USCS - CANEC

08/11/2003

Dear CANEC Members:

We have tremendous optimism as we embark on the next decade of the charter school movement here in California. This past year, CANEC has been reshaping its goals and mission to create a new organization that will serve the movement and its members for the next decade and beyond. The finality of this work, based largely on the vision and dedication of CANEC's past Executive Director, Sue Bragato, is the exciting launch of our new organization, the California Charter Schools Association.

As we launch our new, strengthened statewide association, we believe that we have a unique opportunity to prove that charter schools offer the best path to meaningful reform of public education. As a result, we are committed to ensuring that high-quality charter schools of all educational models succeed, including non-site-based charter schools, conversion charter schools, schools serving at-risk and dropout students, English language learners, community-based and independently operated charter schools, and innovative future school models yet to be developed. We will be an association that strongly advocates for student achievement through choice, innovation and diversity within the public school system.

We are a movement committed to the belief that all students can learn, that children should be treated as individuals, that educators' entrepreneurial and innovative spirit must be embraced, that local communities should be engaged in the educational process and that parents must have the ability to choose the school their child attends. We also embrace the accountability that goes hand in hand with these values.

Besides steadfastly supporting the values we hold dear, our association has four goals:

* Core Strength-- We are committed to serving our member schools. This includes providing an array of services, expertise and financing tools to strengthen all our schools and support our members in focusing on what matters most: educating students. This also means listening constantly to our members and drawing on their expertise to strengthen the movement.

* Advocacy-- We will be the collective grassroots voice of California's charter schools. We will aggressively advocate for increased flexibility and funding for all our schools. We will aggressively communicate to the broader community the strength and potential of charter education.

* Quality-- We will raise the bar for public education as an organization that promotes high quality and accountability through a variety of measures.

* Leadership-- We will aggressively focus on leadership development in a manner that helps the charter school movement to grow. Our goal is to bring high-quality charter schools to every community in order to create enough external pressure to bring about lasting reform.

Today, the charter school movement is under attack from many directions. The status quo continues to publicize charter school failures while critics allege that accountability is nonexistent. The historical response from the charter school movement has been fragmented and has lacked the resources to defend the promise that this movement offers. This new association will address this by uniting the charter school community behind a common vision and by providing all charter schools with the resources, board and staff support to take this exciting movement to the next level.

Through coalition, there is strength. Charter schools joined together in this new association will benefit from the independence they have always had, with the added advantage of an effective organization that aggressively pursues ways to preserve and increase our independence in Sacramento. We will all benefit from a Board of Directors consisting of charter school leaders as well as representatives of the philanthropic and business community who support and defend charter schools of all types.

The philanthropists and business leaders joining this board include John Walton of the Walton Family Foundation, Scott Hamilton of the Pisces Foundation and Steve Poizner of the Poizner Family Foundation. The Walton Family Foundation is the strongest supporter of all types of educational choices in this country and Walton's personal commitment of time and resources here demonstrates his belief in this new association. The Pisces Foundation has also supported a diverse range of charter schools, particularly programs that help at-risk youth. Steve Poizner, a business leader and teacher, has demonstrated his commitment to diversity and has thoughtfully spent countless hours listening to and learning from charter school operators. These three board members have the strengths and abilities to advance our reform agenda based on the needs and desires of charter school leaders.

Charter education board members include Francisco Gutierrez, Johnathan Williams and Marta Reyes. Together they represent both facilities based and non-facilities based schools. With their voices as decision makers on the board and a strong, independent regionally elected Member Council advocating on behalf of all schools, we will remain a membership driven organization. These member seats will be elected by the Member Council as we go forward. The remaining three seats will be held by our CEO, Caprice Young, another charter school operator and an additional stakeholder in the charter school movement. The biographies of all current board members are found at www.canec.org/boardbios.html so you can review their proven commitment to the success of all charter schools.

As CANEC prepares to transition into this new association, we will be announcing dates and locations of opportunities for you to meet with the Association's new CEO, Caprice Young. Caprice will be visiting charter schools across the state over the next couple of weeks and is looking forward to hearing from you as she sets out to lead this new organization.

We are confident that our new organization will re-invigorate the California charter school movement and we look forward to working with all of you in that effort. Together, we can be a powerful example of how unity in purpose and diversity in method can bring about a revolution for student achievement.

