Cooperative Applies for Charter School
HOPE – Southwest Arkansas Education Cooperative (SWAEC) in Hope has submitted a letter of intent to the Arkansas Department of Education’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education for an open-enrollment charter school to open in the 2021-22 school year. In making the announcement, SWAEC said, “We are excited about the possibilities that this charter will provide to our region. Inspire Academy Charter will service students that have experienced trauma.”
Eleven individuals or organizations sent notice to the state of their plans to apply to establish as many as 13 open-enrollment charter schools in the 2021-22 school year. The applicants have until June 1st to add details. The Arkansas State Board of Education would then give final approval. There is currently a cap of 34 for open-enrollment charters, meaning all that have applied and do the follow-up still are not guaranteed to be approved.
Inspire Academy Charter School is proposed to be within the boundaries of the Hope School District and sponsored by the local Cooperative for kindergarten through 12th graders who have “experienced traumatic events and adverse childhood experiences and, as a result, can be vulnerable to academic failure and behavioral problems.” The school would feature a trauma-informed teaching staff to work with 12 students per grade and their families.
Open-enrollment charter schools are taxpayer-funded schools that are operated by not-for-profit organizations other than traditional public school districts. Sponsors can seek and obtain waivers from some state laws and rules that apply to traditional districts in exchange for being held to a stricter level of accountability for student learning.
The Southwest Arkansas Educational Cooperative is a state-funded organization with a board of directors made up of superintendents from nine local public school districts. Its offices and facilities are located on the University of Arkansas/Hope campus, and serves as a resource for the local districts.
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