A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to allow charter schools that serve a certain percentage of enrolled students with disabilities to use an alternative accountability model and to appropriate funds to implement the requirements of this act.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑238.29F(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	Instructional Program. – 
(1)	The school shall provide instruction each year for at least 185 days or 1,025 hours over nine calendar months.
(2)	The school shall design its programs to at least meet the student performance standards adopted by the State Board of Education and the student performance standards contained in the charter. A school that has a student enrollment of at least thirty percent (30%) of students with disabilities, as defined in G.S. 115C‑106.3(1), who require individualized education programs (IEPs) shall design an alternative accountability model to meet State performance standards in accordance with the alternative accountability guidelines adopted by the State Board of Education.(3)	A charter school shall conduct the student assessments required by the State Board of Education.
(4)	The school is subject to and shall comply with Article 9 of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes and The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvements Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400, et seq., (2004), as amended.(5)	The school is subject to and shall comply with Article 27 of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes, except that a charter school may also exclude a student from the charter school and return that student to another school in the local school administrative unit in accordance with the terms of its charter after due process."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C‑238.29G(a1) reads as rewritten:
"(a1)	The State Board shall adopt criteria for adequate performance by a charter school, including criteria specific to schools who design an alternative accountability model under G.S. 115C‑238.29F(d)(2), and shall identify charter schools with inadequate performance. Except for those schools with an alternative accountability model, the criteria shall include a requirement that a charter school which demonstrates no growth in student performance and has annual performance composites below sixty percent (60%) in any two years in a three‑year period is inadequate.
(1)	If a charter school is inadequate in the first five years of the charter, the charter school shall develop a strategic plan to meet specific goals for student performance that are consistent with State Board criteria and the mission approved in the charter school. The strategic plan shall be reviewed and approved by the State Board. The State Board is authorized to terminate or not renew a charter for failure to demonstrate improvement under the strategic plan.
(2)	If a charter school is inadequate and has had a charter for more than five years, the State Board is authorized to terminate, not renew, or seek applicants to assume the charter through a competitive bid process established by the State Board. The State Board shall develop rules on the assumption of a charter by a new entity that include all aspects of the operations of the charter school, including the status of the employees. Public assets would transfer to the new entity and not revert to the local school administrative unit in which the charter school is located pursuant to G.S. 115C‑238.29F(i)."
SECTION 3.  The State Board of Education, in conjunction with the Office of Charter Schools and the Department of Public Instruction, Exceptional Children Division, shall develop (i) alternative accountability model guidelines for charter schools that enroll at least thirty percent (30%) of students with disabilities, as defined in G.S. 115C‑106.3(1), who require individualized education programs (IEPs) and (ii) criteria for adequate performance for charter schools that design an alternative accountability model under G.S. 115C‑238.29F(d), as amended by this act, in order to meet State student performance standards. The State Board shall adopt the guidelines and criteria required by this act by January 1, 2015.
SECTION 4.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction, Office of Charter Schools, the sum of fifty‑three thousand dollars ($53,000) for the 2014‑2015 fiscal year in recurring funds to fund an additional one‑half consultant position in the Office of Charter Schools to implement the requirements of this act.
SECTION 5.  Section 4 of this act is effective July 1, 2014. The remainder of this act is effective when the act becomes law and applies beginning with the 2015‑2016 school year.