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INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DISTRICT SPONSORSHIP OF CHARTER
ACADEMIES Submitted by: St. Clair TEC Academies, Port Huron, MI
Clair County Intermediate School District (ISD) has sponsored the establishment
of six charter schools in order to gain employer involvement in school
governance. Four of the six academies, in turn, purchase administrative
and professional services from the ISD in order to take advantage of
its expertise in these areas. Reasons for Practice The primary reasons for the St. Clair ISD's sponsorship of charter academies were to: (1) involve major local employers in an unprecedented and meaningful way as board members of the academies, and (2) utilize instructional staff who had worked in industry and who were knowledgeable about the skills needed for employment in major local businesses. Prior to 1996, when the first academy (Plastics Manufacturing Technology) was formed, local employers began to express concern that graduates of high schools in St. Clair County were unaware of, and largely unprepared for, careers in their industries. To remedy this situation, the employers began discussions with leadership of the ISD to implement charter academies, which have local boards that are appointed by the authorizing agency rather than being popularly elected, as with traditional local school districts. The advantage of having an appointed board of local business leaders is that the people most knowledgeable about the skills needed to work in their industries are included in governance. These leaders also have been able to: (1) help establish a curriculum that reflects industry standards, and (2) help the academies procure the latest in equipment and technology that students can work with during their high school educational experience. In addition, the charter arrangement permits each academy to tap people who have worked in major local industries (such as plastics manufacturing) as instructors, and allows local companies to be used as work-based learning sites. The major reason the academies purchase administrative and professional
services from the ISD was to ensure that the academies do not compete
with the local educational agencies (LEAs) in St. Clair County for students
and funding. Instead, having the ISD as the sponsoring agency for the
academies results in a planned partnership. Through this partnership,
the ISD purchases instructional services from the academies, the LEAs
help to recruit students and provide transportation to the academies,
and the academies provide the actual instruction. Rather than contracting
with outside providers who may be unfamiliar with the academies and/or
who are located some distance away from them, as numerous other charter
schools in Michigan have done, the academies have made use of the in-house
expertise and experience of ISD's Technical Education Center (TEC) staff.
Length of Time in Effect The purchased service agreement has been in place since the ISD first sponsored the Plastics Manufacturing Technology Academy in 1996. Since that time, the same compact has been used by the three other academies chartered by the ISD (the Health Careers, Hospitality, and Information Technology academies).
ISDs in Michigan are regional providers of educational services, typically organized at the county level and serving all local educational agencies (LEAs) within the county. The St. Clair County Intermediate School District (ISD) has sponsored six charter schools (known in Michigan as public school academies). The ISD viewed charter legislation as an opportunity to gain more meaningful involvement on the part of major local employers as educational partners. (The academies in St. Clair County differ from most charter schools
in Michigan in that the authorizing agency is not a public university;
very few of Michigan's other ISDs have authorized any charter schools
to date.) As a result, employers serve as board members for the four
ISD-authorized academies that offer career and technical programming.
These academies include:
The academies exist as autonomous entities, each with its own governing board. As the authorizing agency for the academies, the ISD appoints the members of each governing board. The board then recruits and evaluates instructional staff, oversees the content of the curriculum and operations, and is responsible for the overall quality of the educational product that the academies deliver. The four academies purchase administrative and other professional services
from the ISD, which is already providing similar services to the seven
local school districts located in St. Clair County. Specifically, they
purchase administrative services for operation, evaluation, curriculum,
and student services. They purchase data services for functions such
as attendance and report cards, and business services for functions
such as payroll and purchase orders. In addition, the academies lease
space from the ISD at its Technical Education Center (TEC). Finally,
the ISD provides curriculum support services to each academy, although
it does not provide the curriculum per se nor write it for the academies What are the Benefits to the Student?
What are the Benefits to Employers Involved with the School?
What are the Benefits to the School?
The arrangement that exists in St. Clair County, in which the ISD acts as the sponsor for charter academies, may not be possible in other areas due to financial constraints. St. Clair County sponsors an "area center" for career and technical education (CTE) through its ISD; not all ISDs in Michigan do so. In addition, the St. Clair ISD levies a local millage in support of CTE, which is not the situation in some other ISDs. It is these funding mechanisms along with the leadership of the ISD that make the sponsorship of charter academies possible in St. Clair County.
See the St. Clair County Intermediate School District web site for additional information: www.stclair-isd.k12.mi.us.
Fred Stanley Tel: 810-364-8990
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