CACSA work is informed by nine Organizing Principles
All authorizers are invited to join the professional community dedicated to the continual improvement of authorizing practice and charter school performance. The professional community accepts the shared challenge to improve in the practice of authorizing.
Members of the association seek to increase capacity for quality authorizing. Support will be provided to continuously improve the charter school sector by sharing lessons, model materials, strong practices, and by defining roles and responsibilities of those involved in authorizing.
Members will develop, articulate, and document what it means to conduct quality authorizing. These practices are reflected in Colorado Principles and Standards for Quality Charter School Authorizing as adopted by the State Board of Education.
The effort welcomes all professionals. The Association recognizes people have different attitudes toward charters and come from districts that have different histories and approaches to chartering.
It is the belief of the Association that professional authorizing should lead to merit-based decisions that uphold the best interests of students. Ideally, when quality authorizers make such decisions, their actions should prevail during appeals or other challenges.
The Association believes in improving results for all of public education. This includes charter and traditional public schools, as well as students of all backgrounds and characteristics. Authorizing, like the charter sector, should reflect community and student needs.
The Association believes charter schools require both autonomy and accountability – to include outcomes in student performance, operations, governance, and finance.
The Association will provide a voice for authorizing professionals to communicate on behalf of these goals.
CACSA works to promote equity: Equity means that every person has access to resources and opportunities to be successful. Equity in education means that a child’s educational experiences or outcomes are not predictable because of their race, ethnicity, disability, or any other socio-political identity marker. Working towards equity requires the practice of acknowledging that people have different access to resources and opportunities due to structural and/or systemic injustices. Advancing equity requires the elimination of policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages that reinforce differential outcomes.
