School Advisory Councils in Charter Schools

The School Advisory Council law predates the Charter Schools Act. The legislative intent of school-level accountability committees is to provide parents a way to be involved in their child's education. My experience with these committees at neighborhood public schools is that they're for show, if they meet at all. Not much effort is put into them and when I've asked SAC leaders what the role of the committee is, they don't have much of an answer.

But many charter schools are governed by parents, which is the ultimate of involving parents. Therefore, when charter schools initially began in the mid 1990's many didn't have a separate accountability; instead, the governing board acted as the accountability committee. For charter schools established after Jan. 1, 2000 there should be a subcommittee of the board focused on accountability. This committee should serve the purposes of the board, rather than be focused on the parameters of the statute.

Since almost all charter schools conduct parent surveys each spring, many SACs create the survey for board approval and then compile results. In addition, the committee takes a close look at assessment data and develops the School Accreditation Plan. Charter boards have also asked the SAC to review curriculum components and other tasks specific to the needs of the school.