FY2025-2027 Strategic Planning RFP

Questions Received: 
1.    We have a proposal out to The Opportunity Trust to support growth planning for a cohort of MO charter schools – will this constitute a conflict of interest? (we can firewall the project teams to mitigate if so, but not sure if that will be sufficient)
This is not a conflict.
2.    How were your priorities developed? Are these firmly decided or are they just an ingoing hypothesis?
Our Commission, staff and key/strategic consultants met in November to determine the priorities. The priorities are based on an environmental scan, data, and policy realities in MO. Of course, we are always open to new information.
3.    Looking back, what were the major successes of that plan and what were the major challenges/misses? 
Major success – growth of portfolio and staff; codification of practices and improvement of policies/framework; rebranding.  Miss – unable to have a stable, high-functioning relationship with SBOE/DESE. 
4.  What were the major pillars of your first strategic plan? What did you like about your past strategic planning process, and what do you wish you had done differently? 
The first plan helped us convert from a scrappy startup to a “ruler brand” agency.  
Planning process, and subsequent rebranding engaged sector actors.  The plan was exactly what we needed at the time.
5. Did you work with an external partner for the first plan; if so, how does that inform what you are prioritizing in a partner this time around? 
We worked with an external partner.  The results of our first plan, the sector environment (including the results of charters and the policy environment), as well as new staff and schools inform our priorities. And the COVID/Post Covid world also impacts our priorities.
6.   Can you provide a bit more detail on your vision for the “step backs” in summer of 2025 and 2026? Are you looking for them to make meaningful changes to the plan / produce new content? Or just check-in on progress to date?
Step backs give the Commissioners a check in on progress and staff opportunities to make adjustments, if necessary.
5.    Can you give us a sense of your budget range for this work?
We are a state agency, with a commitment to being lean. Our revenue comes from schools, which by extension mean it comes from the resources allocated for the children.  We respect our vendors, who as professionals will tell us what the work costs.