Title 18, Education

§302D-13 Start-up and conversion charter schools; establishment. (a) New start-up and conversion charter schools may be established pursuant to this section. (b) Any community, department school, school community council, group of teachers, group of teachers and administrators, o…

§302D-14.5 Approved charter applications; start-up period; pre-opening charter schools. (a) The authorizer may require an applicant governing board whose charter application is approved by the authorizer pursuant to section 302D-13 to satisfactorily meet pre-contracting criteria …

§302D-15 Appeals; charter applications, renewals, or revocations. (a) The board shall have the power to decide appeals of decisions by an authorizer to deny the approval of a charter application, deny renewal of a charter contract, or revoke a charter school's charter contract. A…

§302D-16 Performance framework. (a) The performance provisions within the charter contract shall be based on a performance framework that clearly sets forth the academic, financial, organizational, and operational performance indicators, measures, and metrics that will guide the …

§302D-17 Ongoing oversight and corrective actions. (a) An authorizer shall continually monitor the performance and legal compliance of the public charter schools it oversees, including collecting and analyzing data to support ongoing evaluation according to the charter contract. …

§302D-18 Renewals, revocations, and nonrenewals. (a) A charter contract may be renewed for successive five-year terms of duration, although an authorizer may vary the terms based on performance, demonstrated capacities, and particular circumstances of each charter school. An auth…

[§302D-19] School closure and dissolution. (a) Prior to any public charter school closure decision, an authorizer shall have developed a public charter school closure protocol to ensure timely notification to parents, orderly transition of students and student records to new scho…

[§302D-20] Charter transfers. (a) Transfer of a charter contract, and of oversight of that public charter school, from one authorizer to another before the expiration of the charter term shall not be permitted except by special petition to the board by a public charter school or …

§302D-21 Annual board report. No later than the opening day of each regular session of the legislature, the board shall issue to the governor, the legislature, and the public, an annual report on the State's public charter schools, drawing from the annual reports submitted by eve…

[§302D-23] Minimum educational data reporting standards. The board shall establish educational reporting standards that shall include minimum standards for reporting fiscal, personnel, and student data, by means of electronic transfer of data files from charter schools to the dep…

§302D-24 Occupancy and use of facilities of department schools. (a) When the department considers whether to close any particular department school, the department shall submit a notice of possible availability of a department school or notice of vacancy of a department school to…

§302D-25 Applicability of state laws. (a) Charter schools shall be exempt from chapters 91 and 92 and all other state laws in conflict with this chapter, except those regarding: (b) Charter schools, the commission, and authorizers shall be exempt from chapter 103D, but shall deve…

§302D-26 Civil service status; employee rights. (a) Civil service employees of department schools shall retain their civil service status upon the conversion of their school to a conversion charter school. Positions in a conversion charter school that would be civil service in a …

[§302D-27] Administration of workers' compensation. The department of human resources development shall administer workers' compensation claims for employees of charter schools, who shall be covered by the same self-insured workers' compensation system as other public employees. …

§302D-28 Funding and finance. (a) Beginning with fiscal year 2012-2013, and each fiscal year thereafter, the non-facility general fund per-pupil funding request for charter school students shall be the same as the general fund per-pupil amount to the department in the most recent…

[§302D-28.5] Financial insolvency. (a) In the event that any public charter school becomes financially insolvent, the school shall be deemed to have surrendered its charter. For purposes of this section, a school shall be determined to be financially insolvent when it is unable t…

[§302D-29] Weighted student formula. (a) Notwithstanding section 302D-28, charter schools shall elect whether to receive allocations calculated according to the department's procedures and methodology used to calculate the weighted student formula allocation adopted pursuant to s…

§302D-29.5 Facilities funding. (a) Beginning with the 2016-2017 fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter, the legislature shall consider making an appropriation and bond authorization to the commission for the design, planning, construction, repair, and maintenance of public …

§302D-3 State public charter school commission; establishment; appointment. (a) There is established the state public charter school commission with statewide chartering jurisdiction and authority. The commission shall be placed within the department for administrative purposes o…

[§302D-3.2] Fees. (a) In administering its responsibilities, the commission may assess fees on non-state entities and individuals to help offset its operating costs. (b) Fees collected by the commission shall be deposited into insured checking or savings accounts and shall be exp…

