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Charter School Boards

Charter School Boards 2023-08-14T13:09:57-06:00

Charter school governing bodies uphold the vision of its charter school through effective governance. Governing bodies perform various duties including ethical and financial oversight, establishment of, review, and revision of broad organizational policies, employ and oversee the school’s head administrator, and ensure and be accountable for the academic, financial, and organizational performance of the school.  The information provided below are intended as tools for assisting new and continuing governing body members.

Regulations: Governing Body Training Requirements

Governing body member training fulfill the Organizational Performance Framework training requirement for continuing governing body members pursuant to 6.80.5.9(A)(5) NMAC. These trainings are appropriate for governing board members, charter school leaders, and charter school business managers. Administrators and other charter school leaders are also welcome to attend. Effective July 14, 2020, charter school governing body training must comply with the regulations posted below.

  • All governing body training must be approved by the Public Education Department.
  • Board members must annually meet training requirements that mandate training in specified areas.
  • New board members must complete a 7 hour training that is provided by the Public Education Department.
  • Training provided must meet the requirements of this regulation.

A schedule of trainings for continuing board members is available on the Trainings Offered page. Se the Charter School Training Descriptions for more details about each type of session.

New Governing Board Members

To assist new governing board members understand their role and scope of responsibilities, please note that New Mexico Administrative Code § 6.80.5.8 requires the following for New Members on a charter school governing body:

  1. New board members must complete 10 total hours of training within the first fiscal year (school year) of service.
  2. New board members must complete a 7 hour training that is provided by the Public Education Department.
  3. Before the end of the first fiscal year of service the board member must complete three additional hours of training that is provided by any approved provider or the PED.
  4. PED recommends that each board gain approval to provide a three hour “onboarding” training course.  The purpose of this onboarding should be to integrate a new governing body member into the school by familiarizing the new governing body member with the school’s governance structure and requirements, other governing body members, financial status (including budget), history, contract, goals, model, staff, strengths and challenges, and current academic, financial, and organizational performance.
  5. If the three hours are not “onboarding” they must fall in one of these areas: ethics and responsibilities, fiscal requirements, evaluating and understanding academic data, open government, legal and organizational performance requirements, and/or Equity & Culturally and Linguistically Responsiveness.

Continuing Governing Board Members

To provide on-going support of continuing board members that will ensure effective charter governance across the sector, the following capacity-building learning opportunities are provided.  New Mexico Administrative Code § 6.80.5.9 requires the following for continuing members on a charter school governing body:

  1. Every board member must complete 8 hours of training annually that is provided by a provider that is approved by the Public Education Department.
  2. Annual training must meet specific hour requirements:
    • One (1) hour on public official/charter school governing body ethics and responsibilities
    • Three (3) hours on fiscal requirements
    • Two (2) hours on understanding and evaluating academic data
    • One (1) hour on open governing and requirements regarding free public school education along with understanding and overseeing organizational performance
    • One (1) hour on Equity & Culturally and Linguistically Responsiveness
  3. Training courses cannot be repeated in multiple years.
  4. Board members should select and attend training courses based on specific areas of growth within each training area identified above for individual governing bodies or governing body members.
  5. Board members for schools that meet specific performance requirements will be waived from up to two (2) hours of training. This is recognition of quality governance.  If you are eligible for this exemption, the Public Education Department will notify you.
    • Boards whose schools have received an unmodified annual audit in each of the past three years with no material weaknesses, no multi-year repeat findings, and no significant deficiencies and received no more than two compliance findings in the current year are excused from two (2) of the three (3) hours on fiscal requirements.
    • At this time, the academic exemption is not being offered. The chart (FY24 Fiscal Exemptions) identifies schools eligible for the exemption in 2023-2024 school year based on data from the prior three years. The exemption means schools completed 2 hours of training or that they get one hour off of Fiscal. This list was updated based on the release of the FY23 audit reports.

 

Page last updated August 14, 2023