Minutes of a Meeting of the
Education, College Readiness and Success Committee
of the Board of Trustees
of the State University of New York
held April 24, 2012
Pursuant to a notice of meeting duly given on April 20, 2012, the Education, College Readiness and Success Committee of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York met at the SUNY College of Optometry, New York, NY on Tuesday, April 24, 2012.
Members present:  	Trustees O’Brien, Good, Hunt, and Lewin
Members not present:	   Ambassador Spielvogel 
Also present:   	Senior Vice Chancellor Duncan-Poitier; Ms. Miller Barker, Dr. Ron Miller, Mr. Rossi and Ms. Sazon of the SUNY Charter Schools Institute; Simeon Banister of the SUNY University Relations Office; Christina Collins of the United Federation of Teachers; Jim Devor, President of NYC Community Education Council 15; Noah Gotbaum, President of NYC Community Education Council 3; Emily Kim, Jenny Sedlis and Peter Cymrot, Success Charter Network, Inc.; Sonya Hampton, PTA President PS/MS 149; multiple representatives from New York Communities for Change (NYCC); and several members of the community.
Trustee O'Brien convened the meeting at 2:04 p.m. and recognized Ms. Miller Barker who indicated that the Institute needed to revise the one resolution that had been mailed to the Committee for this meeting. The initial resolution contained a recommendation regarding a request to merge five charter schools and a request for a management fee increase. A new resolution was distributed to the Committee at the table that removed any reference to the fee increase. Ms. Miller Barker indicated that the Institute had not yet concluded its fiscal evaluation but anticipated bringing a recommendation to the Committee on this matter in May or June.  

Approval of Meeting Minutes

Trustee O’Brien then called for a motion to approve the minutes of the last Committee meeting.

* Upon motion of Trustee Hunt and second by Trustee Lewin, the Committee unanimously approved the minutes of its March 28, 2012 meeting.

Agenda Items:

Chair’s Report

* Trustee O’Brien initiated a discussion of the draft document containing a statement of purpose and charge for the Committee that was included in the meeting materials. He welcomed comments and indicated they would be considered in finalizing the document.  He also highlighted a table prepared by the Institute highlighting anticipated upcoming agenda items, and noted that the Committee would develop a similar table for the year that included all P-16 Pipeline items as well.   



Institute General Update

* Ms. Miller Barker provided an update on the Institute’s ongoing review of proposals submitted in response to the January 2012 SUNY RFP to Establish New York State Charter Schools. Referring to the Public List maintained by the Institute to inform the public of the status of each proposal, she said the Institute anticipated bringing new school proposals to the Committee’s for consideration at the June meeting and expected Trustee interviews of proposed education corporation boards to occur in late May.

Ms. Miller Barker also reviewed the Institute’s progress in developing a proposed methodology for the enrollment and retention targets for charter schools now required under the Charter Schools Act. The legislation requires charter schools to serve comparable numbers of students in three at-risk categories—English language learners (ELLs), students with disabilities, and students who qualify for free and reduced priced lunch.  She noted that the legislation required both SUNY and the New York Regents to develop methodologies and ultimately to hold each school accountable for meeting or making progress toward those targets. Trustee O’Brien indicated that he had an appreciation for the challenges in this work and recalled his work in helping a Rochester school develop a new curriculum.  He said he quickly gained an appreciation for the significant mobility of students and the resultant impact on assuring continuity in their education. Ms. Miller Barker agreed and noted that there are a number of unique issues in trying to assure a comparability of student populations in one charter school and an entire school district. She explained that the State Education Department has provided data indicating, for example, that ELLs are not equally distributed among districts, particularly in New York City and Buffalo.  She indicated that the Institute has been working closely with the State Education Department in this effort and that she hoped to have Associate Education Commissioner Sally Bachofer join her at an upcoming meeting to detail a methodology that both staffs would respectively recommend be shared for public comment. 

Report on Institute Actions Proposed to be Taken on Behalf of the SUNY Trustees

* Mr. Rossi explained that the Institute report details three charter revision requests.  Bedford Stuyvesant Collegiate Charter School and Brownsville Collegiate Charter School seek to integrate their high school grades in one shared program in Community School District 13. Kings Collegiate Charter School and Excellence Boys Charter School of Bedford Stuyvesant seek to integrate their high school grades in the same facility in Community School District 17 together with Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School (authorized by the State Education Department). Mr. Rossi said that in both cases the schools would contract with each other to share costs, and Institute would maintain separate accountability plans for all schools and each school would continue to be reviewed separately for purposes of renewal.  
* Mr. Rossi noted that the third revision addressed in the report is a name change for Brooklyn Success Academy Charter School 3, consistent with those approved by the Committee at its last meeting. As the names have a geographic element to them, the Institute waited to bring this recommendation to the Committee until the schools’ facility had been approved by the Institute. The school’s new name would be “Success Academy Charter School – Cobble Hill.” 

Mr. Rossi said the Institute proposes approving all three revisions.  The Committee had no objection.


Executive Session

* Upon motion of Trustee Hunt and second by Trustee Lewin, the Committee unanimously voted to enter into Executive Session to discuss legal aspects of merger and replication and receive an update on current litigation. 
* Mr. Rossi briefed the Committee on two current litigations, Norris v. Walcott, and Southside Community Schools Coalition v. NYCBOE, involving CPLR Article 78 proceedings against SUNY.  Mr. Rossi also provided a legal briefing regarding the authority of SUNY to approve charter school education corporation mergers and the litigation risk associated therewith.

* Upon motion of Trustee Hunt and second by Trustee Lewin, the Committee unanimously voted to re-enter public session at 3:36 p.m. 

Trustee O’Brien noted that no votes were taken in executive session.

Merger/Replication Briefing

* Ms. Miller Barker noted that the Committee has received several briefings on merger and replication made possible under the May 2010 amendments to the Charter Schools Act to date. She added that merger was specifically contemplated in the SUNY Replication Policies adopted by the Trustees in January. She said the Institute’s work had reached a point where it was prepared to receive and review related requests from schools. She said that after the briefing today, the Committee could consider what would be its first revision request for a multi-school merger. Her briefing highlighted a definition of terms document prepared by the Institute to guide the discussion. She reviewed the specific amendments to the Charter Schools Act and the types of merger possible. She detailed the key attributes of a single charter school corporate structure and then also those of a merged charter school structure. She reiterated that consistent with the newly adopted replication policies, SUNY would still hold each individual school accountable for student achievement; and that it would still conduct a fiscal analysis at the school level. 

	After some discussion, Trustee O’Brien then moved to consideration of the related, revised resolution before the Committee. 

	Mr. Rossi noted that merger will not become effective until approved by the ECRS Committee and the Board of Regents, and the passing of the planned merger agreement date, which is July 1, 2012.  He explained that if the ECRS Committee or Board of Regents does not approve it until after that date, a new effective date will be determined at that time. He further explained that the Board of Regents had to approve a revision for Harlem Success Academy Charter School to join the merger or it would not be permitted to merge.

* Upon motion of Trustee Hunt and second by Trustee Lewin, the Committee unanimously voted to approve the proposed revision to merge four SUNY authorized and one Board of Regents authorized charter schools, Harlem Success Academy Charter School, and Harlem Success Academy Charter School 2 through 5 to merge together into Harlem Success Academy Charter School 3, which would be with the sole successor corporation and be renamed “Success Academy Charter Schools-NYC.”

Upon motion of Trustee Hunt and second by Trustee Lewin, the Committee meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m.


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