REPORT TITLE:
New Century Charter Schools


DESCRIPTION:
Requires the board to adopt guidelines under which charter
schools shall be reviewed.  Provides legal protection for new
century charter school boards.  Requires local school boards to
include a comprehensive assessment and accountability system and
a system of financial accountability, in their implementation
plans.  Allows groups of teachers at a school to form a charter
school.  Requires the auditor to consider the advice of the
superintendent and local school boards in setting the allocation
for new century charter schools.  Allows the DOE to provide a
limited start-up and planning grant.  Requires the auditor to
develop a methodology for allocating funds to be applied to
alternative forms of public schools.  Requires charter school
self-evaluation to include a profile of the charter school's
enrollment and community.  Prevents this Act from applying to
existing charter schools.  (CD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                H.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII                                            C.D. 1
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO NEW CENTURY CHARTER SCHOOLS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated
 
 3 and to read as follows:
 
 4      "�302A-  Charter school reviewal guidelines.  The board of
 
 5 education shall adopt guidelines under which new charter schools
 
 6 shall be reviewed by the board, upon their formation under
 
 7 section 302A-1182 or 302A-1183.  The guidelines shall include
 
 8 such elements as:
 
 9      (1)  Minimum school size;
 
10      (2)  Assurance that each school will be able to account for
 
11           the funds allocated;
 
12      (3)  Assurance that each school will be held accountable for
 
13           student performance; and
 
14      (4)  Assurance that each school will meet legal standards
 
15           for the expenditure of state funds;
 
16 provided that the guidelines provide clear responsibilities for
 
17 the expenditure of federal and any other non-state funds."
 
18      SECTION 2.  Section 26-35.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
19 amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
 

 
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 1      "(a)  For purposes of this section, "member" means any
 
 2 person who is appointed, in accordance with the law, to serve on
 
 3 a temporary or permanent state board, including members of the
 
 4 local school board of any new charter school established under
 
 5 section 302A-1182, council, authority, committee, or commission,
 
 6 established by law or elected to the board of trustees of the
 
 7 employees' retirement system under section 88-24; provided that
 
 8 "member" shall not include any person elected to serve on a board
 
 9 or commission in accordance with chapter 11."
 
10      SECTION 3.  Section 302A-1182, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
11 amended by amending subsections (c) and (d) to read as follows:
 
12      "(c)  The local school board shall formulate and develop a
 
13 detailed implementation plan, which shall include but not be
 
14 limited to the following:
 
15      (1)  A description of the administrative and educational
 
16           framework, and which provides for the basic protection
 
17           of employees and their reasonable academic freedoms;
 
18      (2)  A plan for identifying, recruiting, and selecting
 
19           students to make certain that student participation is
 
20           not exclusive, elitist, or segregationalist;
 
21      (3)  A plan for [assessing student performance that focuses
 
22           upon] a comprehensive assessment and accountability
 
23           system that meets or exceeds the established state
 

 
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 1           educational content and performance standards[, has at
 
 2           least equivalent rigor of standards and technical
 
 3           quality,] as well as any other specific student
 
 4           outcomes to be achieved, and making this plan
 
 5           accountable to the general public;
 
 6      (4)  The curriculum, instructional framework, and assessment
 
 7           mechanisms to be used to achieve student outcomes;
 
 8      (5)  A plan to hold the school, its faculty, and staff
 
 9           (collectively and individually) accountable in at least
 
10           an equivalent manner as are other public schools
 
11           throughout the State;
 
12      (6)  A governance structure of the school;
 
13      (7)  A facilities management plan that is consistent with
 
14           the state facilities plan; provided that if the
 
15           facilities management plan includes use of existing
 
16           school facilities, the new century charter school shall
 
17           receive authorization from the administrator
 
18           responsible for the facilities; provided further that
 
19           the final determination of use shall be under the
 
20           discretion of the board; and
 
21      (8)  [Annual] A system of financial accountability that
 
22           includes annual financial and program audits.
 
23      The detailed implementation plan shall be approved by sixty
 

 
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 1 per cent of the school's existing administrative, support, and
 
 2 teaching personnel, and parents; provided that the school
 
 3 personnel may request their bargaining unit representative to
 
 4 certify and conduct the elections for their respective bargaining
 
 5 units.  Once approved, the detailed implementation plan shall be
 
 6 submitted to the board for review.
 
 7      (d)  The board shall have [thirty] sixty days to review the
 
 8 completed implementation plan for the proposed new century
 
 9 charter school to assure its compliance with subsection (c) and
 
10 section 302A-1184.  Unless the board finds that the plan
 
11 conflicts with subsection (c) or section 302A-1184, the governor,
 
12 the superintendent, and the board shall issue a charter
 
13 designating the proposed new century charter school as a new
 
14 century charter school within thirty days, and the proposed
 
15 implementation plan shall be converted to a written performance
 
16 contract between the school and the board.  If, within thirty
 
17 days after the submission of the plan, the board finds a conflict
 
18 with subsection (c) or section 302A-1184, it shall notify the
 
19 local school board of the finding in writing to enable the local
 
20 school board to appropriately amend the plan to resolve the
 
21 conflict.
 
22      (e)  The new century charter schools shall not charge
 
23 tuition.  The State shall afford the local school board of any
 

 
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 1 new century charter school the same protections as the State
 
 2 affords to the board."
 
 3      SECTION 4.  Section 302A-1183, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 4 amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
 
 5      "(a)  As an alternative to section 302A-1182(b), any
 
 6 community, group of teachers, or any program within an existing
 
 7 school may submit a letter of intent to the board for the
 
 8 establishment of a new century charter school."
 
