Alabama Coalition for Public Charter Schools

“The return is prepared by an independent cpa. Upon completion of the preperation and prior to the filing of the return, the return is provided to the program director. The program director is responsible for reviewing the return and forwarding the return to the directors. The directors and program director will determine if any changes or adjusments need to be made. Any changes or adjustments will be provided to and discussed with the independent cpa. Once all changes have been made and the directors have completed a final review, the return will be filed.”

“To ensure the organization operates in a manner consistent with charitable purposes and does not engage in activities that could jeopardize its tax- exempt status, periodic reviews shall be conducted. The periodic reviews shall, at a minimum, include the following subjects: (a) whether compensation arrangements and benefits are reasonable, based on competent survey information, and the result of arm's length bargaining, and (b) whether partnerships, joint ventures, and arrangements with management organizations conform to the organization's written policies, are properly recorded, reflect reasonable investment or payments for goods and services, further charitable purposes and do not result in inurement, impermissible private benefit or in an excess benefit transaction.”

“The governing documents are made available to the public upon request.”

“Alabama is currently one of eight states in the country that does not have public charter schools. The alabama coalition for public charter schools is a growing group of concerned parents, educators, citizens, and policy makers who believe that the state of alabama needs public charter schools in order to make sure that every student in the state has access to a high quality school option. The coalition believes that public charter schools should be one piece in the overall reform strategy to provide all alabama students with an excellent education. The coalition is committed to making sure that alabama citizens have access to accurate information about public charter schools through a comprehensive education and marketing campaign. The coalition will use this education campaign to organize and promote facts about public charter schools as a strategy to bring public charter schools to the forefront of the conversation about education in alabama.”

“The coalition's theory of change comes from the experience of other states: once an individual learns what a public charter school is, he/she overwhelmingly supports public charter schools. Because of this, a comprehensive education campaign focused on the facts about public charter schools is integral to bringing this innovative educational tool to alabama. Through town halls, public forums, panel discussions, op-eds, and small group public charter school visits, the coalition has embarked on a statewide comprehensive education and marketing campaign about public charter schools. Our education effort is broad with a large target audience and specific messaging, including parents, educators, and community leaders. In addition, the coalition serves as a convener for the efforts of nine organizations that are also committed to bringing public charter schools to alabama. We partner with these organizations to make sure we are including as many communities as possible.”