Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

SECOND REGULAR SESSION
                        HOUSE BILL NO. 2129
                               103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY


                               INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE BOYKO.

     4290H.01I                                                                    JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk


                                                AN ACT
     To repeal section 160.405, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to
            charter school compliance with educational requirements.


     Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

              Section A. Section 160.405, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu
 thereof, to be known as section 160.405, to read as follows:
              160.405. 1. A person, group or organization seeking to establish a charter school
 shall submit the proposed charter, as provided in this section, to a sponsor. If the sponsor is
 not a school board, the applicant shall give a copy of its application to the school board of the
 district in which the charter school is to be located and to the state board of education, within
 five business days of the date the application is filed with the proposed sponsor. The school
 board may file objections with the proposed sponsor, and, if a charter is granted, the school
 board may file objections with the state board of education. The charter shall include a
 legally binding performance contract that describes the obligations and responsibilities of the
 school and the sponsor as outlined in sections 160.400 to 160.425 and section 167.349 and
 shall address the following:
          (1) A mission and vision statement for the charter school;
          (2) A description of the charter school's organizational structure and bylaws of the
 governing body, which will be responsible for the policy, financial management, and
 operational decisions of the charter school, including the nature and extent of parental,
 professional educator, and community involvement in the governance and operation of the
 charter school;


     EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is
     intended to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language.
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         (3) A financial plan for the first three years of operation of the charter school
 including provisions for annual audits;
         (4) A description of the charter school's policy for securing personnel services, its
 personnel policies, personnel qualifications, and professional development plan;
         (5) A description of the grades or ages of students being served;
         (6) The school's calendar of operation, which shall include at least the equivalent of a
 full school term as defined in section 160.011;
         (7) A description of the charter school's pupil performance standards and academic
 program performance standards, which shall meet the requirements of subdivision (6) of
 subsection 4 of this section. The charter school program shall be designed to enable each
 pupil to achieve such standards and shall contain a complete set of indicators, measures,
 metrics, and targets for academic program performance, including specific goals on
 graduation rates and standardized test performance and academic growth;
         (8) A description of the charter school's educational program and curriculum;
         (9) The term of the charter, which shall be five years and may be renewed;
         (10) Procedures, consistent with the Missouri financial accounting manual, for
 monitoring the financial accountability of the charter, which shall meet the requirements of
 subdivision (4) of subsection 4 of this section;
         (11) Preopening requirements for applications that require that charter schools meet
 all health, safety, and other legal requirements prior to opening;
         (12) A description of the charter school's policies on student discipline and student
 admission, which shall include a statement, where applicable, of the validity of attendance of
 students who do not reside in the district but who may be eligible to attend under the terms of
 judicial settlements and procedures that ensure admission of students with disabilities in a
 nondiscriminatory manner;
         (13) A description of the charter school's grievance procedure for parents or
 guardians;
         (14) A description of the agreement and time frame for implementation between the
 charter school and the sponsor as to when a sponsor shall intervene in a charter school, when
 a sponsor shall revoke a charter for failure to comply with subsection 8 of this section, and
 when a sponsor will not renew a charter under subsection 9 of this section;
         (15) Procedures to be implemented if the charter school should close, as provided in
 subdivision (6) of subsection 16 of section 160.400 including:
         (a) Orderly transition of student records to new schools and archival of student
 records;
         (b) Archival of business operation and transfer or repository of personnel records;
         (c) Submission of final financial reports;
HB 2129                                              3

