FAQ
	What is a charter school?   A charter school is a type of public school. Charter schools provide education through a "charter," which is a type of contract granted by a chartering entity such as the State Board of Education or the board of trustees of an independent school district.
What are the purposes of charter schools? The purposes of charter schools are to: · Improve student learning. · Increase the choice of learning opportunities within the public school system. · Create professional opportunities that will attract new teachers to the public school system. · Establish a new form of accountability for public schools. · Encourage different and innovative learning methods. Is there any tuition? No, there is no tuition. Is your school (HSAB- Harmony Science Academy Baumont) accredited? Yes, like all the other public schools HSAB is a TEA accredited school. Are charter schools included? Yes, they are included. What is the process? How did you get the accreditation? Since 2006, TEA annually review financial and academic data for each school district and assign “District Accreditation Statuses” annually as “ Accredited,  Accredited-Warned, Accredited- Probation, or Accredited- Revoked” (For more info  http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/accredstatus/resources/AccreditationStatus_Matrix_09.pdf ) All our schools (Harmony Schools) are accredited according to the most recent released report ( see http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/accredstatus/ ) How is the school funded? Like independent school districts, charter schools receive state funds based on the average daily attendance (ADA) of students. Unlike independent school districts, however, charter schools do not receive funds from local tax revenue. Charter schools may also receive funds from private sources . Are you a Beaumont ISD school? No, we are an independent charter school. Who can attend your school? Any particular school district zone? Charter schools are public schools of choice. Any student, regardless of the school that they are zoned to, may attend Harmony Science Academy Beaumont. Is there a test or exam to be qualified? What are the criteria to get into your school? There is no testing required to attend Harmony Science Academy Beaumont. Timely application, a lottery, and availability of space are the determining factors for enrolment. Do you provide transportation? Harmony Science Academy Beaumont is not able to provide transportation at this time. That's because the school is not zoned like traditional public schools, which makes a large number of transportation zones. The number of students from the same transportation zone is not yet sufficient to make the transportation available to our parents at a reasonable cost. Do you have a Gifted and Talented program? Yes. All students have advanced classes in the area that they are gifted in. Our gifted and talented program consists of; · Advanced classes, · Enrichment activities, · Pull-out program, · Participating in competitions such as, · Math League, · Spelling Bee, · Pull-out program. Participating in competitions such as; · UIL Academics · Science Fair · Science Olympiad · Odyssey of the Mind · Math Count and many more… What are the hours for the school? Is there an after-school program? From 8:00 AM till 2:45 PM. Between 8:00 and 8:30 is homeroom period when students can do individual reading. The actual classes start at 8:30. There is an after-school program from 3 PM to 4:00 PM. The latest time to pick up a child is 4:20pm. The after-school program includes; · Study and tutoring time, · Club time, Some of the extracurricular activities are library time, board games, sports, computer time, art and crafts, choir, karate and robotics.