The Montana Board of Education approved 19 charter school applications, including the CORE School from Great Falls Public Schools, on Jan. 19.

Jane Hamman, board member, led the board’s charter school subcommittee and said during the meeting that the contracts would include baseline performance measures and the state would determine what funding would be available to each charter school.

Morningside Elementary School was selected in November as the location for the new CORE School.

GFPS teachers who aren’t selected for the CORE School will be able to move to another school under the existing process in their collective bargaining agreement, according to district administrators.

In early 2024, the district will hold informational sessions for families who live outside of the Morningside attendance area who are considering enrollment in the CORE School for the upcoming academic year.

Current students at the selected school will have the option to stay, but for those that want to leave, they could be moved to a nearby school or go through the district’s existing permissive transfer process.

The classrooms will be filled to state capacity and will use a lottery system to fill any available elementary student slots at the lab school, district officials said.

Even if the district wasn’t approved as a public charter school, district staff said they’d move forward with their plan to turn one existing elementary school to turn into CORE School in an effort to address teacher recruitment and retention.

CORE School will essentially be a learning laboratory and will be staffed by teachers with masters degrees who go through a separate selection process and will also be hired as adjunct staff for the University of Montana-Western’s education program.

The student teachers from university programs will be hired by the district as paraeducators or teacher aides, which have also been in short supply, while they’re completing their degree program in an immersive educational setting.

Mainwaring said there’s been some misconceptions about what a public charter school is. Under the new state law allowing the creation of public charter schools, public money stays with public schools with the advisory committee and school board retaining oversight.

If approved as a public charter school, it will get slightly more from the state than the standard base funding that’s determined by enrollment, which could free up some general fund dollars for other district needs, Mainwaring said.

The public charter schools also have some flexibility to accept private funding, which could offset some costs or allow for some enhancements, GFPS officials said.

Electric: State board approves GFPS charter school