Charter School Applicants
District 49 believes that every child should have the right to high-quality educational options. A Request for Proposal for high quality charter schools has been released with this in mind. The district is seeking motivated and talented teams of educators, parents, teachers, and community leaders with the commitment to implement effective and innovative methods of educating children. Because we understand that not every student learns the same way, the district desires to operate and authorize a robust portfolio of schools where programs are designed to fit the needs of individual students, while addressing our district’s priority needs for new school development.
New applicants must go to Reportwell and create an account. All application materials must be submitted through the Reportwell platform. For assistance with creating an account through Reportwell, please contact the Charter Schools Specialist.
First steps
District 49 recommends charter school applicants become familiar with the Colorado Charter School Act and the NACSA Principles and Standards. Additional resources for school developers and more information about the district's needs are available in the request for applications.
District 49 authorizes charter schools in such a way that the district upholds the three core principles of charter authorizing as defined by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and adopted by the Colorado State Board of Education:
- District 49 maintains high standards for schools. This includes setting high standards for approving charter applicants; maintaining high standards for the schools the district oversees; effectively cultivating quality charter schools that meet identified educational needs of the district; overseeing charter schools that, over time, meet the performance standards and targets set forth in their charter contracts through established measures and metrics; and closing schools that fail to meet standards and targets set forth in law and by contract.
- District 49 upholds school autonomy. This includes honoring and preserving core autonomies crucial to school success, including governing board independence from the authorizer, personnel, school vision and culture, instructional programming, and budgeting; assuming responsibility not for the success or failure of individual schools, but for holding schools accountable for their performance; minimizing administrative and compliance burdens on schools; and focusing on holding schools accountable for outcomes rather than processes.
- District 49 protects student and public interests. This includes making the well-being and interests of students the fundamental value informing all the authorizer’s actions and decisions; holding schools accountable for fulfilling fundamental public education obligations to all students; holding schools accountable for fulfilling fundamental public education obligations to the public; and ensuring in its own work ethical conduct, focus on the mission of chartering high-quality schools, transparency, effective and efficient public stewardship, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations; and supporting parents and students in being well-informed about the quality of education provided by charter schools.
For applicants interested in launching a new charter school in District 49, it is necessary to create an account with Reportwell in order to submit a Request for Proposals (RFA) and then a complete application. The RFA highlights the district-identified areas of greatest need both from a programmatic and geographic perspective. The district invites charter applications that have designed programs aligned with the district’s mission and the identified priority needs at this time. While applicants are strongly encouraged to consider the areas with the highest evidence of need in developing their application, District 49 also welcomes all applicants that demonstrate a high-quality school design and strong community support. Interested applicants should also download and review section L of the policy manual.