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1 | AN ACT concerning education.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | 27A-5 as follows:
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6 | (105 ILCS 5/27A-5)
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7 | Sec. 27A-5. Charter school; legal entity; requirements.
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8 | (a) A charter school shall be a public, nonsectarian, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
9 | nonreligious, non-home
based, and non-profit school. A charter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
10 | school shall be organized and operated
as a nonprofit | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
11 | corporation or other discrete, legal, nonprofit entity
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12 | authorized under the laws of the State of Illinois.
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13 | (b) A charter school may be established under this Article | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
14 | by creating a new
school or by converting an existing public | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
15 | school or attendance center to
charter
school status.
Beginning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
16 | on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
17 | General
Assembly, in all new
applications submitted to the | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
18 | State Board or a local school board to establish
a charter
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19 | school in a city having a population exceeding 500,000, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
20 | operation of the
charter
school shall be limited to one campus. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
21 | The changes made to this Section by this
amendatory Act
of the | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
22 | 93rd General
Assembly do not apply to charter schools existing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
23 | or approved on or before the
effective date of this
amendatory |
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1 | Act. A charter school may not have more campuses than the | ||||||
2 | number of campuses it has on the effective date of this | ||||||
3 | amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, except that if a | ||||||
4 | charter school has more than one campus and a campus closes on | ||||||
5 | or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th | ||||||
6 | General Assembly, then the number of campuses that the charter | ||||||
7 | school may have shall be reduced by the number of campuses that | ||||||
8 | have closed.
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9 | (c) A charter school shall be administered and governed by | ||||||
10 | its board of
directors or other governing body
in the manner | ||||||
11 | provided in its charter. The governing body of a charter school
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12 | shall be subject to the Freedom of Information Act and the Open | ||||||
13 | Meetings Act.
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14 | (d) A charter school shall comply with all applicable | ||||||
15 | health and safety
requirements applicable to public schools | ||||||
16 | under the laws of the State of
Illinois.
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17 | (e) Except as otherwise provided in the School Code, a | ||||||
18 | charter school shall
not charge tuition; provided that a | ||||||
19 | charter school may charge reasonable fees
for textbooks, | ||||||
20 | instructional materials, and student activities.
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21 | (f) A charter school shall be responsible for the | ||||||
22 | management and operation
of its fiscal affairs including,
but | ||||||
23 | not limited to, the preparation of its budget. An audit of each | ||||||
24 | charter
school's finances shall be conducted annually by an | ||||||
25 | outside, independent
contractor retained by the charter | ||||||
26 | school.
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1 | (g) A charter school shall comply with all provisions of | ||||||
2 | this Article and
its charter. A charter
school is exempt from | ||||||
3 | all other State laws and regulations in the School Code
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4 | governing public
schools and local school board policies, | ||||||
5 | except the following:
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6 | (1) Sections 10-21.9 and 34-18.5 of the School Code | ||||||
7 | regarding criminal
history records checks and checks of the | ||||||
8 | Statewide Sex Offender Database of applicants for | ||||||
9 | employment;
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10 | (2) Sections 24-24 and 34-84A of the School Code | ||||||
11 | regarding discipline of
students;
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12 | (3) The Local Governmental and Governmental Employees | ||||||
13 | Tort Immunity Act;
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14 | (4) Section 108.75 of the General Not For Profit | ||||||
15 | Corporation Act of 1986
regarding indemnification of | ||||||
16 | officers, directors, employees, and agents;
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17 | (5) The Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act;
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18 | (6) The Illinois School Student Records Act; and
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19 | (7) Section 10-17a of the School Code regarding school | ||||||
20 | report cards.
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21 | (h) A charter school may negotiate and contract with a | ||||||
22 | school district, the
governing body of a State college or | ||||||
23 | university or public community college, or
any other public or | ||||||
24 | for-profit or nonprofit private entity for: (i) the use
of a | ||||||
25 | school building and grounds or any other real property or | ||||||
26 | facilities that
the charter school desires to use or convert |
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1 | for use as a charter school site,
(ii) the operation and | ||||||
2 | maintenance thereof, and
(iii) the provision of any service, | ||||||
3 | activity, or undertaking that the charter
school is required to | ||||||
4 | perform in order to carry out the terms of its charter.
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5 | However, a charter school
that is established on
or
after the | ||||||
6 | effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General
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7 | Assembly and that operates
in a city having a population | ||||||
8 | exceeding
500,000 may not contract with a for-profit entity to
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9 | manage or operate the school during the period that commences | ||||||
10 | on the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd | ||||||
11 | General Assembly and
concludes at the end of the 2004-2005 | ||||||
12 | school year.
Except as provided in subsection (i) of this | ||||||
13 | Section, a school district may
charge a charter school | ||||||
14 | reasonable rent for the use of the district's
buildings, | ||||||
15 | grounds, and facilities. Any services for which a charter | ||||||
16 | school
contracts
with a school district shall be provided by | ||||||
17 | the district at cost. Any services
for which a charter school | ||||||
18 | contracts with a local school board or with the
governing body | ||||||
19 | of a State college or university or public community college
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20 | shall be provided by the public entity at cost.
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21 | (i) In no event shall a charter school that is established | ||||||
22 | by converting an
existing school or attendance center to | ||||||
23 | charter school status be required to
pay rent for space
that is | ||||||
24 | deemed available, as negotiated and provided in the charter | ||||||
25 | agreement,
in school district
facilities. However, all other | ||||||
26 | costs for the operation and maintenance of
school district |
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1 | facilities that are used by the charter school shall be subject
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2 | to negotiation between
the charter school and the local school | ||||||
3 | board and shall be set forth in the
charter.
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4 | (j) A charter school may limit student enrollment by age or | ||||||
5 | grade level.
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6 | (Source: P.A. 93-3, eff. 4-16-03; 93-909, eff. 8-12-04; 94-219, | ||||||
7 | eff. 7-14-05.)
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