|
HOUSE BILL 6 |
HOUSE AUTHOR: Dunnam et al. |
|
EFFECTIVE: 9-1-01 |
SENATE SPONSOR: Bivins |
House Bill 6 amends the Education Code to restrict the granting of charters by the State Board of Education (SBOE) to those applicants that meet certain financial, governing, and operational standards and to impose fiscal management and public accountability measures on charter school operations to ensure the fiscal and academic accountability of all charter holders.
Limitations on Award or Renewal of Charters: The bill repeals a provision that allowed the SBOE to grant charters for open-enrollment schools serving Public Education Grant-eligible students and for schools primarily serving at-risk students, converts those existing schools to open-enrollment charter schools, and caps the total number of charters that may be granted at 215. The bill also provides that the grant of a charter does not create an entitlement to a charter renewal on the same terms as its original issue, and it transfers from the SBOE to the commissioner of education the authority to approve charter revisions and to modify, place on probation, revoke, or deny renewal of a charter.
The bill allows the SBOE to grant a charter to a public senior college or university for a charter school to be operated either on its campus or in the same county in which that campus is located. A charter granted under this provision does not count toward the 215 limit.
General Applicability of State Laws: The bill explicitly makes charter school operations subject to state laws governing open meetings and public information, local government records, public purchasing and contracting, conflict of interest, nepotism, and immunity from liability. For purposes of those laws, the governing body of a charter holder or of a charter school is considered a governmental body, and the charter school a governmental entity, political subdivision, or local government. To the extent those laws apply to a school district, a district board of trustees, a district officer or employee, or a public school student, they also apply, with some exceptions, to a charter school, its governing body or that of the charter school, a governing body member, a charter school officer or employee, or a charter school student. If a charter school closes, the bill requires its records to be transferred to a custodian designated by the commissioner, which may be the Texas Education Agency, a regional education service center, or a school district. The bill also makes charter schools located in whole or in part in a municipality with a population of more than 20,000 subject to certain municipal zoning ordinances.
Funding: The bill entitles a charter holder to receive Foundation School Program funding for the school as if it were a school district without a Tier 1 local share or Tier 2 local revenue, and any adjustments to its basic allotment and its Tier 2 enrichment tax rate in the funding formulas are the state averages for those adjustments and tax rate. The bill provides a 10-year phase-in of the change in the method of funding. State funds received after September 1, 2001, are to be regarded as public funds for all purposes under state law, held in trust by the charter holder for the benefit of the school's students, used only for the same purposes as a public school's local funds, and, pending their use, be deposited in bank under a depository contract. Property purchased with state funds received after that date also is to be considered state property held in trust for the students' benefit and to be used only for the same purposes as district property, and, if a charter school closes, the commissioner is to take possession and assume control of any school property purchased with state funds. A charter holder who accepts state funds after September, 1, 2001, or after the effective date of any provision in the bill agrees to accept all liability for any funds accepted before then and to be subject to that provision regardless of when the charter was granted. The bill grants a charter school's governing board the same authority to charge its students certain fees as is granted a district's board of trustees, subject to the same restrictions and prohibitions. The bill prohibits a school whose charter has been revoked, denied renewal, or surrendered from receiving state funds and continuing to operate, except that a school whose charter is denied renewal before the school year ends may continue to operate and receive funds for the remainder of the school year.
Facilities Financing: The bill makes a charter school ineligible for an instructional facilities allotment or for state aid to pay existing debt. Instead, the bill requires the Texas Public Finance Authority to establish a nonprofit corporation to issue revenue bonds on the charter schools' behalf for building acquisition, construction, repair, or renovation. A bond issued by the authority is not state debt, but is payable solely from the revenues of the school on whose behalf it is issued.
Notice Requirements: The bill requires the commissioner to adopt a procedure for notifying the board of trustees of any district from which a proposed charter school is likely to draw students and to each legislator who represents the area to be served by that school whenever the SBOE receives an application for a charter school. The bill also requires each charter school to provide the parent or guardian of each student enrolled at the school a written notice of the qualifications of each teacher employed by the school.
Sanctions: The bill requires the commissioner, on a finding that a charter school has committed a material violation of its charter, failed to satisfy certain fiscal management standards, or failed to comply with an applicable rule or law, to take certain actions to the extent deemed necessary, including temporarily withholding funds, suspending its operating authority, or any other reasonable action required to protect student health, safety, or welfare. Those sanctions may not be lifted until it is determined that the conditions that warranted the sanctions either did not exist or have been fixed. The bill also authorizes the commissioner to order closure of all of the programs operated under an open-enrollment charter school's charter for failure to satisfy accreditation criteria.
Additional Commissioner Oversight, Judicial Sanctions: The bill allows the commissioner to audit any financial and administrative records of a charter school, a charter holder, and a management company to the extent those records pertain directly to the management or operation of a charter school. The bill allows the commissioner to ask the attorney general to (1) bring suit against a member of a charter school's governing body for breach of fiduciary duty, including a misapplication of public funds, or (2) petition a court to recover a closed charter school's records if the charter holder refuses to transfer those records to the commissioner-designated custodian.
Service on Governing Body or as School Officer, Employee, Teacher, or Volunteer: The bill prohibits a person from serving on the governing body of a charter holder or charter school or as a charter school officer or employee if the person has been convicted of certain offenses or has a substantial interest in a school management company; requires the commissioner to adopt rules prescribing training for governing body members and school officers regarding school law, school finance, health and safety issues, accountability for public funds, and other applicable state laws; and provides that the school's governing body is responsible for the school's management, operation, and accountability, regardless of whether the body delegates its powers and duties to another person. The bill also requires each charter to specify the powers and duties that the governing body may delegate to an officer. The bill requires a charter school to obtain from any law enforcement or criminal agency the criminal history record of any person the school intends to hire in any capacity or accept as a volunteer, and it requires each teacher at a charter school to hold at least a high school diploma.
School Management: The bill provides for and regulates the involvement of management companies in the operation of charter schools.
Student Admission: The bill establishes an application requirement for admission to a charter school, and it requires a school that receives applications from more students than it can accommodate to fill the positions either by lottery or, if public notice of the opportunity to apply and the application deadline was properly posted, in the order in which the timely applications were received.
Alternative Accreditation, Public School Accountability: The bill allows the commissioner to develop an alternative accreditation status pilot program for the 2001-2002 school year to reflect the academic performance and improvement of students at a district, campus, or charter school that primarily serves at-risk students or is not required to administer the statewide test under the accountability system. The bill also gives the commissioner increased flexibility to determine how the academic excellence indicators may be used in determining accountability ratings and district and campus acknowledgment and to determine when special accreditation investigations are warranted.