Greetings From The Board

March 1, 2013

Dear Charter School Advocate,

The Florida Charter School Alliance has worked hard to establish a strong and effective working relationship with each of you.   We look forward to continuing our work to support Florida’s public charter schools in a number of meaningful ways in the upcoming years.

The Alliance is committed to advancing educational options for all of Florida’s families and students.   We have begun and will continue to work towards this goal by providing advocacy, increasing the positive public image of charter schools, offering professional services to our members and also by providing technical assistance to both existing schools and new school founders as the movement continues to grow.

Here are a few of the ways FCSA has been working for you throughout the year:

 Advocacy

•          We are working hard in Tallahassee and focusing our efforts on legislation that supports the growth of high quality charter schools throughout Florida, provides increased autonomy,  funds all public school students equitably and creates more accountability for schools. We look forward to continuing our work in Tallahassee where we left off this session.

Professional Services for Members

•          In addition to developing a go-to list of resources and preferred vendors that you can rely on to provide you with the very best services to help you advance your school’s mission, the Alliance has also partnered with several key organizations to offer valuable services to our members.  Through our partnership with Staples, you can save money through negotiated group purchasing rates on the supplies and furniture you purchase for your school.  We are also able to offer our member teachers a non-union, non-partisan professional association membership that offers a $2,000,0000 liability insurance policy as well as legal assistance, professional development resources and more, all at an unmatched value for teachers.

Technical Assistance

•          We work with clients from around the entire state and provide strategic guidance to both new school founding groups as well as to existing schools.  For new school groups, we have helped you navigate the application process through our CharterStart program and provided application review and feedback based on our experience in school board application review meetings, connecting you with experts in the field along the way.  Existing schools rely on our assistance throughout the contract renewal process, grant reviews and more.  We're traveling the state on a regular basis to visit your schools and we are constantly educating ourselves on the charter landscape.   We’re always just a phone call or an email away.

Public Relations

•          We have been working hard to educate the public about the positive impact that charter schools have on students every day and project them in a positive light.  At the end of the day, legislators look to their constituents and public opinion is influenced by the news media.  Despite all of the hard work we all do every day, the news about charter schools is not always portrayed in a favorable light.  We have made it our mission to proactively teach people about how charter schools are leading the way in education reform.  Our opinion editorials and letters to the editor have been published in the Miami Herald, the Tallahassee Democrat and the St. Pete Times.  We will continue to be advocates for charter schools through ongoing interviews with the news media.  We hope you’ll join us.

Thank you for your support and partnership in our organization. We look forward to a continued collaboration in the months ahead of us.