          (d) Resolution of any remaining financial obligations;
          (e) Disposition of the charter school's assets upon closure; and
          (f) A notification plan to inform parents or guardians of students, the local school
 district, the retirement system in which the charter school's employees participate, and the
 state board of education within thirty days of the decision to close;
          (16) A description of the special education and related services that shall be available
 to meet the needs of students with disabilities; and
          (17) For all new or revised charters, procedures to be used upon closure of the charter
 school requiring that unobligated assets of the charter school be returned to the department of
 elementary and secondary education for their disposition, which upon receipt of such assets
 shall return them to the local school district in which the school was located, the state, or any
 other entity to which they would belong.
66
 [Charter schools operating on August 27, 2012, shall have until August 28, 2015, to meet the
 requirements of this subsection.]
          2. Proposed charters shall be subject to the following requirements:
          (1) A charter shall be submitted to the sponsor, and follow the sponsor's policies and
 procedures for review and granting of a charter approval, and be approved by the state board
 of education by January thirty-first prior to the school year of the proposed opening date of
 the charter school;
          (2) A charter may be approved when the sponsor determines that the requirements of
 this section are met, determines that the applicant is sufficiently qualified to operate a charter
 school, and that the proposed charter is consistent with the sponsor's charter sponsorship
 goals and capacity. The sponsor's decision of approval or denial shall be made within ninety
 days of the filing of the proposed charter;
          (3) If the charter is denied, the proposed sponsor shall notify the applicant in writing
 as to the reasons for its denial and forward a copy to the state board of education within five
 business days following the denial;
          (4) If a proposed charter is denied by a sponsor, the proposed charter may be
 submitted to the state board of education, along with the sponsor's written reasons for its
 denial. If the state board determines that the applicant meets the requirements of this section,
 that the applicant is sufficiently qualified to operate the charter school, and that granting a
 charter to the applicant would be likely to provide educational benefit to the children of the
 district, the state board may grant a charter and act as sponsor of the charter school. The state
 board shall review the proposed charter and make a determination of whether to deny or grant
 the proposed charter within sixty days of receipt of the proposed charter, provided that any
 charter to be considered by the state board of education under this subdivision shall be
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 submitted no later than March first prior to the school year in which the charter school intends
 to begin operations. The state board of education shall notify the applicant in writing as the
 reasons for its denial, if applicable; and
         (5) The sponsor of a charter school shall give priority to charter school applicants that
 propose a school oriented to high-risk students and to the reentry of dropouts into the school
 system. If a sponsor grants three or more charters, at least one-third of the charters granted by
 the sponsor shall be to schools that actively recruit dropouts or high-risk students as their
 student body and address the needs of dropouts or high-risk students through their proposed
 mission, curriculum, teaching methods, and services. For purposes of this subsection, a
 "high-risk" student is one who is at least one year behind in satisfactory completion of course
 work or obtaining high school credits for graduation, has dropped out of school, is at risk of
 dropping out of school, needs drug and alcohol treatment, has severe behavioral problems,
 has been suspended from school three or more times, has a history of severe truancy, is a
 pregnant or parenting teen, has been referred for enrollment by the judicial system, is exiting
 incarceration, is a refugee, is homeless or has been homeless sometime within the preceding
 six months, has been referred by an area school district for enrollment in an alternative
 program, or qualifies as high risk under department of elementary and secondary education
 guidelines. Dropout shall be defined through the guidelines of the school core data report.
 The provisions of this subsection do not apply to charters sponsored by the state board of
 education.
         3. If a charter is approved by a sponsor, the charter application shall be submitted to
 the state board of education, along with a statement of finding by the sponsor that the
 application meets the requirements of sections 160.400 to 160.425 and section 167.349 and a
 monitoring plan under which the charter sponsor shall evaluate the academic performance,
 including annual performance reports, of students enrolled in the charter school. The state
 board of education shall approve or deny a charter application within sixty days of receipt of
 the application. The state board of education may deny a charter on grounds that the
 application fails to meet the requirements of sections 160.400 to 160.425 and section 167.349
 or that a charter sponsor previously failed to meet the statutory responsibilities of a charter
 sponsor. Any denial of a charter application made by the state board of education shall be in
 writing and shall identify the specific failures of the application to meet the requirements of
 sections 160.400 to 160.425 and section 167.349, and the written denial shall be provided
 within ten business days to the sponsor.
         4. A charter school shall, as provided in its charter:
         (1) Be nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employment practices, and
 all other operations;
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          (2) Comply with laws and regulations of the state, county, or city relating to health,
 safety, and state minimum educational standards, as specified by the state board of education,
 and other requirements for public schools in state law including, but not limited to, the
 requirements relating to:
          (a) Student discipline under sections 160.261, 167.161, 167.164, and 167.171[,];
          (b) Notification of criminal conduct to law enforcement authorities under sections
 167.115 [to] and 167.117[,];
          (c) Academic assessment under section 160.518[,];
          (d) Transmittal of school records under section 167.020[,];
          (e) The minimum amount of school time required under section 171.031[, and];
          (f) The employee criminal history background check and the family care safety
 registry check under section 168.133;
          (g) Student participation in moderate physical activity under section 167.720;
          (h) Interscholastic youth sports brain injury prevention under section 167.765;
          (i) Conducting educational programs and activities and observing Veterans Day
 under section 170.049;
          (j) Providing access to official recruiting representatives of the military under
 section 171.026;
          (k) The minimum school term under section 163.021; and
          (l) Prevailing wage requirements for school construction projects under section
 290.230;
          (3) Except as provided in sections 160.400 to 160.425 and as specifically provided in
 other sections, be exempt from all laws and rules relating to schools, governing boards and
 school districts;
          (4) Be financially accountable, use practices consistent with the Missouri financial
 accounting manual, provide for an annual audit by a certified public accountant, publish audit
 reports and annual financial reports as provided in chapter 165, provided that the annual
 financial report may be published on the department of elementary and secondary education's
 internet website in addition to other publishing requirements, and provide liability insurance
 to indemnify the school, its board, staff and teachers against tort claims. A charter school that
 receives local educational agency status under subsection 6 of this section shall meet the
 requirements imposed by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act for audits of such
 agencies and comply with all federal audit requirements for charters with local educational
 agency status. For purposes of an audit by petition under section 29.230, a charter school
 shall be treated as a political subdivision on the same terms and conditions as the school
 district in which it is located. For the purposes of securing such insurance, a charter school
 HB 2129                                             6

