Charter Renewal Process and Decisions

What is the Charter renewal process?
A charter school or cyber charter school must notify, in writing, the chartering school district, or PDE in the case of cyber charter schools, between July 1 and October 1 of the final year of its current charter, that it is requesting renewal of the charter.

Charter schools should determine whether the local school board to which the renewal application is being submitted has its own renewal application or whether the charter school should use PDE's Charter Renewal Application. Cyber charter schools should use the Future Ready Comprehensive Planning Portal (FRCPP)’s Cyber Charter School Renewal Application to apply for the renewal of its charter.

• Cyber Charter Renewal Addendum (Excel)

A local school board, or PDE in the case of cyber charter schools, shall conduct a comprehensive review prior to granting a five-year renewal of a charter. In order to conduct this comprehensive review, the local school board, and PDE in the case of a cyber charter school, will examine materials related to each charter school’s performance and operations.

• Letter to Charter School Regarding Authorizer Access (PDF)
• Letter to Authorizer Regarding Early Renewal (PDF)

What is the Charter non-renewal or revocation process?
During the term of a charter or at the end of a charter term, a charter may be revoked or not renewed based upon the following:

• One or more material violations of any of the charter agreement.
• Failure to meet requirements for student performance as outlined in Chapter 5 of the Pennsylvania School Code or failure to meet any performance standard set forth in the written charter.
• Failure to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management or audit requirements.
• Violation of any provision of law from which the charter school has not been exempted, including federal laws and regulations governing children with disabilities.
• Conviction of fraud.

Notice of non-renewal or revocation of a charter should be given by the local school board, or PDE in the case of a cyber charter school, to the governing board of the charter school and state the grounds for such action with reasonable specificity. The following document may be used by a local school board to summarize the overall concerns.

• Charter Non-renewal or Revocation Guidelines (PDF)

The local school board, or PDE in the case of a cyber charter school, must provide adequate notice of the date on which the public hearing concerning the non-renewal or revocation will be held. The public meeting must be conducted pursuant to the Sunshine Act and public notice must allow 30 days to provide comment.

Following review and public hearing, the charter school or cyber charter school may appeal the decision of non-renewal or revocation of the charter to CAB.

CAB may consider the charter school plan, annual reports, student performance and employee and community support. Unless the health and/or safety of the students and/or staff are at serious risk, the original charter agreement shall remain in effect until CAB grants the final decision.

If CAB determines that the charter agreement should not be revoked, CAB will order the local school board, or PDE in the case of a cyber charter school, to rescind the revocation.

If CAB determines that the charter agreement should be revoked, the charter school shall be dissolved. After the disposition of any liabilities and obligations of the charter school, any remaining assets of the charter school shall be distributed on a proportional basis to the school entities with students enrolled in the charter school for the last full or partial school year of the charter. In the case of a cyber charter school, any remaining assets of the cyber charter school shall be given over to the intermediate unit in which the cyber charter school’s administrative office was located for distribution to the school districts in which the students enrolled in the cyber charter school reside at the time of dissolution. Students attending the charter school or cyber charter school shall apply to another school in the student’s district of residence and normal application deadlines will be disregarded under these circumstances. All student records maintained by the charter school or cyber charter school must be forwarded to the student’s district of residence.

Where is more information about Charter School renewals and termination?
The charter school or school district where the charter school is located will have documents pertaining to the administration of charter school renewals and terminations. The following documents pertain to PDE’s administration of cyber charter school renewals and terminations.

The following documents were submitted to PDE by the Charter Schools. These documents may not be ADA compliant.