Full Text of SB1301 099th General Assembly
SB1301 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016 SB1301 Introduced 2/18/2015, by Sen. Toi W. Hutchinson SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
| 105 ILCS 5/27A-9 | | 105 ILCS 5/27A-11 | |
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Amends the Charter Schools Law of the School Code. Provides that payments made by the State Board of Education or a school board to a charter school shall be prorated and paid at the same percentage as general State aid payments to school districts in a fiscal year. Makes related changes.
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| | | FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
| | A BILL FOR |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning education.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Sections | 5 | | 27A-9 and 27A-11 as follows:
| 6 | | (105 ILCS 5/27A-9)
| 7 | | Sec. 27A-9. Term of charter; renewal.
| 8 | | (a) A charter may be granted for a period not less than 5 | 9 | | and not
more than
10
school years. A charter may be renewed in | 10 | | incremental periods not to exceed
5
school years.
| 11 | | (b) A charter school renewal proposal submitted to the
| 12 | | local school board or the Commission, as the chartering entity,
| 13 | | shall contain:
| 14 | | (1) A report on the progress of the charter school in | 15 | | achieving the goals,
objectives, pupil performance | 16 | | standards, content standards, and other terms of
the | 17 | | initial approved charter proposal; and
| 18 | | (2) A financial statement that discloses the costs of | 19 | | administration,
instruction, and other spending categories | 20 | | for the charter school that is
understandable to the | 21 | | general public and that will allow comparison of those
| 22 | | costs to other schools or other comparable organizations, | 23 | | in a format required
by the State Board.
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| 1 | | (c) A charter may be revoked
or not renewed if the local | 2 | | school board or the Commission, as the chartering
entity,
| 3 | | clearly demonstrates that the
charter school did any of the
| 4 | | following, or otherwise failed to comply with the requirements | 5 | | of this law:
| 6 | | (1) Committed a material violation of any of the | 7 | | conditions, standards, or
procedures set forth in the | 8 | | charter.
| 9 | | (2) Failed to meet or make reasonable progress toward | 10 | | achievement of the
content standards or pupil performance | 11 | | standards identified in the charter.
| 12 | | (3) Failed to meet generally accepted standards of | 13 | | fiscal management.
| 14 | | (4) Violated any provision of law from which the | 15 | | charter school was not
exempted.
| 16 | | In the case of revocation, the local school board or the | 17 | | Commission, as the chartering entity, shall notify the charter | 18 | | school in writing of the reason why the charter is subject to | 19 | | revocation. The charter school shall submit a written plan to | 20 | | the local school board or the Commission, whichever is | 21 | | applicable, to rectify the problem. The plan shall include a | 22 | | timeline for implementation, which shall not exceed 2 years or | 23 | | the date of the charter's expiration, whichever is earlier. If | 24 | | the local school board or the Commission, as the chartering | 25 | | entity, finds that the charter school has failed to implement | 26 | | the plan of remediation and adhere to the timeline, then the |
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| 1 | | chartering entity shall revoke the charter. Except in | 2 | | situations of an emergency where the health, safety, or | 3 | | education of the charter school's students is at risk, the | 4 | | revocation shall take place at the end of a school year. | 5 | | Nothing in this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly | 6 | | shall be construed to prohibit an implementation timetable that | 7 | | is less than 2 years in duration. | 8 | | (d) (Blank).
| 9 | | (e) Notice of a local school board's decision to
deny, | 10 | | revoke or not to
renew a charter shall be provided to the | 11 | | Commission and the State Board.
The Commission may reverse a | 12 | | local board's
decision
if the Commission finds
that the charter | 13 | | school or charter school proposal (i) is in compliance with
| 14 | | this Article, and (ii) is in the best interests of the students | 15 | | it is designed
to serve.
The Commission may condition the | 16 | | granting of an appeal on the acceptance by
the charter school | 17 | | of funding in an amount less than that requested in the
| 18 | | proposal submitted to the local school board.
Final decisions | 19 | | of the Commission shall be subject
to judicial review under the | 20 | | Administrative Review Law.
| 21 | | (f) Notwithstanding other provisions of this Article, if | 22 | | the Commission
on appeal reverses a local board's decision
or | 23 | | if a charter school is
approved by referendum,
the Commission
| 24 | | shall act as the
authorized chartering entity for the charter | 25 | | school.
The Commission shall
approve the charter and shall | 26 | | perform all functions
under this
Article otherwise performed by |
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| 1 | | the local school
board. The State Board shall determine whether | 2 | | the charter proposal approved by the Commission is consistent | 3 | | with the provisions of this Article and, if the approved | 4 | | proposal complies, certify the proposal pursuant to this | 5 | | Article. The State Board shall
report the aggregate number of | 6 | | charter school pupils resident in a school
district to that | 7 | | district
and shall notify the district
of the amount of
funding | 8 | | to be paid by the State Board to the charter school enrolling | 9 | | such
students.
The Commission shall require the
charter school | 10 | | to maintain accurate records of daily attendance that shall be
| 11 | | deemed sufficient to file claims under Section 18-8.05 | 12 | | notwithstanding any
other requirements of that Section | 13 | | regarding hours of instruction and teacher
certification.