 shall be eligible for the Missouri public entity risk management fund pursuant to section
 537.700. A charter school that incurs debt shall include a repayment plan in its financial plan;
         (5) Provide a comprehensive program of instruction for at least one grade or age
 group from early childhood through grade twelve, as specified in its charter;
         (6) (a) Design a method to measure pupil progress toward the pupil academic
 standards adopted by the state board of education pursuant to section 160.514, establish
 baseline student performance in accordance with the performance contract during the first
 year of operation, collect student performance data as defined by the annual performance
 report throughout the duration of the charter to annually monitor student academic
 performance, and to the extent applicable based upon grade levels offered by the charter
 school, participate in the statewide system of assessments, comprised of the essential skills
 tests and the nationally standardized norm-referenced achievement tests, as designated by the
 state board pursuant to section 160.518, complete and distribute an annual report card as
 prescribed in section 160.522, which shall also include a statement that background checks
 have been completed on the charter school's board members, and report to its sponsor, the
 local school district, and the state board of education as to its teaching methods and any
 educational innovations and the results thereof. No charter school shall be considered in the
 Missouri school improvement program review of the district in which it is located for the
 resource or process standards of the program.
         (b) For proposed high-risk or alternative charter schools, sponsors shall approve
 performance measures based on mission, curriculum, teaching methods, and services.
 Sponsors shall also approve comprehensive academic and behavioral measures to determine
 whether students are meeting performance standards on a different time frame as specified in
 that school's charter. Student performance shall be assessed comprehensively to determine
 whether a high-risk or alternative charter school has documented adequate student progress.
 Student performance shall be based on sponsor-approved comprehensive measures as well as
 standardized public school measures. Annual presentation of charter school report card data
 to the department of elementary and secondary education, the state board, and the public shall
 include comprehensive measures of student progress.
         (c) Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed as permitting a charter school to be
 held to lower performance standards than other public schools within a district; however, the
 charter of a charter school may permit students to meet performance standards on a different
 time frame as specified in its charter. The performance standards for alternative and special
 purpose charter schools that target high-risk students as defined in subdivision (5) of
 subsection 2 of this section shall be based on measures defined in the school's performance
 contract with its sponsors;
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         (7) Comply with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations regarding
 students with disabilities, including sections 162.670 to 162.710, the Individuals with
 Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. Section 1400 et seq.) and Section 504 of the
 Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Section 794) or successor legislation;
         (8) Provide along with any request for review by the state board of education the
 following:
         (a) Documentation that the applicant has provided a copy of the application to the
 school board of the district in which the charter school is to be located, except in those
 circumstances where the school district is the sponsor of the charter school; and
         (b) A statement outlining the reasons for approval or denial by the sponsor,
 specifically addressing the requirements of sections 160.400 to 160.425 and 167.349.
         5. (1) Proposed or existing high-risk or alternative charter schools may include
 alternative arrangements for students to obtain credit for satisfying graduation requirements in
 the school's charter application and charter. Alternative arrangements may include, but not be
 limited to, credit for off-campus instruction, embedded credit, work experience through an
 internship arranged through the school, and independent studies. When the state board of
 education approves the charter, any such alternative arran