Charter schools are an important part of the Oklahoma public school system. Oklahoma students deserve access to a great public education, and charter schools offer options that meet the specific needs of our students. OPSRC supports Oklahoma’s charter schools through our School Design Center, through professional development for administrators and faculty, and with resources provided by the Charter School Program Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Whether you are founding a charter school, directing a charter school, or serving as a charter authorizer, OPSRC has the resources and best practices to help provide an outstanding educational experience for your students. You will find information on each of the following topics on this page. Click on the link for each topic below.

Authorizers

Starting Your School

Running Your School

Funding Your School

Need Assistance? Click Here

As an authorizer, you are charged with both monitoring and supporting your schools. Our collection of sample performance frameworks and templates reflect current best practices and can be modified to fit your needs.

Authorizer Resources

OPSRC has a charter incubation program and a variety of resources to help motivated community partners develop new school options called the School Design Center, more information can be found here.

For those who prefer to work more independently, we provide dozens of resources, historical documents and training courses to prepare you for the application process. Resource documents can be viewed below. To access coursework, please create a free account at learn@OPSRC or email CSP Grant.

Starting Your School Resources

OPSRC provides in-person and online professional development as well as consulting services to our member schools. To learn more about these services, please visit our Member Services page. All charter schools, regardless of membership status, can access our sample policies and procedures and contact our charter resource team with questions.

Running Your School Resources

The Oklahoma Public Charter School Association exists to support and advocate for charter schools and the families they serve. OPCSA Membership includes membership at OPSRC. To learn more about OPCSA, please visit their website.

In June of 2023 the Oklahoma Public School Resource Center applied for this competitive grant and was awarded a

5-year $55,141,012 grant in October of 2023 to carry out the following objectives within Oklahoma:  

1. Increase the number of high-quality charter schools in the state with an emphasis on those serving educationally disadvantaged students:  This CSP grant will allow our state to further expand the number of high-quality seats available in our public schools by adding up to 25 new, replicating, or expanding charter schools within the five-year granting period.

2. Strengthen the quality of Oklahoma’s charter school operation and authorization: Adding additional high-quality charters focused on academic excellence will in turn aid our state in increasing academic outcomes for all students, especially educationally disadvantaged students.

The Oklahoma Public School Resource Center (OPSRC) has received a USDE competitive grant (view the press release here) to carry out the following objectives within Oklahoma:

1. Increase the number of high-quality charter schools in the state with an emphasis on those serving educationally disadvantaged students.  

2. Strengthen the quality of Oklahoma’s charter school operation and authorization.

In carrying out these objectives, the Oklahoma Charter Schools Program (OCSP) provides sub-grants to qualified charter school developers and operators for up to 18 months of planning and first two years of  implementation of new charter schools through a competitive grant process in the following three categories:

• Those seeking to expand existing high-quality charter schools,

• Those seeking to replicate existing high-quality charter schools, and 

• Those seeking to create new charter schools based on models that have been proven to successfully increase student achievement, especially for educationally disadvantaged students. 

Awarded subgrants of $2,000,000 will be funded over the planning and implementation years for eligible allocable startup activities according to the budget included in the application. Funds will be obligated entirely in the first year of the grant, with spending goals based on the three year budget included in the application and review by the CSP Team.  Yearly monitoring ensures that the sub-grantee is making progress on spending and goals. In 2024, OCSP will award five sub-grants in total:

• 3 sub-grants to create new charter schools, 

• 1 sub-grant to expand an existing high-quality charter school, and 

• 1 sub-grant to replicate an existing high-quality charter school.

Application

Each application will consist of:

1. A narrative (that details overall management and operations plans along with instructional strategies, curriculum, other resources and performance measures to be used)

2. A sustainable budget plan

3. Timelines for meeting realistic, attainable goals, which we will monitor throughout the planning and implementation years of each subgrant awarded

The application must have a solid foundation and infrastructure that will ensure the charter is prepared for success from the beginning. That is, school leaders and stakeholders must display active engagement from the outset, from the planning operations to governing board development. The applicants must demonstrate an emphasis on community support as required by the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act. A plan for financial sustainability is also crucial and must be at the core of the charter school’s application. Further, the management plan must reflect the autonomy afforded to the charter school and must demonstrate how the school will comply with all applicable regulations.

Competitive priorities

Competitive priority preference will be given to those applicants who seek to create a brick-and-mortar charter school for students who are educationally disadvantaged, including the following: 1) students with disabilities and English language learners, 2) underserved minority student subgroups (African American, Native American, Hispanic) and 3) students residing in poverty-stricken areas. Competitive Priority points will also be given to schools that have evidence of teachers or other educators on the board of the school.

Transparency
OPSRC will regularly post information about the grant below.