SB1956 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB095 18715 NHT 44818 b

95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008
SB1956

Introduced 2/7/2008, by Sen. Kimberly A. Lightford

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/27A-4

Amends the Charter Schools Law of the School Code. Under specified circumstances, allows for a maximum of 5 additional charter schools exclusively for truants or dropouts in Chicago if the limit on the number of charter schools that may operate at any one time in the rest of the State has not been reached. Provides that if any of the additional charter schools are not used exclusively for truants or dropouts, then the State Board of Education shall withhold and the charter school shall forfeit all State funding designated for that school.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section 27A-4 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/27A-4)

Sec. 27A-4. General Provisions.

(a) The General Assembly does not intend to alter or amend the provisions of any court-ordered desegregation plan in effect for any school district. A charter school shall be subject to all federal and State laws and constitutional provisions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability, race, creed, color, gender, national origin, religion, ancestry, marital status, or need for special education services.

(b) The total number of charter schools operating under this Article at any one time shall not exceed 60. Not more than 30 charter schools shall operate at any one time in any city having a population exceeding 500,000; not more than 15 charter schools shall operate at any one time in the counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, and that portion of Cook County that is located outside a city having a population exceeding 500,000, with not more than one charter school that has been initiated by a board of education, or by an intergovernmental agreement between or among boards of education, operating at any one time in the school district where the charter school is located; and not more than 15 charter schools shall operate at any one time in the remainder of the State, with not more than one charter school that has been initiated by a board of education, or by an intergovernmental agreement between or among boards of education, operating at any one time in the school district where the charter school is located. The following provisions apply notwithstanding the other provisions of this subsection (b):

(1) If 14 charter schools are operating at any one time in the counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, and that portion of Cook County that is located outside a city having a population exceeding 500,000, then one additional charter school, which must be exclusively for truants or dropouts, may operate in a city having a population exceeding 500,000, and the limit on the number of charter schools that may operate at any one time in the counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, and that portion of Cook County that is located outside a city having a population exceeding 500,000 shall be reduced to 14 if an additional charter school is established in a city having a population exceeding 500,000 under the authority of this paragraph (1).

(2) If 13 charter schools are operating at any one time in the counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, and that portion of Cook County that is located outside a city having a population exceeding 500,000, then 2 additional charter schools, which must be exclusively for truants or dropouts, may operate in a city having a population exceeding 500,000, and the limit on the number of charter schools that may operate at any one time in the counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, and that portion of Cook County that is located outside a city having a population exceeding 500,000 shall be reduced by the number of additional charter schools established in a city having a population exceeding 500,000 under the authority of this paragraph (2).

(3) If 12 or fewer charter schools are operating at any one time in the counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, and that portion of Cook County that is located outside a city having a population exceeding 500,000, then 3 additional charter schools, which must be exclusively for truants or dropouts, may operate in a city having a population exceeding 500,000, and the limit on the number of charter schools that may operate at any one time in the counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, and that portion of Cook County that is located outside a city having a population exceeding 500,000 shall be reduced by the number of additional charter schools established in a city having a population exceeding 500,000 under the authority of this paragraph (3).

(4) If 14 charter schools are operating at any one time in that part of the State outside of the counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, and Cook County, then one additional charter school, which must be exclusively for truants or dropouts, may operate in a city having a population exceeding 500,000, and the limit on the number of charter schools that may operate at any one time in that part of the State outside of the counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, and Cook County shall be reduced to 14 if an additional charter school is established in a city having a population exceeding 500,000 under the authority of this paragraph (4).

(5) If 13 or fewer charter schools are operating at any one time in that part of the State outside of the counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, and Cook County, then 2 additional charter schools, which must be exclusively for truants or dropouts, may operate in a city having a population exceeding 500,000, and the limit on the number of charter schools that may operate at any one time in that part of the State outside of the counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, and Cook County shall be reduced by the number of additional charter schools established in a city having a population exceeding 500,000 under the authority of this paragraph (5).

If a charter school established under the authority of paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) of this subsection (b) is not used exclusively for truants or dropouts, then the State Board shall withhold and the charter school shall forfeit all State funding designated for that school.

For purposes of implementing this Section, the State Board shall assign a number to each charter submission it receives under Section 27A-6 for its review and certification, based on the chronological order in which the submission is received by it. The State Board shall promptly notify local school boards when the maximum numbers of certified charter schools authorized to operate have been reached.

(c) No charter shall be granted under this Article that would convert any existing private, parochial, or non-public school to a charter school.

(d) Enrollment in a charter school shall be open to any pupil who resides within the geographic boundaries of the area served by the local school board, provided that the board of education in a city having a population exceeding 500,000 may designate attendance boundaries for no more than one-third of the charter schools permitted in the city if the board of education determines that attendance boundaries are needed to relieve overcrowding or to better serve low-income and at-risk students. Students residing within an attendance boundary may be given priority for enrollment, but must not be required to attend the charter school.

(e) Nothing in this Article shall prevent 2 or more local school boards from jointly issuing a charter to a single shared charter school, provided that all of the provisions of this Article are met as to those local school boards.

(f) No local school board shall require any employee of the school district to be employed in a charter school.

(g) No local school board shall require any pupil residing within the geographic boundary of its district to enroll in a charter school.

(h) If there are more eligible applicants for enrollment in a charter school than there are spaces available, successful applicants shall be selected by lottery. However, priority shall be given to siblings of pupils enrolled in the charter school and to pupils who were enrolled in the charter school the previous school year, unless expelled for cause, and priority may be given to pupils residing within the charter school's attendance boundary, if a boundary has been designated by the board of education in a city having a population exceeding 500,000. Dual enrollment at both a charter school and a public school or non-public school shall not be allowed. A pupil who is suspended or expelled from a charter school shall be deemed to be suspended or expelled from the public schools of the school district in which the pupil resides.

(i) (Blank).

(j) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a school district in a city having a population exceeding 500,000 shall not have a duty to collectively bargain with an exclusive representative of its employees over decisions to grant or deny a charter school proposal under Section 27A-8 of this Code, decisions to renew or revoke a charter under Section 27A-9 of this Code, and the impact of these decisions, provided that nothing in this Section shall have the effect of negating, abrogating, replacing, reducing, diminishing, or limiting in any way employee rights, guarantees, or privileges granted in Sections 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 14, and 15 of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act.

(Source: P.A. 92-16, eff. 6-28-01; 93-3, eff. 4-16-03; 93-861, eff. 1-1-05.)