Renewal Realities: Navigating Charter Renewals in 2026 and Beyond

Deputy Director
Scholarship Prep
Andrew Crowe is the Deputy Director at Scholarship Prep. Andrew has driven equitable practices as a leader in Philadelphia, Hawai`i, and Southern California. He currently serves as the Elder-In-Residence of the Native American Alumni Board of Notre Dame and a board member of the Orange County Continuum of Care, a cross-agency elected board designed to end homelessness.

General Counsel
Aspire Public Schools
Dan joined Aspire as Chief of Staff in November 2019. In that capacity, he oversaw strategic planning, progress monitoring, and crisis response, such as spearheading Aspire’s response to COVID-19. Prior to joining Aspire, Dan built and led the School Management Office at Success Academy in NYC. In that role, he led a team of 20+ individuals to scale student supports (e.g., special education, SEL), and supported leaders on data analytics, enrollment, crisis management, and conflict resolution. Prior to that, Dan served as Assistant General Counsel and Chief of Staff to Success Academy's Chief Legal Officer for ~6 years.

Partner
Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP
Greta is the leader of Procopio’s Education practice group. She provides legal counsel to both classroom and nonclassroom-based charter schools on a wide variety of issues. Greta advises on new charters, renewals, material revisions, changes in the law, school policies, contracts, independent study, authorizer relations, Brown Act, Public Records Act, conflicts of interest, funding, student matters, admissions, and more. Greta represents schools of all sizes, and has worked with numerous charter networks on strategic partnerships, resource sharing, and governance. She provides regular trainings on charter school topics, and is actively engaged in school issues and policy.

Partner
Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, LLP
Merrick has worked for charter schools for more than a decade. He advises on a variety of issues, including charter renewals and material revisions, authorizer relations, student discipline, board policies and governance, contracts, facility issues, and many others. Merrick regularly provides trainings on Title IX, Brown Act, Public Records Act, avoiding conflicts under the Political Reform Act and Government Code section 1090, and new legislation impacting clients in the education sector. Prior to law school, Merrick worked as a substitute teacher in all grade levels at the Kings County Office of Education.