Duties of Department of Education

(A) The Department of Education shall disseminate information to the public, directly and through authorizers, on how to form and operate a charter school and how to utilize the offerings of a charter school. (B) The Department of Education shall develop the charter school application, compliance guidance, and evaluation rubric for all charter applicant groups to submit to an authorizer for charter approval. The Department of Education shall provide guidance and technical assistance regarding charter applications and the application process to authorizers and applicant groups. (C) The Department of Education shall annually make revisions, with stakeholder feedback, to the application and publish it to its website before November first annually. (D) At least annually, the Department of Education shall provide upon request a directory of all charter schools authorized under this chapter with information concerning the educational goals of each charter school, the success of each charter school in meeting its educational goals, and procedures to apply for admission to each charter school. (E) The Department of Education shall fulfill all duties of the State Education Agency (SEA) for each authorizer and shall provide technical assistance, oversight, and guidance to authorizers for compliance with LEA responsibilities to the same extent as other LEAs in this State. Sanctions issued by the Department of Education against an authorizer may be appealed to the Administrative Law Court and must be stayed pending resolution of the appeal. (F) The Department of Education shall annually review the policies, procedures, and performance of each authorizer for compliance with the provisions of this chapter, state regulations, and other state and federal law. (G) No later than February 1, 2027, the Department of Education shall develop and implement a process to accept and evaluate applications for institutions of higher learning that were not authorizers before January 1, 2026. The application to become an institution of higher learning authorizer shall include, at minimum, the academic, governance, and financial performance of the institution of higher education, including its accreditation status, a financial plan to include proposed budgets of the authorizer, evidence of need for the authorizer in light of needs of the State, and measurable goal objectives, and academic performance standards to be achieved by the charter schools to be authorized. The State Board of Education shall promulgate regulations to include the requirements developed by the Department of Education. All institutions of higher learning authorizers operating prior to January 1, 2026, shall not be required to apply but must sign the statement of assurances affirming the authorizer understands and agrees to perform the essential responsibilities and obligations of an authorizer and LEA. The Department of Education shall consider the information submitted in the application and make a recommendation to the State Board of Education on whether an application should be approved, denied, or approved with conditions based on the demonstrated capacity of the applicant to fulfill the obligations of an authorizer under this chapter. The State Board of Education shall make the final decision regarding an authorizer's application. Additionally, the State Board of Education may deny an application if the preponderance of available evidence supports a finding by the Department of Education that approving the application will encourage the transfer of poor performing charter schools to the new authorizer for purposes of escaping, delaying, or reducing accountability. (H) The Department of Education shall bear the cost of complying with this section.