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2013 SESSION

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13100509D
HOUSE BILL NO. 1470 Offered January 9, 2013 Prefiled December 29, 2012 A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 22.1-212.6, 22.1-212.9, and 22.1-212.10 of the Code of Virginia, relating to charter school costs and applications. ---------- Patron-- Kory ---------- Referred to Committee on Education ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  That §§ 22.1-212.6, 22.1-212.9, and 22.1-212.10 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 22.1-212.6. Establishment and operation of public charter schools; requirements.

A. A public charter school shall be subject to all federal and state laws and regulations and constitutional provisions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability, race, creed, color, gender, national origin, religion, ancestry, or need for special education services and shall be subject to any court-ordered desegregation plan in effect for the school division or, in the case of a regional public charter school, any court-ordered desegregation plan in effect for relevant school divisions.

Enrollment shall be open to any child who is deemed to reside within the relevant school division or, in the case of a regional public charter school, within any of the relevant school divisions, as set forth in § 22.1-3, through a lottery process on a space-available basis. A waiting list shall be established if adequate space is not available to accommodate all students whose parents have requested to be entered in the lottery process. Such waiting list shall also be prioritized through a lottery process and parents shall be informed of their student's position on the list.

B. A public charter school shall be administered and managed by a management committee, composed of parents of students enrolled in the school, teachers and administrators working in the school, and representatives of any community sponsors, in a manner agreed to by the public charter school applicant and the local school board. Pursuant to a charter contract and as specified in § 22.1-212.7, a public charter school may operate free from specified school division policies and state regulations, and, as public schools, shall be subject to the requirements of the Standards of Quality, including the Standards of Learning and the Standards of Accreditation.

C. Pursuant to a charter agreement, a public charter school shall be responsible for its own operations, including, but not limited to, such budget preparation, contracts for services, and personnel matters as are specified in the charter agreement. A public charter school may negotiate and contract with a school division, the governing body of a public institution of higher education, or any third party for the use of a school building and grounds, the operation and maintenance thereof, and the provision of any service, activity, or undertaking which the public charter school is required to perform in order to carry out the educational program described in its charter. Any services for which a public charter school contracts with a school division shall not exceed the division's costs to provide such services.

D. As negotiated by contract, the local school board or the relevant school boards, in the case of regional public charter schools, may allow a public charter school to use vacant or unused properties or real estate owned by the school board. In no event shall a public charter school be required to pay rent for space which that is deemed available, as negotiated by contract, in school division facilities, or to pay the cost of renovations to school division facilities to satisfy the minimum standards prescribed by the Board of Education pursuant to § 22.1-138 and the Uniform Statewide Building Code. All other costs for the operation and maintenance of the facilities used by the public charter school shall be subject to negotiation between the public charter school and the school division local school board or, in the case of a regional public charter school, between the regional public charter school and the relevant school divisions local school boards, after the public charter school application is approved by the local school board or relevant school boards.

E. A public charter school shall not charge tuition.

§ 22.1-212.9. Review of public charter school applications.

A. Public charter school applications shall be received and reviewed by the Board of Education and local school boards or, in the case of a regional public charter school, by all of the relevant school boards, as provided in subsection C.

The Board of Education and each local school board shall establish procedures for receiving, reviewing, and, in the case of local school boards, ruling upon applications. The Board of Education and local school boards shall post their procedures on their websites and make a copy of the procedures available to all interested parties upon request. If any such board finds the public charter school application is incomplete, the board shall request the necessary information from the charter applicant.

Each set of procedures shall require the local school board to deliver its final decision on a public charter school application within 90 days of the submission of the application to the local school board for review. If a local school board includes in its procedures a process for the review of public charter school applications by a group or an individual other than the school board or its members, the procedures shall also include a provision requiring the group or the individual to provide regular reports to the local school board on the progress of the review.

B. To provide appropriate opportunity for input from parents, teachers, citizens, and other interested parties and to obtain information to assist local school boards in their decisions to grant or deny a public charter school application, local school boards shall establish a procedure for public notice and to receive comment on public charter school applications. A local school board shall give at least 14 days' notice of its intent to receive public comment on an application.

C. Prior to submission of an application to a local school board for review, the public charter school applicant shall submit its proposed charter application to the Board of Education for its review, comment, and a determination as to whether the application meets the approval criteria developed by the Board. The Board's review shall examine such applications for feasibility, curriculum, financial soundness, and other objective criteria as the Board may establish, consistent with existing state law. The Board's review and comment shall be for the purpose of ensuring that the application conforms with such criteria, and the Board shall make a determination as to whether the application meets the approval criteria developed by the Board. Nothing in this section shall prevent a local school division from working with a charter school applicant before the application is submitted to the Board of Education for review and recommendation.

D. The Board shall establish guidelines containing best practices for receiving, reviewing, and ruling upon public charter school applications. The Board shall post the guidelines on its website and make a copy of the guidelines available to all interested parties upon request.  

§ 22.1-212.10. Reconsideration and technical assistance; decision of local board final.

A. If a local school board denies a public charter school application without conditions or reservations, accepts a public charter school application with conditions or reservations to be satisfied by a specific date, or revokes or fails to renew a charter agreement, it the local school board shall provide to the applicant or grantee its reasons, in writing, for such decision, and it shall post such reasons on its website. A public charter school applicant whose application was denied, or a grantee whose charter was revoked or not renewed, shall be entitled to petition the local school board for reconsideration. The petition for reconsideration shall be filed no later than 60 days from the date the public charter school application is denied, revoked, or not renewed. Such reconsideration shall be decided within 60 days of the filing of the petition.

B. If a local school board accepts a public charter school application with conditions or reservations to be satisfied by a specified date, the satisfaction of such conditions or reservations shall be deemed an application amended by negotiation. Such an application amended by negotiation shall not be considered a petition of reconsideration and shall not be subject to the process for reviewing petitions of reconsideration established pursuant to subsection C. An application amended by negotiation shall be subject to the process for reviewing applications established pursuant to § 22.1-212.9.

C. Each local school board shall establish and adopt at a public meeting of the school board a process for reviewing petitions of reconsideration, which. The adopted process shall include an opportunity for public comment. The petition of reconsideration may include an amended application based on the reasons given by the local school board for such decision.

C. D. Prior to seeking reconsideration, an applicant or grantee may seek technical assistance from the Superintendent of Public Instruction to address the reasons for denial, revocation, or non-renewal.

D. E. Upon reconsideration, the decision of a local school board to grant or deny a public charter school application or to revoke or fail to renew a charter agreement shall be final and not subject to appeal. Following a local school board decision to deny a public charter school application or to revoke or fail to renew a charter agreement, the local school board shall submit documentation all documents to the Board of Education as to the rationale for that the local school board's denial or revocation of board used in its decision to deny the charter school application or to revoke or fail to renew the charter agreement.

The Board of Education shall have no authority to grant or deny a public charter school application or to revoke or fail to renew a charter agreement.

E. F. Nothing in this section shall prohibit an applicant whose application has been denied or a grantee whose charter has been revoked or not renewed from submitting a new application, pursuant to § 22.1-212.9.