A Parent Advocate’s Perspective on the 2024 Texas Public Charter Schools Conference

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Inga Cotton at Texas Public Charter Schools Conference

The 2024 Texas Public Charter Schools Conference just wrapped up, and I want to share what I learned from the conference that will have the most impact on parents and caregivers. The two main topics are facilities funding and A–F ratings. I will discuss the new information that I learned at the conference and how I think this will impact parents and caregivers over the next year.

Facilities Funding

During the Texas Public Charter Schools Conference, I focused on the advocacy track, and attended as many breakout sessions on that topic as possible. The Texas Public Charter Schools Association (TPCSA) has a skilled team that listens to member schools, researches policy, makes recommendations, and carries those messages to our elected officials. Of all their priorities for the 2025 legislative session, the one with the most relevance to parents and caregivers is providing fair facilities funding for charter schools.

School finance is a complicated topic, and I’ve written an overview, but I’m still learning about it. The issue that TPCSA wants to prioritize in 2025 is the gap between what the independent school districts (ISDs) receive for facilities and what charter schools receive. Here is a one pager from TPCSA that explains the issue. (Click through to see both sides of the handout.)

For context: before 2017, the state provided zero funding for charter school facilities. In 2017, for the first time, HB 21 provided some funding for charter school facilities. However, that bill placed a cap on how much money overall could go to charter school facilities. Since then, with increased student enrollment in charter schools, the money just doesn’t go as far. Currently, charter schools are only receiving one sixth of the funding that they would have received without the cap. TPCSA is proposing new legislation that would raise the cap and provide more safeguards. 

Facilities funding has a big impact on charter school families. When charter schools don’t receive sufficient funding for facilities, they may have to pay for necessities by taking money away from other parts of their budgets, such as salaries. In other circumstances, charter schools may have to postpone making repairs, such as fixing a leaky roof, or get by without key features like libraries.  

Parents and caregivers at charter schools have an essential role to play in advocating for facilities funding. Every charter school student and guardian has a story to tell about how fair facilities funding could improve their campus. Starting now, families can connect with an advocacy coordinator at their children’s charter school and sign up for advocacy updates from TPCSA. Families will have opportunities to share their stories about the need for fair facilities funding with their elected officials in anticipation of the next legislative session, which will run from January through June 2025.

A–F Ratings

When Mike Morath, Texas Commissioner of Education, spoke to the general session of the Texas Public Charter Schools Conference, he spent a lot of time talking about the state accountability system. Standardized tests like the STAAR are stressful for students, but it’s essential that we know where our students stand, and that we also study the data for campuses and districts. The overall picture is not good: students are struggling to regain the progress that they lost during the pandemic. Making this even more difficult is the fact that, for the second year in a row, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) is prevented by court order from releasing updated A–F accountability ratings. Morath praised charter schools for their efficiency and their eagerness to use data for continuous improvement noting, “No one in this room is suing me to prevent the release of A–F ratings.”

In a breakout session, Katherine E. Beck, Division Director, Performance Reporting Division, explained the TEA’s methodology for calculating A–F ratings based on STAAR testing data as well as College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) data from high schools. Beck pointed out the changes that started in 2023, while also emphasizing the overall continuity of the system. 

My concern about A–F ratings is that parents and caregivers need this information to help them identify high quality schools. For a second year in a row, we can’t look up school report cards on txschools.gov, and we haven’t had a good set of data since 2019. There are workarounds, as you can learn about in our guide to the Texas Assessment Research Portal, but they are not as user friendly. In her presentation at the conference, Beck offered examples of other publicly available sources of data that are not affected by the district court injunction. Our team is going to study those sources and develop tips for families to use them. In the meantime, I strongly encourage charter school networks to follow the example of IDEA Public Schools and release their ratings on their own initiative. 

Other Topics at the Conference 

The Texas Public Charter Schools Conference had so many wonderful moments, from chance encounters in the hallways to student performances, that it’s hard to capture all the details. One event that stood out from the general session was the debut speech of Natalie Kaharick, the new CEO of TPCSA. She spoke with poise and confidence, and conveyed a continued clarity of purpose about how TPCSA can serve its member schools and the students who attend public charter schools in Texas. I am also excited to see what Starlee Coleman, the former CEO of TPCSA, will accomplish in her new role at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.  

During an advocacy breakout session, we learned about additional legislative priorities for the 2025 session. The top priority is facilities funding, but there are other changes that would put charter schools on a more equal footing with traditional public schools. For example, charter school contributions for the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) are calculated differently. In addition, while ISDs can hire teachers without college degrees or teacher certification for Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses, charter schools cannot. Charter schools need the authority to designate crossing guards. Also, it’s not clear whether charter schools can apply to start out as a single-gender campus. Plus, it would be beneficial to allow charters to opt into weighted lotteries so they could give preference to educationally disadvantaged students.    

Chambers of commerce were the topic of another advocacy breakout session. Advocacy leaders shared examples of participating in leadership programs, hosting ribbon cutting ceremonies, and coordinating campus visits during events such as Senior Walk—when high school senior students in graduation robes walk the hallways while being cheered on by elementary students. 

Cooperation between charter schools and ISDs was the topic of a panel discussion. Chasiti McKissic works as Regional Director of Operations for Rocketship Public Schools Texas and serves on the board of De Soto ISD, while Alicia Sebastian was a founding staff member of Essence Prep and serves as Vice President of the Board of Trustees at San Antonio ISD. 

TEA staff discussed the charter school application process. They also described the charter school incubator program that is leading to new, successful charter schools.

The next Texas Public Charter Schools Conference will be October 6–8, 2025 in Houston. I am looking forward to attending the conference (possibly as a speaker) and bringing back helpful information for parents and caregivers. 

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Inga Cotton

Parent activist and founder of San Antonio Charter Moms. Raising two children to be independent adults who do good in the world.

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