HF 2744

as introduced - 79th Legislature (1995 - 1996) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to education; providing for expanded charter 
  1.3             school law; providing for expanded interdistrict open 
  1.4             enrollment; amending Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 
  1.5             120.062, subdivisions 3, 6, 7, and 11; Minnesota 
  1.6             Statutes 1995 Supplement, sections 120.064, 
  1.7             subdivisions 3, 4, 4a, 5, and 8; and 124.248, 
  1.8             subdivisions 1, 1a, 2, 4, and by adding subdivisions. 
  1.9   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.10                             ARTICLE 1
  1.11                    EXPANDED CHARTER SCHOOL LAW
  1.12     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1995 Supplement, section 
  1.13  120.064, subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
  1.14     Subd. 3.  [SPONSOR.] A school board, community college, 
  1.15  state university, technical college, the state board of 
  1.16  education, or the University of Minnesota may sponsor one or 
  1.17  more charter schools. 
  1.18     No more than a total of 40 charter schools may be 
  1.19  authorized not more than three of which may be sponsored by 
  1.20  public post-secondary institutions.  The state board of 
  1.21  education shall advise potential sponsors when the maximum 
  1.22  number of charter schools has been authorized. 
  1.23     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1995 Supplement, section 
  1.24  120.064, subdivision 4, is amended to read: 
  1.25     Subd. 4.  [FORMATION OF SCHOOL.] (a) A sponsor may 
  1.26  authorize one or more licensed teachers under section 125.05, 
  1.27  subdivision 1, or a person, governmental body, or nonprofit 
  2.1   organization that contracts for its instructional programs with 
  2.2   an organization owned by teachers, to operate a charter school 
  2.3   subject to, for a sponsor other than the state board, approval 
  2.4   by the state board of education.  If a school board elects not 
  2.5   to sponsor a charter school, the applicant may appeal the school 
  2.6   board's decision to the state board of education if two members 
  2.7   of the school board voted to sponsor the school.  If the state 
  2.8   board authorizes the school, the state board shall sponsor the 
  2.9   school according to this section.  The school shall be organized 
  2.10  and operated as a cooperative under chapter 308A or nonprofit 
  2.11  corporation under chapter 317A.  
  2.12     (b) Before the operators may form and operate as a school, 
  2.13  the a sponsor, other than the state board, must file an 
  2.14  affidavit with the state board of education stating its intent 
  2.15  to authorize a charter school.  The affidavit must state the 
  2.16  terms and conditions under which the sponsor would authorize a 
  2.17  charter school.  The state board must approve or disapprove the 
  2.18  sponsor's proposed authorization within 60 days of receipt of 
  2.19  the affidavit.  Failure to obtain state board approval precludes 
  2.20  a sponsor from authorizing the charter school that was the 
  2.21  subject of the affidavit.  
  2.22     (c) The operators authorized to organize and operate a 
  2.23  school shall hold an election for members of the school's board 
  2.24  of directors in a timely manner after the school is operating.  
  2.25  Any staff members who are employed at the school, including 
  2.26  teachers providing instruction under a contract with a 
  2.27  cooperative, and all parents of children enrolled in the school 
  2.28  may participate in the election.  Licensed teachers employed at 
  2.29  the school, including teachers providing instruction under a 
  2.30  contract with a cooperative, must be a majority of the members 
  2.31  of the board of directors.  When a person, governmental body, or 
  2.32  nonprofit organization that contracts for its instructional 
  2.33  programs with an organization owned by teachers operates the 
  2.34  school, teachers are not required to be a majority of the 
  2.35  members of the board of directors.  A provisional board may 
  2.36  operate before the election of the school's board of directors.  
  3.1   Board of director meetings must comply with section 471.705. 
  3.2      (d) The granting or renewal of a charter by a sponsoring 
  3.3   entity shall not be conditioned upon the bargaining unit status 
  3.4   of the employees of the school. 
  3.5      Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1995 Supplement, section 
  3.6   120.064, subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
  3.7      Subd. 5.  [CONTRACT.] The sponsor's authorization for a 
  3.8   charter school shall be in the form of a written contract signed 
  3.9   by the sponsor and the board of directors of the charter 
  3.10  school.  The contract for a charter school shall be in writing 
  3.11  and contain at least the following: 
  3.12     (1) a description of a program that carries out one or more 
  3.13  of the purposes in subdivision 1; 
  3.14     (2) specific outcomes pupils are to achieve under 
  3.15  subdivision 10; 
  3.16     (3) admission policies and procedures; 
  3.17     (4) management and administration of the school; 
  3.18     (5) requirements and procedures for program and financial 
  3.19  audits; 
  3.20     (6) how the school will comply with subdivisions 8, 13, 15, 
  3.21  and 21; 
  3.22     (7) assumption of liability by the charter school; 
  3.23     (8) types and amounts of insurance coverage to be obtained 
  3.24  by the charter school; and 
  3.25     (9) the term of the contract, which may be up to shall be 
  3.26  three years. 
