Contra Costa County Charter Coalition 5C

What it reported doing in 2024

Enrolling your child in a charter school will give your child opportunities not available in other educational environments:1. Expands parental choice. Long gone are the days when your only option is to send your child to the traditional neighborhood public school. With the expansion of the school choice movement even parents who live in areas with poor public school systems can choose where they want their child to attend. Expensive private schools are no longer the only alternative to traditional public schooling. Now, parents have more choices and considering a charter school is a great decision. Parents are able to look for a school that will best meed the educational and emotional needs of their child. Individualized education is possible, and parents can even send their children to differing schools based on each child's interests and needs2. Supports a Diverse Student Population: Because charter schools encourage the idea of school choice they often also boost the diversity in the classroom. Since parents are able to choose where to send their child they often are able to go outside the boundary of their normal, neighborhood school. In this way students are spreading into areas in which they do not live, increasing the diversity in a classroom. This is extremely beneficial for minority students as studies have shown that "Latino and African-American charter school students are twice as likely as their TPS peers to be attending a school in the top 10% statewide and over three times as likely to be attending a top 5% school statewide". All of this results in a more diverse and more successful student body.3. Smaller Class Size: Many charter schools pride themselves on their ability to offer more one-on-one attention to students than traditional public schools can boast. This is largely due to the fact that charter schools often have smaller class sizes. Focusing teacher's attention on smaller groups of students allows for a more individualized education plan for each student.4. Focus on the Individual Talents of the Students: Most charter schools choose to specialize in a particular area, such as science and technology or performing arts. In this way, children who attend a specific charter school are able to take classes that align with their talents and interests. Students who attend these schools can often seek additional support in classes in which they are weaker in as well. These ideals allow students to have increased classroom engagement and often result in students being more intrinsically motivated to succeed. When kids are invested in their education and interested in their classes, test scores begin to soar! Often, charter schools even allow students to choose their course schedule and take classes that will directly prepare them for a specific college major or career choice.5. Greater Flexibility and Greater Accountability: Many people impressed by the ability charter schools have in regards to their curricular and managerial freedom, it is much more flexible than that of traditional public schools. Because they're able to avoid many of the political responsibilities associated with traditional schools, charter schools can devote more of their resources to focus on maintaining high academic standards. This gives charter schools more time and funding to help students achieve educational excellence and overcome areas of weakness.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 94.9%; rating input score 95
• Program expense ratio: 89.8%; rating input score 90
• Fundraising efficiency: $33.11 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -5.7%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.06; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 29.4%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: Limited
• Revenue growth: Limited
• Asset growth: Limited