[§302D-3.5] Rules. Unless otherwise provided for in this chapter or chapter 302A, the commission may adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 to administer and implement this chapter; provided that the board shall maintain exclusive rule-making authority over state educational policy. …

§302D-30 Responsibilities of the department; special education services. (a) The department shall collaborate with each authorizer to develop a system of technical assistance related to compliance with federal and state laws and access to federal and state funds. The department s…

§302D-31 Athletics. The department shall provide students at charter schools, including students enrolled at charter schools whose curriculum incorporates virtual education, with the same opportunity to participate in athletics as is provided to students at department schools. If…

§302D-32 Annual audit. Each charter school shall annually complete an independent financial audit that complies with the requirements of its authorizer and the department. The authorizer shall provide to each charter school it oversees a list of approved independent auditors, fro…

§302D-33 Criminal history record checks. (a) The authorizer shall require charter schools to obtain verifiable information regarding the criminal history of persons who are employed or seeking employment in any position, including teacher trainees, that places them in close proxi…

[§302D-33.5] Investigation of misconduct; reporting to the department of education; harm to students registry; due process; indemnity. (a) Pursuant to the requirements of section 302A-1006, each public charter school shall certify to the department any final finding resulting fro…

§302D-34 Enrollment. (a) A public charter school shall not discriminate against any student or limit admission based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, income level, disability, level of proficiency in the English language, need for …

§302D-35 Use of vacant department facilities. (a) When any department considers whether to close any particular facility, it shall give reasonable consideration to making all or portions of the facility available to public charter schools and early learning programs that are affi…

[§302D-36] Youth suicide awareness and prevention protocol. (a) Each charter school shall provide a youth suicide awareness and prevention training program and risk referral protocol to school personnel who work directly with students in kindergarten through grade twelve on an an…

§302D-37 Standardized assessment for students entering kindergarten. (a) The commission shall adopt the kindergarten entry assessment adopted by the board pursuant to section 302A-1165(a) to assess all charter school students entering kindergarten within the first thirty days of …

[§302D-38] Prior early learning programs attendance disclosure. (a) At least one parent or guardian of each child entering kindergarten shall disclose to the public charter school at which the child is enrolled the name and address of the early learning program that the child att…

§302D-39 Public early learning and preschool programs; administrative authority. (a) The commission shall have administrative authority over all state-funded early learning programs and private partnership-funded preschool programs in public charter schools except for special edu…

[§302D-39.5] Schools exclusively offering prekindergarten programs; statutory requirements; exemptions. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, any public charter school that exclusively offers prekindergarten programs shall be subject to this chapter, and shall be exempt …

[§302D-4] Chartering authority application for eligible entities. (a) The commission created under section 302D-3 may authorize public charter schools anywhere in the State. (b) Governing boards of accredited public and private postsecondary institutions, including community coll…

[§302D-40] Computer science. (a) Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, each public charter school that serves elementary, middle, intermediate, or high school students shall offer computer science courses or computer science content at a frequency that allows a student to enr…

[§302D-41] Industry-recognized credentials; career development success program. (a) There is established by the commission a career development success program to provide financial incentives for participating public charter schools to encourage students enrolled in grades nine t…

§302D-5 Authorizer powers, duties, and liabilities. (a) Authorizers are responsible for executing the following essential powers and duties: (b) An authorizer shall: (c) An authorizer shall have the power to make and execute contracts and all other instruments necessary or conven…

§302D-6 Principles and standards for charter authorizing. All authorizers shall be required to follow nationally recognized principles and standards for quality charter authorizing in all major areas of authorizing responsibility, including: Authorizers shall carry out all their …

§302D-7 Authorizer reporting. Every authorizer shall be required to submit to the board and the legislature an annual report summarizing:

§302D-8 Conflict of interests. (a) A member of the state public charter school commission shall not be eligible to serve on the commission if the member was affiliated with any public charter school within one year preceding appointment to the commission. As used in this subsecti…

[§302D-9] Exclusivity of authorizing functions and rights. No governmental or other entity, other than those expressly granted chartering authority as set forth in this chapter, may assume any charter authorizing function or duty in any form, unless expressly allowed by law. [L 2…