  3.27     Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1995 Supplement, section 
  3.28  120.064, subdivision 8, is amended to read: 
  3.29     Subd. 8.  [REQUIREMENTS.] (a) A charter school shall meet 
  3.30  all applicable state and local health and safety requirements. 
  3.31     (b) The A school must sponsored by a school district may be 
  3.32  located in the sponsoring any district, unless another the 
  3.33  school board agrees to locate a charter school sponsored by 
  3.34  another district in its boundaries of the district of the 
  3.35  proposed location disapproves and has not adopted a resolution 
  3.36  under section 120.062, subdivision 2.  If such a school board 
  4.1   denies a request to locate within its boundaries a charter 
  4.2   school sponsored by another district, the sponsoring district 
  4.3   may appeal to the state board of education.  If the state board 
  4.4   authorizes the school, the state board shall sponsor the 
  4.5   school.  A school sponsored by a post-secondary institution may 
  4.6   be located at any place the institution considers convenient. 
  4.7      (c) A charter school must be nonsectarian in its programs, 
  4.8   admission policies, employment practices, and all other 
  4.9   operations.  A sponsor may not authorize a charter school or 
  4.10  program that is affiliated with a nonpublic sectarian school or 
  4.11  a religious institution. 
  4.12     (d) Charter schools shall not be used as a method of 
  4.13  providing education or generating revenue for students who are 
  4.14  being home schooled. 
  4.15     (e) The primary focus of a charter school must be to 
  4.16  provide a comprehensive program of instruction for at least one 
  4.17  grade or age group from five through 18 years of age.  
  4.18  Instruction may be provided to people younger than five years 
  4.19  and older than 18 years of age. 
  4.20     (f) A charter school may not charge tuition. 
  4.21     (g) A charter school is subject to and shall comply with 
  4.22  chapter 363 and section 126.21. 
  4.23     (h) A charter school is subject to and shall comply with 
  4.24  the pupil fair dismissal act, sections 127.26 to 127.39, and the 
  4.25  Minnesota public school fee law, sections 120.71 to 120.76. 
  4.26     (i) A charter school is subject to the same financial 
  4.27  audits, audit procedures, and audit requirements as a school 
  4.28  district.  The audit must be consistent with the requirements of 
  4.29  sections 121.904 to 121.917, except to the extent deviations are 
  4.30  necessary because of the program at the school.  The department 
  4.31  of children, families, and learning, state auditor, or 
  4.32  legislative auditor may conduct financial, program, or 
  4.33  compliance audits. 
  4.34     (j) A charter school is a school district for the purposes 
  4.35  of tort liability under chapter 466. 
  4.36     Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1995 Supplement, section 
  5.1   124.248, subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  5.2      Subdivision 1.  [GENERAL EDUCATION AND REFERENDUM 
  5.3   REVENUE.] (a) General education revenue and referendum revenue 
  5.4   shall be paid to a charter school as though it were a school 
  5.5   district.  
  5.6      (b) The general education revenue for each pupil unit is 
  5.7   the state average general education revenue per pupil unit minus 
  5.8   $170, calculated without compensatory revenue, transportation 
  5.9   sparsity revenue, and the transportation portion of the 
  5.10  transition revenue adjustment, plus compensatory revenue as 
  5.11  though the school were a school district. 
  5.12     (c) The referendum revenue for each pupil unit is the 
  5.13  lesser of the referendum revenue per pupil unit in the resident 
  5.14  district or the referendum revenue per pupil unit in the 
  5.15  district in which the charter school is located. 
  5.16     Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1995 Supplement, section 
  5.17  124.248, subdivision 1a, is amended to read: 
  5.18     Subd. 1a.  [TRANSPORTATION REVENUE.] Transportation revenue 
  5.19  shall be paid to a charter school that provides transportation 
  5.20  services according to section 120.064, subdivision 15, as though 
  5.21  it were a school district according to this subdivision.  
  5.22  Transportation aid shall equal transportation revenue.  
  5.23     (a) For the first two years that In addition to the revenue 
  5.24  under subdivision 1, a charter school is providing 
  5.25  transportation services, the regular transportation allowance 
  5.26  for the charter school shall be equal to the regular 
  5.27  transportation allowance for the school district in which the 
  5.28  charter school is located.  For the third year of transportation 
  5.29  services and later fiscal years, the predicted base cost for the 
  5.30  charter school shall be equal to the predicted base cost for the 
  5.31  school district in which the charter school is located shall 
  5.32  receive general education aid for each pupil unit equal to the 
  5.33  sum of $170, plus the transportation sparsity allowance for the 
  5.34  school district in which the charter school is located, plus the 
  5.35  transportation transition allowance for the school district in 
  5.36  which the charter school is located.  
