:
- Cash flow analysis
- Budget creation and management
- Accounts payable/receivable
- Bookkeeping
- Keeping track of financial statements
- Quarterly and annual reporting
- Strategic financial planning & goal setting
- Financial literacy coaching
There are also numerous other services related to finances that a CMO or partner organization can offer to a charter school. For instance, many charter schools get significant amounts of funding through grants; however, they might not know how to proceed through the grant proposal process.
A CMO or partner organization will be able to offer grant writing and audit support services. They can also help out with E-Rate bids and help the school get through that process. It happens to be quite lengthy and complex; however, the payoff is worth it when a charter school is able to secure internet and telecommunications services at a large discount.
Another financial service that CMOs and partner organizations are able to provide is that of a fiscal officer. In the context of a charter school, a fiscal officer performs the following services:
- Handling the development, implementation, and management of fiscal protocols
- Maintaining financial records
- Preparing annual budgets and forecasts
- Handling the financial reporting
Secure Charter School Management Services for Your Charter School Today
As we’ve outlined here, there are plenty of different services that a CMO or partner organization can provide to a charter school. The services range from educational to operations and finance. Choosing a service or services really boils down to what your charter school needs.
Most organizations offer à la carte services and packages. Some organizations even offer launch programs to help charter schools get on their feet before having them operate autonomously.
If you believe a CMO can help your charter school, don’t delay in finding one right away.
