Five Letters of Intent from Charter Operators Received by the Alabama Public Charter School Commission

The Alabama Public Charter School Commission received letters of intent from five potential charter school operators interested in operating public charter schools in Alabama.

Commission member Thomas Rains confirmed the number of letters in an interview this afternoon. Rains said that staff from the Alabama State Department of Education’s Office of Public Charter Schools are working with the Commission to review the letters to evaluate if those interested meet initial eligibility criteria.

The Commission will release the results of those evaluations in the next couple of weeks.

Letters of intent are not binding nor are they required prior to a potential charter operator completing a full application.

Applications are due August 1 for any charter operators hoping to start a charter school in Alabama for the 2017-2018 school year.

The Alabama School Connection published an article on June 21 stating that no letters of interest were received, which we now know was not accurate. We apologize for the error.

The Alabama Public Charter School Commission meets at 9:00 a.m., Thursday, June 30, via telephone to consider bylaws and operational procedures that will govern the work of the Commission.. The public can listen in by calling 1-888-822-7517 and dialing in meeting room number 814512#.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education, Public Charter Schools website section.

The Commission is an independent state agency charged with authorizing start-up charter schools and serving as an appeal board in cases where local boards of education serving as authorizers deny a start-up charter operator’s application.

The operation of public charter schools was authorized in 2015 with the passage of the Alabama School Choice and Student Opportunity Act.

UPDATE: 6/28/2016, 8:17 p.m. – Clarified that those sending letters of intent are “potential” charter school operators.