CSSB 88(HES): "An Act establishing a pilot program for charter schools; and providing for an effective date."
00CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 88(HES) 01 "An Act establishing a pilot program for charter schools; and providing for an 02 effective date." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF CHARTER SCHOOLS. (a) A charter school may 05 be established as provided under this Act upon the approval of the local school board and the 06 state Board of Education of an application for a charter school. The state Board of Education 07 may not approve more than 30 charter schools to operate in the state at any one time and shall 08 approve charter schools in a geographically balanced manner as follows: not more than 10 09 schools in Anchorage; not more than five schools in Fairbanks; not more than three schools 10 in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough; not more than three schools in the Kenai Peninsula 11 Borough; not more than two schools in the City and Borough of Juneau; not more than seven 12 schools located in other areas of the state, and these seven schools shall be allocated as nearly 13 as possible in a geographically balanced manner throughout the rest of the state. 14 (b) A local school board shall prescribe an application procedure for the establishment
01 of a charter school in that school district. The application procedure must include provisions 02 for an academic policy committee consisting of parents of students attending the school, 03 teachers, and school employees and a proposed form for a contract between a charter school 04 and the local school board, setting out the contract elements required under sec. 2(c) of this 05 Act. 06 (c) A local school board shall forward to the state Board of Education applications for 07 a charter school that have been approved or denied by the local board. 08 * Sec. 2. ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION OF A CHARTER SCHOOL. (a) A 09 charter school operates as a school in the local school district except that the charter school 10 (1) is exempt from the local school district's textbook, program, curriculum, and scheduling 11 requirements; (2) is exempt from AS 14.14.130(c); the principal of the charter school shall 12 select, appoint, or otherwise control employees of the charter school; and (3) operates under 13 the charter school's annual program budget as set out in the contract between the local school 14 board and the charter school under (c) of this section. A local school board may exempt a 15 charter school from other local school district requirements if the exemption is set out in the 16 contract. 17 (b) A charter school shall 18 (1) keep financial records of the charter school; 19 (2) oversee the operation of the charter school to ensure that the terms of the 20 contract required by (c) of this section are being met; and 21 (3) meet regularly with parents and with teachers of the charter school to 22 review, evaluate, and improve operations of the charter school; 23 (4) meet with the academic policy committee at least once each year to 24 monitor progress in achieving the committee's policies and goals. 25 (c) A charter school shall operate under a contract between the charter school and the 26 local school board. A contract must contain the following provisions: 27 (1) description of the educational program; 28 (2) specific levels of achievement for the education program; 29 (3) admission policies and procedures; 30 (4) administrative policies; 31 (5) statement of the charter school's funding allocation from the local school
01 board and costs assignable to the charter school program budget; 02 (6) method by which the charter school will account for receipts and 03 expenditures; 04 (7) location and description of the facility; 05 (8) name of the teacher, or teachers, who, by agreement between the charter 06 school and the teacher, will teach in the charter school; 07 (9) teacher-to-student ratio; 08 (10) number of students served; 09 (11) the term of the contract, not to exceed a term of five years; 10 (12) a termination clause providing that the contract may be terminated by the 11 local school board for the failure of the charter school to meet educational achievement goals 12 or fiscal management standards, or for other good cause; 13 (13) a statement that the charter school will comply with all state and federal 14 requirements for receipt and use of public money; 15 (14) other requirements or exemptions agreed upon by the charter school and 16 the local school board. 17 (d) A charter school may be operated in an existing school district facility or in a 18 facility within the school district that is not currently being used as a public school, if the 19 chief school administrator determines the facility meets requirements for health and safety 20 applicable to other public schools in the district. 21 * Sec. 3. FUNDING FOR CHARTER SCHOOL. (a) A local school board shall provide 22 an approved charter school with an annual program budget. The budget shall be not less than 23 the amount generated by the students enrolled in the charter school less administrative costs 24 retained by the local school district, determined by applying the indirect cost rate approved 25 by the Department of Education. The "amount generated by students enrolled in the charter 26 school" is to be determined in the same manner as it would be for a student enrolled in 27 another public school in that school district. 28 (b) The program budget of a charter school is to be used for operating expenses of 29 the educational program of the charter school, including purchasing textbooks, classroom 30 materials, and instructional aids. 31 (c) The charter school shall provide the financial and accounting information requested
01 by the local school board or the Department of Education, and shall cooperate with the local 02 school district or the department in complying with the requirements of AS 14.17.190. 03 * Sec. 4. ADMISSION. (a) The program of a charter school may be designed to serve 04 (1) students within an age group or grade level; or 05 (2) students who will benefit from a particular teaching method or curriculum. 06 (b) A charter school shall enroll all eligible students who submit a timely application, 07 unless the number of those applications exceeds the capacity of the program, class, grade 08 level, or building. In the event of an excess of those applications, the charter school and the 09 local school board shall attempt to accommodate all of those applicants by considering 10 providing additional classroom space and assigning additional teachers from the district to the 11 charter school. If it is not possible to accommodate all eligible students who submit a timely 12 application, students shall be accepted by random drawing. A school board may not require 13 a student to attend a charter school. 14 (c) In addition to other requirements of law, a charter school shall be nonsectarian. 15 * Sec. 5. TEACHER TRANSFERS, EVALUATIONS, AND NEGOTIATED 16 AGREEMENTS. (a) A teacher may not be assigned to teach in a charter school unless the 17 teacher consents to the assignment. 18 (b) All provisions of an existing negotiated agreement or collective bargaining 19 agreement applicable to a teacher or employee of a district apply to that teacher or employee 20 if employed at a charter school in that district, unless the district and the bargaining unit 21 representing the teacher or employee agree to an exemption. 22 (c) A teacher in a charter school shall be evaluated in an equivalent manner as all 23 other teachers in the district, except that if there is no administrator assigned to the charter 24 school, the local school board, with the agreement of the charter school, shall designate a 25 school district administrator in that district to evaluate a teacher in a charter school. 26 * Sec. 6. CONTRACTS; DURATION. A contract for a charter school may be for a term 27 of no more than five years and may not extend beyond July 1, 2005. 28 * Sec. 7. REGULATIONS. The state Board of Education may adopt regulations under 29 AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act) necessary to implement this Act. 30 * Sec. 8. DEFINITIONS. In this Act, 31 (1) "academic policy committee" means the group designated to supervise the
01 academic operation of a charter school and to ensure the fulfillment of the mission of a charter 02 school; 03 (2) "charter school" means a school established under this Act that operates 04 within a public school district; 05 (3) "local school board" means a borough or city school board or a regional 06 school board; 07 (4) "parent" means a biological, adoptive, or foster parent, or an adult who acts 08 as guardian of a child and makes decisions related to the child's safety, education, and 09 welfare; 10 (5) "parent advisory group" means a group that is recognized by the school as 11 representative of those parents having children attending that school, that has regular meetings, 12 and in which membership is open to all parents within that school's attendance area; 13 (6) "teacher" means a person who serves a school district in a teaching, 14 counseling, or administrative capacity and is required to be certificated in order to hold the 15 position. 16 * Sec. 9. This Act is repealed July 1, 2005. 17 * Sec. 10. TRANSITION. Notwithstanding sec. 12 of this Act, the state Board of 18 Education may proceed to adopt regulations necessary to implement this Act. The regulations 19 take effect under AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act), but not before the respective 20 effective date of the relevant section or sections of this Act. 21 * Sec. 11. Section 10 of this Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c). 22 * Sec. 12. Sections 1 - 8 of this Act take effect July 1, 1995.