Required Documents for Opening

Many documents must be submitted to Board staff prior to signing a contract for an approved charter application. Additionally, documents must be provided prior to the opening of school and in order to receive state funding. The infographic below outlines these items.

General Statement of Assurance

Through the General Statement of Assurance, the charter holder assures, if awarded a grant, subgrant or contract, that it will accept funds in accordance with applicable federal and state statutes, regulations, program plans and applications. The General Statement of Assurance form may be accessed on the Arizona Department of Education’s website. A completed copy of this form will need to be provided to the Board at the time you sign your new charter contract.

W-9 (Vendor Authorization Form)

A completed copy of the “State of Arizona Substitute W-9 & Vendor Authorization Form” will need to be provided to the Board at the time you sign your new charter contract. You must use the form found on the Arizona Department of Administration’s website. Once on this page, scroll down to the “ACH and Vendor Forms” section and select “GAO-W-9 (Vendor Authorization Form)”.

School Finance - Arizona Department of Education

The Arizona Department of Education's (“ADE”) School Finance processes the state payments received by charter and district schools using student and other data submitted. School Finance facilitates the creation of your charter holder and charter school CTDS and Entity ID numbers and your inclusion in ADE’s system. These numbers have to be assigned before you can upload the estimated student count that will be used for your August payment. To receive a CTDS and Entity ID number, you must submit an Entity Profile Form online after your charter contract with the Board has been executed. 

Office of the State Treasurer

The State Treasurer is responsible for the distribution and transfer of funds to various entities, including charter schools. After the charter contract has been executed, the authorized charter representative must complete and submit the State Treasurer's Distribution Recipient Banking Form to ensure there is no delay in the charter holder receiving its first state equalization payment in August. For distribution questions, send an email to Contact@aztreasury.gov or call Lorraine Jones at (602) 542-7818 or Susan Secheslingloff at (602) 542-7817.

Special Education - Arizona Department of Education

Exceptional Student Services (“ESS”) monitors charter and district schools adherence to federal and state special education requirements. The ESS website includes resources for schools regarding all aspects of a school’s special education program from data requirements to program support. Subsequent to signing a charter contract granted through the new charter application process and prior to the first day of instruction, the authorized charter representative must attend a full-day ESS training sponsored by the Arizona Department of Education. For more information regarding this training, review the congratulations letter you received notifying you that your new charter application had been approved and a charter contract had been granted.

Open Meeting Law

The charter school governing body required by A.R.S. §15-183(E)(8) must follow Open Meeting Law and, therefore, must conduct its business in public meetings. View the Attorney General's (AG) website to review the AG's opinion to determine if meetings of the charter holder’s corporate board may be subject to Open Meeting Law.