Sincerely, on behalf of the Association board,

Caprice Young
CEO

Steve Poizner
President, Board of Directors


	Message from the newly formed California Charter Schools Association 08/11/2003 Dear CANEC Members: We have tremendous optimism as we embark on the next decade of the charter school movement here in California. This past year, CANEC has been reshaping its goals and mission to create a new organization that will serve the movement and its members for the next decade and beyond. The finality of this work, based largely on the vision and dedication of CANEC's past Executive Director, Sue Bragato, is the exciting launch of our new organization, the California Charter Schools Association. As we launch our new, strengthened statewide association, we believe that we have a unique opportunity to prove that charter schools offer the best path to meaningful reform of public education. As a result, we are committed to ensuring that high-quality charter schools of all educational models succeed, including non-site-based charter schools, conversion charter schools, schools serving at-risk and dropout students, English language learners, community-based and independently operated charter schools, and innovative future school models yet to be developed. We will be an association that strongly advocates for student achievement through choice, innovation and diversity within the public school system. We are a movement committed to the belief that all students can learn, that children should be treated as individuals, that educators' entrepreneurial and innovative spirit must be embraced, that local communities should be engaged in the educational process and that parents must have the ability to choose the school their child attends. We also embrace the accountability that goes hand in hand with these values. Besides steadfastly supporting the values we hold dear, our association has four goals: * Core Strength-- We are committed to serving our member schools. This includes providing an array of services, expertise and financing tools to strengthen all our schools and support our members in focusing on what matters most: educating students. This also means listening constantly to our members and drawing on their expertise to strengthen the movement. * Advocacy-- We will be the collective grassroots voice of California's charter schools. We will aggressively advocate for increased flexibility and funding for all our schools. We will aggressively communicate to the broader community the strength and potential of charter education. * Quality-- We will raise the bar for public education as an organization that promotes high quality and accountability through a variety of measures. * Leadership-- We will aggressively focus on leadership development in a manner that helps the charter school movement to grow. Our goal is to bring high-quality charter schools to every community in order to create enough external pressure to bring about lasting reform. Today, the charter school movement is under attack from many directions. The status quo continues to publicize charter school failures while critics allege that accountability is nonexistent. The historical response from the charter school movement has been fragmented and has lacked the resources to defend the promise that this movement offers. This new association will address this by uniting the charter school community behind a common vision and by providing all charter schools with the resources, board and staff support to take this exciting movement to the next level. Through coalition, there is strength. Charter schools joined together in this new association will benefit from the independence they have always had, with the added advantage of an effective organization that aggressively pursues ways to preserve and increase our independence in Sacramento. We will all benefit from a Board of Directors consisting of charter school leaders as well as representatives of the philanthropic and business community who support and defend charter schools of all types. The philanthropists and business leaders joining this board include John Walton of the Walton Family Foundation, Scott Hamilton of the Pisces Foundation and Steve Poizner of the Poizner Family Foundation. The Walton Family Foundation is the strongest supporter of all types of educational choices in this country and Walton's personal commitment of time and resources here demonstrates his belief in this new association. The Pisces Foundation has also supported a diverse range of charter schools, particularly programs that help at-risk youth. Steve Poizner, a business leader and teacher, has demonstrated his commitment to diversity and has thoughtfully spent countless hours listening to and learning from charter school operators. These three board members have the strengths and abilities to advance our reform agenda based on the needs and desires of charter school leaders. Charter education board members include Francisco Gutierrez, Johnathan Williams and Marta Reyes. Together they represent both facilities based and non-facilities based schools. With their voices as decision makers on the board and a strong, independent regionally elected Member Council advocating on behalf of all schools, we will remain a membership driven organization. These member seats will be elected by the Member Council as we go forward. The remaining three seats will be held by our CEO, Caprice Young, another charter school operator and an additional stakeholder in the charter school movement. The biographies of all current board members are found at www.canec.org/boardbios.html so you can review their proven commitment to the success of all charter schools. As CANEC prepares to transition into this new association, we will be announcing dates and locations of opportunities for you to meet with the Association's new CEO, Caprice Young. Caprice will be visiting charter schools across the state over the next couple of weeks and is looking forward to hearing from you as she sets out to lead this new organization. We are confident that our new organization will re-invigorate the California charter school movement and we look forward to working with all of you in that effort. Together, we can be a powerful example of how unity in purpose and diversity in method can bring about a revolution for student achievement. Sincerely, on behalf of the Association board, Caprice Young CEO Steve Poizner President, Board of Directors