 9      SECTION 5.  Section 302A-1185, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
10 amended by amending subsections (a) and (b) to read as follows:
 
11      "(a)  New century charter schools shall receive an
 
12 allocation of state general funds based upon the operational and
 
13 educational funding requirements of the schools; provided that:
 
14      (1)  Beginning in fiscal year 1999-2000, and every year
 
15           thereafter, the auditor shall determine the appropriate
 
16           allocation based on the total department general fund
 
17           appropriation and per pupil expenditure for the
 
18           previous year; provided that in setting the allocation,
 
19           the auditor shall explicitly consider the advice of the
 
20           superintendent and representatives of local school
 
21           boards and indicate in the final determination the
 
22           manner in which that advice was accommodated.
 
23      (2)  Small schools with less than one hundred twenty
 

 
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 1           students shall be given a state subsidy or small school
 
 2           allotment, as determined by the department, to augment
 
 3           the per pupil allocation given; provided that if
 
 4           additional federal grant moneys are received, the
 
 5           auditor shall determine the appropriate portion of the
 
 6           federal grant moneys to be used to offset the small
 
 7           school allotment; provided further that the federal
 
 8           grant moneys shall not include federal impact aid;
 
 9      (3)  The department may provide a limited start-up and
 
10           planning grant formulated by the auditor to a charter
 
11           school upon the issuance of its charter;
 
12     [(3)] (4)  The auditor shall take into consideration any
 
13           changes to the department's budget made by the
 
14           legislature or the governor and any applicable
 
15           collective bargaining negotiated amounts; [and]
 
16     [(4)] (5)  The allocation for self-contained special
 
17           education students and for other special education
 
18           students shall be adjusted appropriately to reflect the
 
19           additional expenses incurred for students in these
 
20           programs; provided that any increment to the per pupil
 
21           allocation made in this paragraph shall not exceed
 
22           [that] the increment available to all other public
 
23           schools[.]; and
 

 
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 1      (6)  The auditor shall develop a methodology for allocating
 
 2           funds that can be applied to alternative forms of
 
 3           public schools, including but not limited to new
 
 4           century charter schools.
 
 5      (b)  All federal and other financial support for new century
 
 6 charter schools shall be no less than all other public schools;
 
 7 provided that if administrative services are provided to the
 
 8 charter school by the department, the charter school shall
 
 9 reimburse the department for the actual costs of the
 
10 administrative services in an amount that does not exceed six and
 
11 one-half per cent of the charter school's allocation.
 
12      Any new century charter school shall be eligible to receive
 
13 any supplementary financial grant or award for which any other
 
14 public school may submit a proposal, or any supplemental federal
 
15 grants limited to new century charter schools; provided that if
 
16 department administrative services, including funds management,
 
17 budgetary, fiscal accounting, or other related services, are
 
18 provided with respect to these supplementary grants, the charter
 
19 school shall reimburse the department for the actual costs of the
 
20 administrative services in an amount that does not exceed six and
 
21 one-half per cent of the supplementary grant for which the
 
22 services are used.
 
23      All additional funds that are generated by the local school
 

 
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 1 [board] boards, not from a supplementary grant, shall be separate
 
 2 and apart from allotted funds [[]and[]] may be expended at the
 
 3 discretion of the local school [board.] boards."
 
 4      SECTION 6.  Section 302A-1186, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 5 amended to read as follows:
 
 6      "[[]�302A-1186[]]  New century charter schools; self-
 
 7 evaluation.(a)  Every new century charter school shall conduct
 
 8 self-evaluations annually.  The self-evaluation process shall
 
 9 include but not be limited to:
 
10      (1)  The identification and adoption of benchmarks to
 
11           measure and evaluate administrative and instructional
 
12           programs as provided in this section;
 
13      (2)  The identification of any administrative and legal
 
14           barriers to meeting the benchmarks, as adopted, and
 
15           recommendations for improvements and modifications to
 
16           address the barriers; [and]
 
17      (3)  The impact of any changes made upon the students of the
 
18           new century charter school[.]; and
 
19      (4)  A profile of the charter school's enrollment and
 
20           community it serves.
 
21 Every new century charter school shall submit a report of its
 
22 self-evaluation to the board within sixty days after the
 
23 completion of the school year; provided that the department shall
 

 
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 1 have thirty days to respond to any recommendation regarding
 
 2 improvements and modifications that would directly impact the
 
 3 department.
 
 4      (b)  The board shall initiate an independent evaluation of
 
 5 each new century charter school four years after its
 
 6 establishment and every four years thereafter to assure
 
 7 compliance with statewide student content and performance
 
 8 standards and fiscal accountability; provided that each new
 
 9 century charter school established prior to July 1, 1998, shall
 
10 be evaluated four years after July 1, 1998, and every four years
 
11 thereafter.  Upon a determination by the board that student
 
12 achievement within a new century charter school does not meet the
 
13 student performance standards, or that the new century charter
 
14 school is not fiscally responsible, a new century charter school
 
15 shall be placed on probationary status and shall have two years
 
16 to bring student performance into compliance with statewide
 
17 standards and improve the school's fiscal accountability.  If a
 
18 new century charter school fails to meet its probationary
 
19 requirements, or fails to comply with any of the requirements of
 
20 this section, the board, upon a two-thirds majority vote, may
 
21 then deny the continuation of the new century charter school."
 
22      SECTION 7.  Section 1 of this Act shall not to apply to
 
23 charter schools in existence prior to the effective date of this
 

 
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 1 Act.
 
 2      SECTION 8.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
 3 New statutory material is underscored.
 
 4      SECTION 9.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000, and,
 
 5 except as provided in section 7, shall apply to new century
 
 6 charter schools beginning with the 2000-2001 school year.