| Summary |
The bill requires, when appointing members to a charter school's
governing body, that the appointing authority make reasonable efforts to
ensure that at least one-third of the board is comprised of parents or legal
guardians of students who are enrolled in the charter school and people
who reflect the demographics of the community where the charter school
is located.
The bill prohibits:
•
Automatic waivers from being included in charter contracts
executed or renewed on or after July 1, 2024; and
•
A charter contract from waiving educator personnel
performance evaluation system requirements.
Under current law, a charter school is not required to pay rent for
school district facilities that are available, and an independent charter
school is not required to pay more than $12 in rent per year for a building
of a public school that is subject to conversion. The bill repeals this
provision.
The bill repeals a requirement that a school district prepare, and
provide upon request, a list of vacant or underused buildings and land to
the district charter schools, charter school applicants, and other interested
persons, and repeals the ability of a district charter school or charter
school applicant to apply to use the district building or land.
The bill requires information about laws and policies waived by
the charter school to be provided in plain and easy-to-understand
language on:
•
A school district's enrollment website portal; and
•
A charter school's website. Failure to satisfy this
requirement is grounds for revocation or nonrenewal of the
charter contract.
The bill requires a charter school to publicly report on its website
its unredacted federal form 990 and an unredacted copy of any form
including revenue and expenses related to marketing and student
recruitment, except for redactions required to protect personal or
confidential information.
The bill requires a charter school application or renewal to include:
•
Descriptions of educational services that the applicant will
provide that meet the unmet needs of the students in the
community where the charter school is located and, in a
charter renewal application, information concerning the
progress and results in satisfying this purpose; and
•
Its annual minimum pupil enrollment requirement. Failure
to satisfy this requirement is grounds for revocation or
nonrenewal of the charter contract.
Under current law, certain local board of education (local board)
decisions may be appealed to the state board of education (state board).
The state board may remand a decision to the local board for
reconsideration. If the local board's decision remains unchanged, that
decision may be appealed to the state board again. The state board's
decision is then the final decision. The bill repeals the second remand to
the state board, so that the local board's final decision ends the appeal
process.
The bill creates a process for community members to appeal a
local board's decision to approve a charter application.
Under current law, a local board is prohibited from imposing a
moratorium on the approval of district charter schools. The bill creates an
exception for a school district whose pupil enrollment is less than the
immediately preceding budget year or is projected to decline over the next
3 budget years.
The bill allows a local board to revoke or not renew a district
charter school charter because of the school district's declining pupil
enrollment or the district charter school's declining enrollment. The
charter school may appeal the decision.
Under current law, a district accountability committee is required
to review a charter school application. The bill requires a district
accountability committee to also review a charter school renewal
application.
The bill prohibits a charter school governing board member or
leader from engaging in activity or having any financial interest that
might result in a conflict of interest between the board member's or
leader's charter school duties and personal or financial interest.
Under current law, as a part of a charter school contract, the school
district and charter school negotiate funding. A school district may retain
the actual amount of the charter school's per pupil share of central
administrative overhead costs for services provided to the charter school,
up to 5% of the district per pupil revenues for each pupil enrolled in a
charter school. The bill requires the school district to retain the costs,
including any costs that are otherwise not reimbursed for special
education services provided to the charter school, and repeals the 5% cap.
Under current law, the department of education is required to
submit an annual report to the governor and the house of representatives
and senate education committees concerning charter schools. The bill
requires the report to include data concerning attrition rates for charter
school student enrollment and teacher and administration employment.
Current law generally requires school districts and boards of
cooperative services to evaluate the performance of their licensed
personnel. The bill requires an evaluation of all personnel, including at
institute charter schools, regardless of whether the person is licensed.
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