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1 | AN ACT concerning education.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | ||||||
3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section | ||||||
5 | 27A-5 as follows:
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6 | (105 ILCS 5/27A-5)
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7 | Sec. 27A-5. Charter school; legal entity; requirements.
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8 | (a) A charter school shall be a public, nonsectarian, | ||||||
9 | nonreligious, non-home
based, and non-profit school. A charter | ||||||
10 | school shall be organized and operated
as a nonprofit | ||||||
11 | corporation or other discrete, legal, nonprofit entity
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12 | authorized under the laws of the State of Illinois.
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13 | (b) A charter school may be established under this Article | ||||||
14 | by creating a new
school or by converting an existing public | ||||||
15 | school or attendance center to
charter
school status.
Beginning | ||||||
16 | on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd | ||||||
17 | General
Assembly, in all new
applications submitted to the | ||||||
18 | State Board or a local school board to establish
a charter
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19 | school in a city having a population exceeding 500,000, | ||||||
20 | operation of the
charter
school shall be limited to one campus. | ||||||
21 | The changes made to this Section by this
amendatory Act
of the | ||||||
22 | 93rd General
Assembly do not apply to charter schools existing | ||||||
23 | or approved on or before the
effective date of this
amendatory |
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1 | Act. | ||||||
2 | (b-5) In this subsection (b-5), "virtual-schooling" means | ||||||
3 | a cyber school where students engage in online curriculum and | ||||||
4 | instruction via the Internet and electronic communication with | ||||||
5 | their teachers at remote locations and with students | ||||||
6 | participating at different times. the teaching of courses | ||||||
7 | through online methods with online instructors, rather than the | ||||||
8 | instructor and student being at the same physical location. | ||||||
9 | "Virtual-schooling" includes without limitation instruction | ||||||
10 | provided by full-time, online virtual schools. | ||||||
11 | From April 1, 2013 through December 31, 2016 April 1, 2014 , | ||||||
12 | there is a moratorium on the establishment of charter schools | ||||||
13 | with virtual-schooling components in school districts other | ||||||
14 | than a school district organized under Article 34 of this Code. | ||||||
15 | This moratorium does not apply to a charter school with | ||||||
16 | virtual-schooling components existing or approved prior to | ||||||
17 | April 1, 2013 or to the renewal of the charter of a charter | ||||||
18 | school with virtual-schooling components already approved | ||||||
19 | prior to April 1, 2013. | ||||||
20 | On or before March 1, 2014, the Commission shall submit to | ||||||
21 | the General Assembly a report on the effect of | ||||||
22 | virtual-schooling, including without limitation the effect on | ||||||
23 | student performance, the costs associated with | ||||||
24 | virtual-schooling, and issues with oversight. The report shall | ||||||
25 | include policy recommendations for virtual-schooling.
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26 | (c) A charter school shall be administered and governed by |
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1 | its board of
directors or other governing body
in the manner | ||||||
2 | provided in its charter. The governing body of a charter school
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3 | shall be subject to the Freedom of Information Act and the Open | ||||||
4 | Meetings Act.
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5 | (d) A charter school shall comply with all applicable | ||||||
6 | health and safety
requirements applicable to public schools | ||||||
7 | under the laws of the State of
Illinois.
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8 | (e) Except as otherwise provided in the School Code, a | ||||||
9 | charter school shall
not charge tuition; provided that a | ||||||
10 | charter school may charge reasonable fees
for textbooks, | ||||||
11 | instructional materials, and student activities.
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12 | (f) A charter school shall be responsible for the | ||||||
13 | management and operation
of its fiscal affairs including,
but | ||||||
14 | not limited to, the preparation of its budget. An audit of each | ||||||
15 | charter
school's finances shall be conducted annually by an | ||||||
16 | outside, independent
contractor retained by the charter | ||||||
17 | school. Annually, by December 1, every charter school must | ||||||
18 | submit to the State Board a copy of its audit and a copy of the | ||||||
19 | Form 990 the charter school filed that year with the federal | ||||||
20 | Internal Revenue Service.
