Academia Cesar Chavez Charter School

“The board of directors are elected at the annual meeting by the eligible voters of the school including current board members, staff members employed by the school, teachers employed by the school, and all parents or legal guardians of children enrolled in the school. The board of directors must include at least one licensed teacher employed at the school or providing instruction under a contract between the school and a cooperative, a parent or legal guardian of a student enrolled at the school, and an interested community member who is not employed by the school and does not have a child enrolled at the school. Per changes in the charter law, "an individual is prohibited from serving as a board member if an immediate family member is an employee of the school."”

“The form 990 is reviewed by the school's finance manager, executive director, executive associate, and board chair and approved by the executive committee. The executive committee recommends approval to the full board of directors.”

“New board members are informed of the school's conflict of interest policy and board members sign the policy annually. Each board member receives an orientation by meeting with the board chair and the executive associate. It is the responsibility of each board member to inform the board of directors of any conflict of interest that may exist. Disclosure of a conflict of interest should be made to the executive director (or if she or he is the one with the conflict, then to the board chair), who shall bring the matter to the attention of the board of directors. Disclosure involving directors should be made to the board chair, (or if she or he is the one with the conflict, then to the board executive committee) who shall bring the matter to the board of directors. From time to time, transactions with parties with whom a conflict of interest exists may require action only if all of the following are observed and if they are not in direct conflict with minnesota state statute 124d or minnesota law: 1.) the conflict of interest is fully disclosed; 2.) the person with the conflict of interest is excluded from the discussion and approval of such transaction. The conflict of interest policy affects board members and board actions. All proceedings are documented in the meeting minutes.”

“The salaries of all employees of academia cesar chavez school have been set by the board of directors through approval of the annual budget. The finance committee of the board of directors and the executive committee participated in discussion for creating the salary schedule. The finance committee includes the board chair, the board treasurer, the executive director, the executive associate and finance manager. The finance committee prepares the school budget for submittal for board approval. The starting compensation of the executive director was/is determined based upon a comparison of salary and benefits offered for similar positions at charter schools in the st. Paul district area. Other considerations in making the initial determination are education, experience, and skills of the executive director. For annual salary adjustments, the percentage of increase is in alignment with other staff increases as determined in the annual budget process and the amount of mde general aid. All salary adjustments for the executive director are reviewed and approved by the executive committee of the board. The executive director worked with the finance committee to examine payroll and review overall staffing to be able to pay teachers fair and competitive rates similar to comparable schools. The matrix for teaching staff was reviewed, comparisons with other public/charter schools were made and the salary schedule was constructed. Acc implemented a new salary schedule for the next five years to help with staff retention in order to continue to improve academic achievement.”

“The school's governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are made available to the public upon request.”

“Related board members per mn statute 124e.07, charter schools are required to have licensed teachers as members of the board of directors. Dustin lee, rosalinda chapa, and julia brandes are board members but received compensation for their services as teachers.”

“Pension liabilities, deferred outflows & inflows pension: as a charter school in the state of minnesota, participation in two multiple-employer, cost-sharing defined benefit pension plans is statutorily required. The school's contributions to the plans are also regulated by statute and are based on a percentage of salaries and wages earned by current employees. Therefore, while the net pension liability, deferred outflows and inflows, are reported on the school's statement of net position, the school is not in a position to directly control the liabilities or the subsequent liquidation of the liabilities.”

“Pension expense relating to net pension liabilities -587,258. Direct aid contributions relating to net pension liabilities 21,821.”

“The board is responsible for selection of an independent accountant and for the oversight of the financial statement audit. This process has not changed from last year.”