Dear DCSD Board of Directors;
We look forward to your support of the STEM School Sterling Ranch replication application on June 21st. The STEM community welcomes the opportunity for the proposed provisional approval Resolution. We believe this will provide the best path forward for STEM and DCSD to work together, provide the detailed information requested by DCSD, and support the Sterling
Ranch and overall DCSD community.
STEM School Highlands Ranch is one of the strongest charter schools in Colorado as measured by governance, finance and academic performance. The Intent to Enroll numbers exceed the 80% of the enrollment requirement for the application. With the newly identified requirement for Intent to Enroll of 150% at each grade level by December 16, 2022, STEM is confident we can exceed that request.
STEM’s finance team includes the nationally renowned investment banking firm, Ziegler. The STEM Finance Team is chaired by Board Director Nicole Smith, an enterprise-level senior banker for Truist. The unrestricted funds at STEM were built with the intention of replication, which has been a Key Goal of our Strategic Plan since its inception. Moody’s consistently ranks STEM School Highlands Ranch as investment grade, the highest designation for a charter school. STEM has more than $10 million in reserves to provide the start-up funding needed for STEM School Sterling Ranch while maintaining more than the required reserve funds for STEM School Highlands Ranch. STEM has consistently demonstrated fiscal responsibility with the intent to replicate.
Our elementary school at our flagship campus opened in 2015 with 100 students and now serves over 600 students. Our proposed financial and replication model, with a phased approach, works best for our school.
We meet or exceed all national and local recommendations for student support services. The concern that the ratios are inadequate for future enrollment conflicts with our proven track record. The ratio will be appropriate for the students enrolled just as they are at the flagship campus.
Our Board of Directors welcomes the opportunity to provide detailed evidence of a robust and thoughtful replication plan and continue our work in the process. As noted in the DCSD feedback and identified in the proposed Resolution for provisional approval, DCSD is looking for specific details that are difficult to achieve without provisional approval from DCSD.
We request the opportunity to collaborate with DCSD, and work together to serve the Sterling Ranch community. With the many funding challenges for all schools in the district, we strongly feel that a combined effort to open both charter and neighborhood schools in new neighborhoods like Sterling Ranch is the best way to meet the urgency of our young families.
Sincerely,
STEM Board of Directors
P.J. Eucker PhD
CEO KOSON Network of Schools
