Mission & Vision Statement

Philadelphia Charters for Excellence (PCE), an alliance of Philadelphia public charter schools, believes that all parents deserve a choice of quality public school options for their children. PCE is committed to providing the highest quality education to our students while adhering to the highest standards of fiscal management and public school governance.

MISSION STATEMENT

Philadelphia Charters for Excellence's mission is to represent, support, and expand charter schools that meet high standards of academic performance, fiscal management, and public governance. We believe in accountability for all public schools: traditional district and charter.

We accomplish our mission by:

  • Creating standards of academic performance, fiscal management, and public governance to which all members adhere.
  • Supporting charter schools to meet PCE's standards by sharing innovations and best practices. We are committed to the continuous improvement of our schools.
  • Representing high quality charter schools in public policy discussions. This includes advocating the expansion of quality charter schools and the application of accountability standards consistently across all schools.

VISION STATEMENT
 

PCE QUALITY STANDARDS:

1) Academic Excellence:

Philadelphia Charters for Excellence schools are mission-driven and strive to create an atmosphere of learning that supports all children, regardless of their circumstance or ability. Our purpose is to enable achievement for every student. Our goal is to make the achievement gap obsolete. We believe in common quality standards across district and charter schools. These standards must include the following elements:

  • Standardized test scores
  • Academic growth as measured by the change in students' individual test scores over time
  • Student retention
  • Student safety
  • Parent satisfaction
  • Graduation rate (High School)
  • College placement program (High School)
  • Average daily attendance
  • "Data driven"

PCE members PCE member schools will perform as well or better than district schools on these metrics.

2) Fiscal Management

As public schools, PCE recognizes that charter schools have a fiduciary responsibility to tax payers and the larger Philadelphia community. To ensure good fiscal management, PCE members pledge to:

  • Full and transparent reporting of financials including monthly financial statements and an annual 3rd party audit. Regular financial statements including a balance sheet and income statement are available to all stakeholders.
  • Ensure the prohibition of any form of pecuniary gain by the Board of Trustees or school administrators as a result of decisions made by or for the school.
  • Disclose and require Board approval of all related-party transactions, including the hiring of relatives, granting of contracted work to relatives, executive compensation and the ownership/leasing of properties.

3) Public Governance

PCE member schools are committed to transparent and responsible decision-making and governance. Member pledge to:

  • Comply with the Conflicts of Interest Policy under the Public Official and Employee Ethics Act and the Pennsylvania Nonprofit Act;
  • Ensure that the CEO and Principal receive an annual evaluation from their Board of Trustees;
  • Ensure that the CEO and Principal are accountable to their Board of Trustees and to the school and families of their school community in following the requirements of law and ethics;
  • Follow the requirement of the Sunshine Law in which discussions and decisions are always made in public and with ample information to the public that such meetings are to take place; and
  • Provide the opportunity for public comment at each board meeting.