  6.1      (b) For the first two years that a charter school is 
  6.2   providing transportation services, the nonregular special 
  6.3   programs transportation revenue equals the charter school's 
  6.4   actual cost in the current school year for nonregular 
  6.5   transportation services, minus the amount of regular 
  6.6   transportation revenue attributable to FTE's in the handicapped 
  6.7   category in the current school year for children with 
  6.8   disabilities under section 124.223, subdivisions 4, 5, 7, and 
  6.9   8.  For the third year of transportation services and later 
  6.10  fiscal years, the nonregular special programs transportation 
  6.11  revenue shall be computed according to section 124.225, 
  6.12  subdivision 7d, paragraph (b) 14.  
  6.13     Sec. 7.  Minnesota Statutes 1995 Supplement, section 
  6.14  124.248, is amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  6.15     Subd. 1b.  [SCHOOL DISTRICT COOPERATION REVENUE.] (a) 
  6.16  School district cooperation aid shall be paid to a charter 
  6.17  school according to section 124.2727 as though it were a school 
  6.18  district.  School district cooperation aid shall equal school 
  6.19  district cooperation revenue. 
  6.20     (b) A charter school must place its district cooperation 
  6.21  revenue in a reserved account and may only use the revenue to 
  6.22  purchase goods and services from entities formed for cooperative 
  6.23  purposes or to otherwise provide educational services in a 
  6.24  cooperative manner.  Notwithstanding section 124.2727, 
  6.25  subdivision 6d, a charter school is not required to spend at 
  6.26  least $9 per pupil unit of its district cooperation revenue on 
  6.27  secondary vocational programs. 
  6.28     Sec. 8.  Minnesota Statutes 1995 Supplement, section 
  6.29  124.248, subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  6.30     Subd. 2.  [CAPITAL EXPENDITURE EQUIPMENT REVENUE.] Capital 
  6.31  expenditure equipment aid shall be paid to a charter school 
  6.32  according to section 124.245, subdivision 6, as though it were a 
  6.33  school district. 
  6.34     Capital expenditure equipment aid shall equal capital 
  6.35  expenditure equipment revenue.  Notwithstanding section 124.244, 
  6.36  subdivision 4 124A.22, subdivision 11, a charter school may 
  7.1   use the total operating capital revenue for any purpose related 
  7.2   to the school. 
  7.3      Sec. 9.  Minnesota Statutes 1995 Supplement, section 
  7.4   124.248, is amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  7.5      Subd. 2a.  [BUILDING LEASE AID.] When a charter school 
  7.6   finds it economically advantageous to rent or lease a building 
  7.7   or land for any instructional purposes and it determines that 
  7.8   the total operating capital revenue under section 124A.22, 
  7.9   subdivision 10, is insufficient for this purpose, it may apply 
  7.10  to the commissioner for building lease aid for this purpose.  
  7.11  Criteria for aid approval and revenue uses shall be as defined 
  7.12  for the building lease levy in section 124.91, subdivision 1.  
  7.13  The amount of building lease aid per pupil unit for a charter 
  7.14  school for any year shall not exceed the state average debt 
  7.15  redemption revenue per pupil unit for the second preceding year. 
  7.16     Sec. 10.  Minnesota Statutes 1995 Supplement, section 
  7.17  124.248, subdivision 4, is amended to read: 
  7.18     Subd. 4.  [OTHER AID, GRANTS, REVENUE.] (a) A charter 
  7.19  school is eligible to receive other aids, grants, and revenue 
  7.20  according to chapters 120 to 129, as though it were a school 
  7.21  district except that, notwithstanding section 124.195, 
  7.22  subdivision 3, the payments shall be of an equal amount on each 
  7.23  of the 23 payment dates unless a charter school is in its first 
  7.24  year of operation in which case it shall receive on its first 
  7.25  payment date 15 percent of its cumulative amount guaranteed for 
  7.26  the year and 22 payments of an equal amount thereafter the sum 
  7.27  of which shall be 85 percent of the cumulative amount 
  7.28  guaranteed.  However, it may not receive aid, a grant, or 
  7.29  revenue if a levy is required to obtain the money, except as 
  7.30  otherwise provided in this section.  Federal aid received by the 
  7.31  state must be paid to the school, if it qualifies for the aid as 
  7.32  though it were a school district. 
