Another charter school operator throws its hat in the ring Monday to open a branch in Rockford, but time is running short to approve an application in time to open fall 2009. That's why proponents plan to flood the school board Tuesday night and ask members for their support.

Members of the Rockford charter schools initiative are reaching out to community members, like a group of local pastors. They're clearing up questions and asking for support for charter public schools.

"It's really important to do community outreach because if a charter public school is authorized, students have to want to enroll, they have to see the benefits that can accrue to them," says Laurie Preece, of the Rockford Charter Schools Initiative.

Authorization lies in the hands of the Rockford school board. Tuesday night parents and business and community leaders will appeal to board members to approve the proposals that are rolling in. A second application arrived Monday, from Chicago International Charter Schools, or CICS.

We recently visited one of the network's Chicago campuses. Administrators say their demographics are similar to those in Rockford. 78 percent of students are low income, 93 percent are minorities and administrators say they've eliminated the minority achievement gap on three of their twelve campuses.

The focus of the Rockford school would be college prep: Getting students to think about college as the next step from any early age and helping them connect to that idea.

"Our teachers talk about their college experiences," says RJ McMahon, Director of External Relations for CICS. "We have a teacher who's a big fan of the University of Florida, so her students have been following the Gators throughout the football season and are excited for her team to go on the national championship game."

Last year, 90 percent of CICS students graduated high school and 85 percent were accepted into college.

If approved in time, the Rockford campus would open in fall 2009 as a K-4 elementary school housed at the Patriots Gateway Center and build up to a K-12 school. It would have a longer school day and year, providing the equivilant of five extra years in the classroom for a K-12 education.

The District expects to have a total of five charter proposals by mid-January. They'll have to approve quickly if they want to open a school by the fall, and if they don't, other Illinois cities could snap up the eight approved charter slots.

The Rockford Charter Schools Initiative is planning another bus trip to visit Chicago charter schools January 8th or 9th. Anyone can go along for the ride.