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2026 Buffalo United Charter School Renewal Recommendation Report

Key Information

Executive Summary

Buffalo United Charter School demonstrated consistent progress toward meeting its Accountability Plan goals in the final years of the charter term after experiencing considerable teacher, leader, and board turnover since its last renewal. The school’s newly established leadership team recommitted to Buffalo United’s key design elements, emphasizing consistent academic programming, strong community engagement, and defined accountability structures to improve school culture. Buffalo United contracts with National Heritage Academies (“NHA”), a Michigan for-profit corporation that serves as an educational management organization for over 100 charter schools across nine states, to provide academic resources and back office support. At the time of the renewal visit, the Institute observed clear systems to support the delivery of the academic program and increased board capacity to hold NHA accountable for responsive, high quality services tailored to the needs of the Buffalo United community.

The school stabilized staff and student culture over the charter term to set a strong foundation for leaders’ strategy to improve instruction across the program. From the 2021-22 to the 2024-25 school year, teacher attrition rates decreased by 48 percentage points, and staff members expressed high levels of satisfaction with the support and development provided by school leaders and NHA. Similarly, the school has decreased student behavior infractions and suspension numbers in recent years, as consistent parent communication and clear schoolwide expectations have led to calm, focused learning environments across the program. Finally, Buffalo United reversed declining enrollment trends with an extensive family outreach initiative and shift to an in-house enrollment platform away culture over the charter term, and while leaders are still not satisfied with overall student performance, Buffalo United has produced steady academic gains. If renewed, the school demonstrates the capacity to maintain an upward trajectory in a future charter term.

Findings and Information

Is the school an academic success?

Buffalo United increased its English language arts (“ELA”) and mathematics performance over the charter term to meet or come close to meeting its Accountability Plan goals. The SUNY Trustees placed conditions on Buffalo United at its last renewal and the school met its conditions as leaders and the board remained in consistent communication with the Institute regarding Buffalo United’s progress and renewal status. The school increased coaching and support for teachers in collaboration with the NHA curriculum and instruction team. Leaders set clear instructional priorities and conducted regular walkthroughs, or “calibrations,” to identify pedagogical strengths and weaknesses and assess teachers’ curricular implementation. In the final year of the Accountability Period, the school improved its performance in both subjects by substantial margins compared to the local district. Buffalo United must work to sustain the commendable growth and comparative performance it achieved in the final years of the term. The school demonstrates success in the following ways:

  • Buffalo United outperformed the district in ELA in the majority of years of the charter term with data suitable for analysis. Notably in 2024-25, the school increased its proficiency rate for tested students enrolled in at least their second year by nine percentage points from the prior year and outperformed the district by eight percentage points.
  • In mathematics, Buffalo United demonstrated substantial growth over the charter term. From 2021-22 to 2024-25, the school increased its proficiency rate for tested students enrolled in at least their second year by 18 percentage points. In alignment with this large increase in absolute proficiency, the school posted mean growth percentiles that surpassed the target of 50 in the final two years of the Accountability Period.
  • The school’s English language learners (“ELLs”) demonstrated laudable growth in ELA during the term. From 2022-23 to 2024-25, Buffalo United’s ELL students increased their overall ELA proficiency rate from 0% to 36%. In alignment with this increase in absolute proficiency rates, the school posted an ELA mean growth percentile for ELLs 11 percentile points above the target of 50 in 2024-25.
Is the school an effective, viable organization?

Buffalo United is an effective, viable organization. Despite experiencing significant turnover in the first half of the charter term, leaders stabilized the school and established a supportive culture for both students and staff members.

Buffalo United reduced teacher attrition through retention bonuses and increased clarity for schoolwide behavioral and academic expectations. The board’s membership evolved over the charter term and current members demonstrate a clear understanding of their governing responsibilities. The board focused on evaluating the quality of the program using an external expert, holding NHA accountable for services and supports, and evolving programming to better meet the needs of students and families. Given the improvements to organizational and board capacity throughout the charter term, Buffalo United is well positioned to continue its trajectory of progress.

Is the school fiscally sound?

Buffalo United is fiscally adequate based on the Institute’s review of the renewal documentation. For the entirety of the current charter term, Buffalo United’s contract with NHA has been a sweep contract that provides NHA all revenues received by the education corporation as NHA’s fee in exchange for paying all expenses related to implementing the educational program. The board retains at a minimum $50,000 to spend at its discretion. The education corporation experienced fluctuations and a slight overall decline in enrollment throughout the current charter term. In response, the school requested to adjust its chartered enrollment targets to better align with current actual enrollment levels. The revised proposed chartered enrollment is more realistic and represents appropriate realignment to support reasonable budgeting. The 2024-25 annual financial audit did present a significant deficiency in the maintenance of student files which is a reoccurring deficiency from the previous year’s audit. The school acknowledges the need to urgently rectify the issue and the Institute will monitor the school’s progress to ensure compliance.

Buffalo United demonstrated an adequate financial performance during the current charter term. The education corporation has taken proactive steps to realign its operations with current enrollment and cash flow projections which can support the school’s ability to operate sustainably over the next charter term. The school maintained net assets of $0.3 million and 0.2 months of cash on hand as of the 2025-26 school year.

The future budget provided in the renewal application contains reasonable revenue and expense projections for the proposed charter term. Buffalo United maintains a separate bank account with appropriate dissolution funds as required
by the charter agreement.

If the SUNY Trustees renew the school, are the education corporation’s plans for the school reasonable, feasible, and achievable?

Buffalo United’s plans for the future are reasonable, feasible, and achievable. The school’s board and leadership team recognize the need to sustain improvements to the educational program and meet the school’s Accountability Plan goals consistently in a future charter term. Additionally, the school’s board is working to recruit additional members to ensure it comprises the statutorily required minimum number of trustees. The school does not plan for any changes to its one leased facility over the proposed charter term.

Recommendation: Full Term Renewal

The Charter Schools Institute (the “Institute”) recommends the SUNY Trustees’ Charter Schools Committee approve the Application for Charter Renewal of Buffalo United Charter School (“Buffalo United”) for a period of five years with authority to provide instruction to students in Kindergarten through 8th grade in such configuration as set forth in its Application for Charter Renewal, with a projected total enrollment of 646 students. The Institute makes this recommendation as Buffalo United meets the requirements for renewal set forth in the Policies for Renewal of Not-For-Profit Charter School Education Corporations and Charter Schools Authorized by the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York (the “SUNY Renewal Policies”).