  7.33     (b) Any revenue received from any source, other than 
  7.34  revenue that is specifically allowed for operational, 
  7.35  maintenance, capital facilities revenue under paragraph (c), and 
  7.36  capital expenditure equipment costs under this section, may be 
  8.1   used only for the planning and operational start-up costs of a 
  8.2   charter school.  Any unexpended revenue from any source under 
  8.3   this paragraph must be returned to that revenue source or 
  8.4   conveyed to the sponsoring school district, at the discretion of 
  8.5   the revenue source. 
  8.6      (c) A charter school may receive money from any source for 
  8.7   capital facilities needs.  Any unexpended capital facilities 
  8.8   revenue must be reserved and shall be expended only for future 
  8.9   capital facilities purposes. 
  8.10                             ARTICLE 2 
  8.11               EXPANDED INTERDISTRICT OPEN ENROLLMENT  
  8.12     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 120.062, 
  8.13  subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
  8.14     Subd. 3.  [CLOSED DISTRICTS.] A school board may, by 
  8.15  resolution, determine that limit the enrollment of nonresident 
  8.16  pupils may not attend any of in its schools or programs 
  8.17  according to this section to a number not less than the greater 
  8.18  of: 
  8.19     (1) one percent of the total enrollment at each grade level 
  8.20  in the district; or 
  8.21     (2) the number of district residents at that grade level 
  8.22  enrolled in a nonresident district according to this section.  
  8.23     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 120.062, 
  8.24  subdivision 6, is amended to read: 
  8.25     Subd. 6.  [NONRESIDENT DISTRICT PROCEDURES.] A district 
  8.26  that does not exclude nonresident pupils, according to 
  8.27  subdivision 3, shall notify the parent or guardian in writing by 
  8.28  February 15 whether the application has been accepted or 
  8.29  rejected.  If an application is rejected, the district must 
  8.30  state in the notification the reason for rejection.  The parent 
  8.31  or guardian shall notify the nonresident district by March 1 
  8.32  whether the pupil intends to enroll in the nonresident 
  8.33  district.  Notice of intent to enroll in the nonresident 
  8.34  district obligates the pupil to attend the nonresident district 
  8.35  during the following school year, unless the school boards of 
  8.36  the resident and the nonresident districts agree in writing to 
  9.1   allow the pupil to transfer back to the resident district, or 
  9.2   the pupil's parents or guardians change residence to another 
  9.3   district.  If a parent or guardian does not notify the 
  9.4   nonresident district, the pupil may not enroll in that 
  9.5   nonresident district during the following school year, unless 
  9.6   the school boards of the resident and nonresident district agree 
  9.7   otherwise.  The nonresident district shall notify the resident 
  9.8   district by March 15 of the pupil's intent to enroll in the 
  9.9   nonresident district.  The same procedures apply to a pupil who 
  9.10  applies to transfer from one participating nonresident district 
  9.11  to another participating nonresident district. 
  9.12     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 120.062, 
  9.13  subdivision 7, is amended to read: 
  9.14     Subd. 7.  [BASIS FOR DECISIONS.] The school board must 
  9.15  adopt, by resolution, specific standards for acceptance and 
  9.16  rejection of applications.  Standards may include the capacity 
  9.17  of a program, class, grade level, or school building.  The 
  9.18  school board may not reject applications for enrollment in a 
  9.19  particular grade level if the nonresident enrollment at that 
  9.20  grade level does not exceed the limit set by the board under 
  9.21  subdivision 3.  Standards may not include previous academic 
  9.22  achievement, athletic or other extracurricular ability, 
  9.23  disabling conditions, proficiency in the English language, or 
  9.24  previous disciplinary proceedings, or the student's district of 
  9.25  residence.  
  9.26     Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 120.062, 
  9.27  subdivision 11, is amended to read: 
  9.28     Subd. 11.  [INFORMATION.] A district that does not exclude 
  9.29  nonresident pupils according to subdivision 3 shall make 
  9.30  information about the district, schools, programs, policies, and 
  9.31  procedures available to all interested people.  
  9.32                             ARTICLE 3
  9.33                     CHARTER SCHOOL CONVERSION 
  9.34     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1995 Supplement, section 
  9.35  120.064, subdivision 4a, is amended to read: 
  9.36     Subd. 4a.  [CONVERSION OF EXISTING SCHOOLS.] (a) A school 
 10.1   board may, on its own motion, convert one or more, or all, of 
 10.2   its existing schools to charter schools. 
 10.3      (b) A school board may convert one or more of its existing 
 10.4   schools to charter schools under this section if 90 percent of 
 10.5   the full-time teachers at the school sign a petition seeking 
 10.6   conversion.  The conversion must occur at the beginning of an 
 10.7   academic year.