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21 | (g) A charter school shall comply with all provisions of | ||||||
22 | this Article, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, and
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23 | its charter. A charter
school is exempt from all other State | ||||||
24 | laws and regulations in the School Code
governing public
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25 | schools and local school board policies, except the following:
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26 | (1) Sections 10-21.9 and 34-18.5 of the School Code |
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1 | regarding criminal
history records checks and checks of the | ||||||
2 | Statewide Sex Offender Database and Statewide Murderer and | ||||||
3 | Violent Offender Against Youth Database of applicants for | ||||||
4 | employment;
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5 | (2) Sections 24-24 and 34-84A of the School Code | ||||||
6 | regarding discipline of
students;
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7 | (3) The Local Governmental and Governmental Employees | ||||||
8 | Tort Immunity Act;
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9 | (4) Section 108.75 of the General Not For Profit | ||||||
10 | Corporation Act of 1986
regarding indemnification of | ||||||
11 | officers, directors, employees, and agents;
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12 | (5) The Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act;
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13 | (6) The Illinois School Student Records Act;
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14 | (7) Section 10-17a of the School Code regarding school | ||||||
15 | report cards; and
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16 | (8) The P-20 Longitudinal Education Data System Act. | ||||||
17 | The change made by Public Act 96-104 to this subsection (g) | ||||||
18 | is declaratory of existing law. | ||||||
19 | (h) A charter school may negotiate and contract with a | ||||||
20 | school district, the
governing body of a State college or | ||||||
21 | university or public community college, or
any other public or | ||||||
22 | for-profit or nonprofit private entity for: (i) the use
of a | ||||||
23 | school building and grounds or any other real property or | ||||||
24 | facilities that
the charter school desires to use or convert | ||||||
25 | for use as a charter school site,
(ii) the operation and | ||||||
26 | maintenance thereof, and
(iii) the provision of any service, |
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1 | activity, or undertaking that the charter
school is required to | ||||||
2 | perform in order to carry out the terms of its charter.
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3 | However, a charter school
that is established on
or
after the | ||||||
4 | effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General
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5 | Assembly and that operates
in a city having a population | ||||||
6 | exceeding
500,000 may not contract with a for-profit entity to
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7 | manage or operate the school during the period that commences | ||||||
8 | on the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd | ||||||
9 | General Assembly and
concludes at the end of the 2004-2005 | ||||||
10 | school year.
Except as provided in subsection (i) of this | ||||||
11 | Section, a school district may
charge a charter school | ||||||
12 | reasonable rent for the use of the district's
buildings, | ||||||
13 | grounds, and facilities. Any services for which a charter | ||||||
14 | school
contracts
with a school district shall be provided by | ||||||
15 | the district at cost. Any services
for which a charter school | ||||||
16 | contracts with a local school board or with the
governing body | ||||||
17 | of a State college or university or public community college
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18 | shall be provided by the public entity at cost.
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19 | (i) In no event shall a charter school that is established | ||||||
20 | by converting an
existing school or attendance center to | ||||||
21 | charter school status be required to
pay rent for space
that is | ||||||
22 | deemed available, as negotiated and provided in the charter | ||||||
23 | agreement,
in school district
facilities. However, all other | ||||||
24 | costs for the operation and maintenance of
school district | ||||||
25 | facilities that are used by the charter school shall be subject
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26 | to negotiation between
the charter school and the local school |
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1 | board and shall be set forth in the
charter.
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2 | (j) A charter school may limit student enrollment by age or | ||||||
3 | grade level.
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4 | (k) If the charter school is approved by the Commission, | ||||||
5 | then the Commission charter school is its own local education | ||||||
6 | agency. | ||||||
7 | (Source: P.A. 97-152, eff. 7-20-11; 97-154, eff. 1-1-12; | ||||||
8 | 97-813, eff. 7-13-12; 98-16, eff. 5-24-13.)
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9 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||||||
10 | becoming law. |