Charter SELPA
(Special Education Local Plan Area)
Value Statement
The El Dorado County Office of Education has joined with several charter schools in
order to effectively and efficiently support the implementation of appropriate and
compliant special education services in charter schools. The newly formed Charter
SELPA has established the following protocol for
consideration of admission:
1. The Charter SELPA is designed to assist
charter schools throughout California when they are approved by the
State Board of Education as a statewide benefit charter or upon appeal
and do not have a defined SELPA that has accepted them.
2. The Charter SELPA is additionally designed
to assist charter schools that have been unable to develop a
“workable” relationship in the area of special education with their
authorizer and/or SELPA and have sought relief from the Charter
SELPA. A one year notice of intent to leave
their current SELPA is required, unless a shorter timeline is mutually
agreed to by the current SELPA serving the charter school. During the
one year notice period, the Charter SELPA
will work collaboratively with the geographic SELPA to attempt to
mitigate the differences in order to determine if remaining in the
geographic SELPA is a viable alternative. This will include informing both the authorizer and the current SELPA of the interest that the charter school has expressed to join the El Dorado County Charter SELPA. Ultimately the decision of whether a "workable" relationship exists between the charter school and their authorizer and/or SELPA will rest with the charter school as evidenced by whether they continue to seek admission into the El Dorado Charter SELPA.
3. An application to the Charter SELPA shall
be based on a desire for increased access to appropriate special
education services and a desire to implement quality programs for
students with disabilities, and not primarily fiscal concerns. An
application shall be submitted to the Charter SELPA,
which shall respond to specific criteria addressing the key
indicators that would demonstrate the charter school’s capability of
implementing quality educational programs for all children following
researched best practices and the capacity to perform as a LEA.
4. The Charter SELPA has established a
Review Committee to consider applications for admission to the
SELPA. The Review Committee includes a representative of the CEO
Council, the El Dorado County Superintendent/designee, and a
representative of a charter school selected by the El Dorado County
Superintendent. The Committee shall review all applications for
submission and determine whether the charter school requesting
admission to the SELPA shall be admitted. The determination regarding
admission to the SELPA shall include the term approved and any conditions
related to admission. Charter schools granted admission into the Charter SELPA must also be approved by the California Department of Education through the Charter SELPA revised Local Plan.
The Charter SELPA has further established the following
value statements that help define the underpinnings of this organization:
1. Charter schools participating in the Charter SELPA
have the ability to recruit, select, and employ their own special education staff to
meet the needs of their students.
2. The Charter SELPA prides itself in providing full
disclosure of information, particularly in the area of financial data, and in
facilitating full participation of the charter school LEAs in decision making through
the governance structure.
3. The creation of the Charter SELPA has a goal to
provide quality value added services to participating charter school LEAs by
optimizing the economy of scale for services and eliminating unnecessary
redundancy. By joining together and utilizing technological communication
strategies, even with a wide geographic distribution of charter school LEAs, the
Charter SELPA can achieve an efficiency and
maximize the utilization of limited resources.
4. The Charter SELPA is striving to be a model for an
alternative methodology for delivering special education services that are
compliant and meet the letter and spirit of the law for providing a free appropriate
public education. In this regard, the Charter SELPA
can serve as a research and development entity and establish credibility in
pursuing other means and opportunities in providing services to eligible students.
5. It is hoped that the Charter SELPA will be recognized
as a successful and creditable venture and can attract additional resources in
order to expand implementation of model special education programs for charter
schools.
6. The Charter SELPA has an interest in delivering tools
and services that respond to the needs of charter schools and allows them to
more expeditiously and appropriately provide special education programs and
services.
7. On a long range basis, the Charter SELPA can
hopefully have a positive impact on statewide concerns in the area of special
education and serve as catalyst for solving issues by bringing greater efficiency,
alternative strategies, and knowledge to the public discourse.