Subgrantee Monitoring, Authorizer Monitoring, and Charter Closures

The Michigan SEA has six policies related to subgrantee monitoring

• Monitoring 
• Fiscal and Accounting Procedures
• New Awardee Orientation 
• Grant Tracking
• Grant Closing Protocols
• Final Expenditure Report (FER)

Each month, subgrantees submit a series of reports using the following template

• Status and Progress Reporting

Consultants audit each monthly report and record notes on the monitoring template

• Monitoring Template

Twice during each grant cycle, subgrantees submit a progress report accompanied by documentation for each grant related transaction (paid invoices, receipts, canelled checks, etc). A consultant reviews the documentation and records notes in the Progress Report section of the monitoring template.

Authorizer Oversight

Michigan's Revised School Code designates four different types of entities that may authorize charter schools:  public universities, community colleges, intermediate school districts (ISDs) and local school districts (LEAs).  In addition, any of these authorizing bodies may enter into an intergovernmental agreement to co-authorize, essentially sharing the rights and responsibilities they enjoy as authorizers.

The Michigan SEA has limited statutory authority in monitoring and overseeing its 37 authorizing agencies.  A change in legislation would be required to give us rulemaking authority over authorizers.  The related policy is shown here:

• State Board of Education Authority Policy

In absence of statutory authority, the Michigan SEA has established a collaborative partnership with Michigan's authorizing bodies and created the authorizer assurance and verification system which has been in place since 2005.  The system is described in the following policy: 

• PSA Assurance and Verification Policy

Supporting documents for the assurance and verification system include the authorizer self-rating document, our on-site worksheet and a sample follow up report. 

• Self Rating Document
• MDE Worksheet
• Sample Follow Up Report

The Michigan SEA has some degree of oversight during the initial authorization and reauthorization processes in that we review all PSA contracts for statutory compliance.  The related policy and contract review checklist are here: 

• PSA Policy - Authorization and Reauthorization
• Contract Checklist 

Charter School Closure

The Michigan SEA has three policies related to closure

• Charter School Closures
• Opening and Status Changes
• Windup and Dissolution

We have one full-time consultant who oversees wind up and dissolution activites for each closure. The processes and procedures are summarized on this checklist.

• Windup and Dissolution procedures