Taking Boards from Reactive to Ready
In charter schools, governing boards are nearly always called on in moments of urgency. Think: declining enrollment, leadership transitions, financial strain, or academic underperformance. But the most effective boards don’t wait for those moments to act. They build systems, habits, and capacity long before challenges escalate.
That mindset — proactive rather than reactive — is at the heart of Kia Murray’s Advanced Doctoral Project.
Building Sustainable Charter Schools is a practical training manual with resources designed to help governing boards recognize early signals and respond with clarity and confidence. It’s a resource grounded in a simple but powerful idea: healthy governance starts before anything goes wrong.
“Strong governance isn’t about reacting to problems,” says Kia, who anticipates receiving her doctorate in May. “It’s about recognizing patterns early, asking better questions along the way, and taking action as soon as signals of struggle appear.”
Growth brings opportunity and risk
Colorado’s charter sector has grown significantly since the first schools opened in 1993. Today, more than 250 schools serve over 135,000 students across the state. While the vast majority of these schools are successful, closures over time have underscored an important reality: sustainability is not guaranteed. Breakdowns rarely happen overnight; they build over time, often with early warning signs that go unnoticed.
Research consistently points to governance as a critical factor in school success. Boards that are engaged, informed, and strategic are better positioned to ensure positive outcomes. But even strong boards can fall into a common trap: focusing attention only when a problem becomes impossible to ignore.
This manual is designed to interrupt that pattern, explains Kia. A former League staff member, she continues to serve as a consultant and facilitate the Board Chair Cohort.
Framework for reflecting
Rather than reacting to issues as they arise, Building Sustainable Charter Schools helps boards build a consistent rhythm of reflection. Its six key indicators — leadership, governance, finance and operations, talent, culture, and instruction — are areas in which schools often show early signals of either strength or strain.
Within each indicator, the manual highlights practical, observable metrics. These aren’t abstract ideas; they’re grounded in what boards are already seeing and discussing. From staff retention and student culture to enrollment trends and academic progress, the framework sharpens a board’s ability to notice patterns early and act sooner.
“In my work with boards, I’ve seen how much stronger decisions are when there’s time to reflect instead of react. I wanted to create a practical tool that supports ongoing reflection in key, research-informed areas,” shares Kia.
Turning information into action
Many boards already receive a steady flow of data, but the challenge isn’t access; it’s interpretation. Kia’s framework brings clarity to that process by helping boards distinguish between low-, mid-, and high-risk signals, so they know when to monitor, when to dig deeper, and when to act. It equips them with the right questions to ask, along with practical ways to measure progress and respond. Data becomes more than something boards review; it becomes something they use.
That clarity also strengthens the connection between day-to-day governance and long-term strategy. While strategic plans outline where a school wants to go, this tool helps boards stay grounded in how things are actually going. By aligning indicators with strategic priorities, boards can use them as real-time checkpoints, ensuring progress is continuously examined, not just periodically reviewed. Governance shifts from a series of updates to an ongoing process of alignment and insight.
Supporting strong governance
This resource builds on Kia’s broader contributions to the charter school sector, including the Charter Board Playbook and revised online training modules recently developed with the League. While the Playbook focuses on building foundational knowledge, this new manual supports what comes next: consistent, thoughtful application in real time. Together, they reflect a growing commitment to strengthening governance not just in moments of challenge, but as part of everyday leadership.
The takeaway is simple: strong boards don’t wait. “They don’t wait for warning signs to become problems or for urgency to drive focus," Kia explains. “They invest in their capacity early, create space for reflection, and lead with intention.
This new resource is another step in that direction.