The | 14 | | State Board shall withhold from funds otherwise due the | 15 | | district
the funds authorized by this Article to be paid to the | 16 | | charter school and shall
pay such amounts to the charter | 17 | | school. All payments made by the State Board to a charter | 18 | | school pursuant to this subsection (f) shall be prorated and | 19 | | paid at the same percentage as general State aid payments to | 20 | | school districts in that fiscal year.
| 21 | | (g) For charter schools authorized by the Commission, the | 22 | | Commission shall quarterly certify to the State Board the | 23 | | student enrollment for each of its charter schools. | 24 | | (h) For charter schools authorized by the Commission, the | 25 | | State Board shall pay directly to a charter school any federal | 26 | | or State aid attributable to a student with a disability |
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| 1 | | attending the school. | 2 | | (Source: P.A. 97-152, eff. 7-20-11; 98-739, eff. 7-16-14.)
| 3 | | (105 ILCS 5/27A-11)
| 4 | | Sec. 27A-11. Local financing.
| 5 | | (a) For purposes of the School Code, pupils enrolled in a | 6 | | charter school
shall be included in the pupil enrollment of the | 7 | | school district within which
the
pupil resides. Each charter | 8 | | school (i) shall determine the school district in
which each | 9 | | pupil who is enrolled in the charter school resides,
(ii) shall
| 10 | | report the aggregate number of pupils resident of a school | 11 | | district who are
enrolled in the charter school to the school | 12 | | district in which those pupils
reside, and (iii) shall maintain | 13 | | accurate records of daily attendance that
shall be deemed | 14 | | sufficient to file claims under Section 18-8 notwithstanding
| 15 | | any other requirements of that Section regarding hours of | 16 | | instruction and
teacher certification.
| 17 | | (b) Except for a charter school established by referendum | 18 | | under Section
27A-6.5, as part of a charter school contract, | 19 | | the charter school and the
local
school board shall agree on | 20 | | funding and any services to be provided by the
school district | 21 | | to the charter school.
Agreed funding that a charter school is | 22 | | to receive from the local school
board for a school year shall | 23 | | be paid in
equal quarterly installments with the payment of the
| 24 | | installment for the first quarter being made not later than | 25 | | July 1, unless the
charter establishes a different payment |
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| 1 | | schedule. If However, if a charter school dismisses a pupil | 2 | | from the charter school after receiving a quarterly payment, | 3 | | the charter school shall return to the school district, on a | 4 | | quarterly basis, the prorated portion of public funding | 5 | | provided for the education of that pupil for the time the | 6 | | student is not enrolled at the charter school. Likewise, if a | 7 | | pupil transfers to a charter school between quarterly payments, | 8 | | the school district shall provide, on a quarterly basis, a | 9 | | prorated portion of the public funding to the charter school to | 10 | | provide for the education of that pupil. All payments made by a | 11 | | local school board to a charter school pursuant to this | 12 | | subsection (b) shall be prorated and paid at the same | 13 | | percentage as general State aid payments to school districts in | 14 | | that fiscal year.
| 15 | | All services centrally or otherwise provided by the school | 16 | | district
including, but not limited to, rent, food services, | 17 | | custodial services,
maintenance,
curriculum, media services, | 18 | | libraries, transportation, and warehousing shall be
subject to
| 19 | | negotiation between a charter school and the local school board | 20 | | and paid
for out
of the revenues negotiated pursuant to this | 21 | | subsection (b); provided that the
local school board shall not | 22 | | attempt, by negotiation or otherwise, to obligate
a charter | 23 | | school to provide pupil transportation for pupils for whom a | 24 | | district
is not required to provide transportation under the | 25 | | criteria set forth in
subsection (a)(13) of Section 27A-7.
| 26 | | In no event shall the funding as calculated prior to any |
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| 1 | | proration pursuant to this subsection (b) be less than 75% or | 2 | | more than
125% of the
school district's per capita student | 3 | | tuition multiplied by
the
number of students residing in the | 4 | | district who are enrolled in the charter
school.
| 5 | | It is the intent of the General Assembly that funding and | 6 | | service agreements
under this subsection (b) shall be neither a | 7 | | financial incentive nor a
financial disincentive to the | 8 | | establishment of a charter school.
| 9 | | The charter school may set and collect reasonable fees. | 10 | | Fees collected
from students enrolled at a charter school shall | 11 | | be retained
by the charter school.
| 12 | | (c) Notwithstanding subsection (b) of this Section, the | 13 | | proportionate share
of State and federal resources generated by | 14 | | students with disabilities or staff
serving them shall be | 15 | | directed to charter schools enrolling those students by
their | 16 | | school districts or administrative units. The proportionate | 17 | | share of
moneys generated under other federal or State | 18 | | categorical aid programs shall be
directed to charter schools | 19 | | serving students eligible for that aid.
| 20 | | (d) The governing body of a charter school is authorized to | 21 | | accept
gifts,
donations, or grants of any kind made to the | 22 | | charter school and to expend or
use gifts, donations, or grants | 23 | | in accordance with the conditions prescribed by
the donor; | 24 | | however, a gift, donation, or grant may not be accepted by the
| 25 | | governing body if it is subject to any condition contrary to | 26 | | applicable law or
contrary
to the terms of the contract between |
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| 1 | | the charter school and the local school
board. Charter schools | 2 | | shall be encouraged to solicit and utilize community
volunteer | 3 | | speakers and other instructional resources when providing | 4 | | instruction
on the Holocaust and other historical events.
| 5 | | (e) (Blank).
| 6 | | (f) The Commission shall provide technical assistance to
| 7 | | persons and groups
preparing or revising charter applications.
| 8 | | (g) At the non-renewal or revocation of its charter, each
| 9 | | charter school
shall refund to the local board of education all | 10 | | unspent funds.
| 11 | | (h) A charter school is authorized to incur temporary, | 12 | | short
term debt to
pay operating expenses in anticipation of | 13 | | receipt of funds from the local
school board.
| 14 | | (Source: P.A. 98-640, eff. 6-9-14; 98-739, eff. 7-16-14; | 15 | | revised 10-1-14.)
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