GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1995

H	2 

HOUSE BILL 955
Second Edition Engrossed 5/10/95

Short Title:  Charter Sch. Educ. Opportunity Act.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Representative Wood.

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Referred to:  Education.

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April 12, 1995

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO INCREASE EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY BY AUTHORIZING THE CREATION AND FUNDING OF CHARTER SCHOOLS, WHICH ARE DEREGULATED SCHOOLS UNDER PUBLIC CONTROL.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  Article 16 of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new Part to read:
"Part 6A.  Charter Schools.
"§ 115C-238.29A. Intent.
(a)	It is the intent of the General Assembly to provide opportunities for teachers, parents, pupils, and community members to establish and maintain schools that operate independently from existing local school administrative units, as a method to accomplish the following:
(1)	Improve pupil learning.
(2)	Increase educational opportunity for all pupils.
(3)	Encourage innovation and creativity in the classroom.
(4)	Create new professional opportunities for teachers, including the opportunity to be responsible for the learning program at the school site as instructional leaders.
(5)	Provide parents and pupils with expanded choices in the types of educational opportunities that are available within the public school system.
(6)	Hold charter schools established under this Part accountable for meeting measurable levels of pupil academic achievement and provide the schools with a method to change from rule-based to performance- and market-based accountability systems.
(7)	Provide a mechanism for fiscal accountability to parents in order to increase the percentage of money spent for direct instructional purposes in the classroom.
"§ 115C-238.29B. Establishment of charter schools.
(a)	The following public agencies are authorized to grant operating charters to 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporations for the purpose of operating elementary and secondary schools pursuant to this Part: the State Board of Education, a local board of education, a board of county commissioners, the board of trustees of a community college that serves the local school administrative unit in which the charter school will be located, a board of trustees of a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina, or a town or city council.  The State Board of Education has final approval of all charter schools.
(b)	A charter petition shall include the following:
(1)	A description of the education program of the school, whom the school will educate, and its instructional philosophy.
(2)	The measurable pupil academic achievement levels to be used by the charter school.
(3)	The governance structure of the school, including, but not limited to, the process to be followed by the school to ensure parent involvement.
(4)	The qualifications to be met by individuals to be employed by the school.
(5)	Admissions requirements and selection process.  Educational opportunity requires that oversubscription to a charter school be resolved by lottery and admission requirements be limited to rejecting applicants with prior criminal conduct.  If a different selection process is used or if additional admission requirements are used, the petition shall include the means by which racial balance as reflected in the local school administrative unit where the charter school will be located will be achieved.
(6)	The procedures that the school will follow to ensure the health and safety of pupils and staff.  These procedures shall include the requirement that each employee of the school furnish the school with a criminal record summary.
(7)	The manner in which an annual audit of financial and programmatic operations of the school are to be conducted.
(8)	A description of whether the school will operate independently of the local board of education or whether it agrees to be subject to some supervision and control of its administrative operations by the local board of education.  In the event the charter school elects to operate independently of the local board of education, the application must specify which employee benefits will be offered to its employees and how the benefits will be funded.
(9)	The procedures by which pupils can be suspended or expelled.
(c)	In addition to other requirements imposed under this Part, a charter school shall be nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employment practices and all other operations, shall not charge tuition, and shall not discriminate against any pupil on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, gender, or disability.  Admission to a charter school shall not be determined by residence except that the pupil's parent or legal guardian shall be a legal resident of North Carolina.
(d)	The public entity considering a charter petition may require that the petitioner provide information regarding the proposed operation and potential effects of the school, including, but not limited to, the facilities to be utilized by the school, the manner in which administrative services of the school are to be provided, and provisions for insurance against civil claims.
(e)	Upon approval of the petition by a granting agency, the petitioner or petitioners shall provide written notice of that approval, including a copy of the petition, to the State Board of Education.  The State Board of Education shall grant final approval of the petition if it finds that the petition meets the requirements set out in this Part or adopted by the State Board of Education and that granting the petition would achieve one or more of the purposes set out in G.S. 115C-238.29A.
(f)	A local school administrative unit may convert part of an existing school or all of an existing school to a charter school under the following conditions:
(1)	Fifty-five percent (55%) of the certificated personnel to be employed in that charter school vote for the conversion.
(2)	Provisions are made for parents who do not wish for their child to attend a charter school.
(3)	The charter petition contains all of the requirements set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of this section.
(4)	Fifty-five percent (55%) of the parents of children attending the existing school vote for the conversion.
(5)	The local school administrative unit holds a public hearing at the school that is the subject of the proposed conversion.  The purpose of the hearing shall be to receive public input regarding the proposed conversion.
(g)	A charter may be granted for a period not to exceed five years.  A charter may be granted one or more subsequent renewals not to exceed five years each by the original granting authority.  A material revision of the provisions of a charter petition may be made only with the approval of the authority that granted the charter.
(h)	A charter may be revoked by the granting authority if it finds that the charter school did any of the following:
(1)	Committed a material violation of any of the conditions, standards, or procedures set forth in the charter petition.
(2)	Failed to meet or pursue any of the pupil outcomes identified in the charter petition.
(3)	Failed to meet generally accepted accounting standards of fiscal management.
(4)	Violated any provision of law.
"§ 115C-238.29C. Charter school operation and funding.
(a)	A charter school shall comply with all of the provisions set forth in its charter petition, but is otherwise exempt from the laws governing local school administrative units except as specified in subsection (b) of this section.
(b)	In the event a charter school, in its application, elects total independence from the local board of education, its employees shall not be deemed to be employees of the local school administrative unit in which the charter school is located and shall not be entitled to any State-funded employee benefits, including membership in the North Carolina Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System or the Teachers' and State Employees' Comprehensive Major Medical Plan.  In the event a charter school, in its application, agrees to be subject to some supervision and control of its administrative operations by the local board of education, the employees of the charter school will be deemed employees of the local school administrative unit in which the charter school is located for purposes of providing certain State-funded employee benefits, including membership in the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System and the Teachers' and State Employees' Comprehensive Major Medical Plan.  The Board of Trustees of the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System, in consultation with the State Board of Education, shall determine the degree of supervision and control necessary to qualify the employees of the applicant for membership in the Retirement System.  In no event shall anything contained in this Part require the North Carolina Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System to accept employees of a private employer as members or participants of the System.
(c)	The State Board of Education shall make all of the following allocations to each charter school for each fiscal year:
(1)	An amount for each unit of average daily membership as if the charter school were a local school administrative unit.
(2)	For each pupil enrolled in the charter school who is entitled to special education services, the State and federal funds for special education services for that pupil that would have been apportioned for that pupil to the local school administrative unit from which the charter petition was submitted.
   County commissioners may allocate a pupil's fair share of local supplement spending to the charter school in which that pupil is enrolled."
Sec. 2.  This act is effective upon ratification.