Full Text of HB4899 100th General Assembly
HB4899 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018 HB4899 Introduced , by Rep. Will Guzzardi SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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Amends the School Code. Provides that there is a moratorium on the establishment of new charter schools in financially distressed school districts, including new campuses of existing charter schools, for such a time as the school district meets the definition of a financially distressed school district.
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| | | FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
| | A BILL FOR |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning education.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section | 5 | | 27A-5 as follows:
| 6 | | (105 ILCS 5/27A-5)
| 7 | | Sec. 27A-5. Charter school; legal entity; requirements.
| 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
| 12 | | authorized under the laws of the State of Illinois.
| 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 April 16, 2003 (the effective date of Public Act 93-3), in | 17 | | all new
applications to establish
a charter
school in a city | 18 | | having a population exceeding 500,000, operation of the
charter
| 19 | | school shall be limited to one campus. The changes made to this | 20 | | Section by Public Act 93-3 do not apply to charter schools | 21 | | existing or approved on or before April 16, 2003 (the
effective | 22 | | date of Public Act 93-3). | 23 | | (b-5) In this subsection (b-5), "virtual-schooling" means |
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| 1 | | a cyber school where students engage in online curriculum and | 2 | | instruction via the Internet and electronic communication with | 3 | | their teachers at remote locations and with students | 4 | | participating at different times. | 5 | | From April 1, 2013 through December 31, 2016, there is a | 6 | | moratorium on the establishment of charter schools with | 7 | | virtual-schooling components in school districts other than a | 8 | | school district organized under Article 34 of this Code. This | 9 | | moratorium does not apply to a charter school with | 10 | | virtual-schooling components existing or approved prior to | 11 | | April 1, 2013 or to the renewal of the charter of a charter | 12 | | school with virtual-schooling components already approved | 13 | | prior to April 1, 2013. | 14 | | On or before March 1, 2014, the Commission shall submit to | 15 | | the General Assembly a report on the effect of | 16 | | virtual-schooling, including without limitation the effect on | 17 | | student performance, the costs associated with | 18 | | virtual-schooling, and issues with oversight. The report shall | 19 | | include policy recommendations for virtual-schooling.
| 20 | | (b-10) In this subsection (b-10), "financially distressed | 21 | | school district" means a school district identified as on | 22 | | either "financial early warning" or "financial watch" status in | 23 | | the district's most recent assessment under the State Board of | 24 | | Education's School District Financial Profile System. | 25 | | There is a moratorium on the establishment of new charter | 26 | | schools in financially distressed school districts, including |
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| 1 | | new campuses of existing charter schools, for such a time as | 2 | | the school district meets the definition of a financially | 3 | | distressed school district. | 4 | | (c) A charter school shall be administered and governed by | 5 | | its board of
directors or other governing body
in the manner | 6 | | provided in its charter. The governing body of a charter school
| 7 | | shall be subject to the Freedom of Information Act and the Open | 8 | | Meetings Act.
| 9 | | (d) For purposes of this subsection (d), "non-curricular | 10 | | health and safety requirement" means any health and safety | 11 | | requirement created by statute or rule to provide, maintain, | 12 | | preserve, or safeguard safe or healthful conditions for | 13 | | students and school personnel or to eliminate, reduce, or | 14 | | prevent threats to the health and safety of students and school | 15 | | personnel. "Non-curricular health and safety requirement" does | 16 | | not include any course of study or specialized instructional | 17 | | requirement for which the State Board has established goals and | 18 | | learning standards or which is designed primarily to impart | 19 | | knowledge and skills for students to master and apply as an | 20 | | outcome of their education. | 21 | | A charter school shall comply with all non-curricular | 22 | | health and safety
requirements applicable to public schools | 23 | | under the laws of the State of
Illinois. On or before September | 24 | | 1, 2015, the State Board shall promulgate and post on its | 25 | | Internet website a list of non-curricular health and safety | 26 | | requirements that a charter school must meet. The list shall be |
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| 1 | | updated annually no later than September 1. Any charter | 2 | | contract between a charter school and its authorizer must | 3 | | contain a provision that requires the charter school to follow | 4 | | the list of all non-curricular health and safety requirements | 5 | | promulgated by the State Board and any non-curricular health | 6 | | and safety requirements added by the State Board to such list | 7 | | during the term of the charter. Nothing in this subsection (d) | 8 | | precludes an authorizer from including non-curricular health | 9 | | and safety requirements in a charter school contract that are | 10 | | not contained in the list promulgated by the State Board, | 11 | | including non-curricular health and safety requirements of the | 12 | | authorizing local school board.
| 13 | | (e) Except as otherwise provided in the School Code, a | 14 | | charter school shall
not charge tuition; provided that a | 15 | | charter school may charge reasonable fees
for textbooks, | 16 | | instructional materials, and student activities.
| 17 | | (f) A charter school shall be responsible for the | 18 | | management and operation
of its fiscal affairs including,
but | 19 | | not limited to, the preparation of its budget. An audit of each | 20 | | charter
school's finances shall be conducted annually by an | 21 | | outside, independent
contractor retained by the charter | 22 | | school. To ensure financial accountability for the use of | 23 | | public funds, on or before December 1 of every year of | 24 | | operation, each charter school shall submit to its authorizer | 25 | | and the State Board a copy of its audit and a copy of the Form | 26 | | 990 the charter school filed that year with the federal |
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| 1 | | Internal Revenue Service. In addition, if deemed necessary for | 2 | | proper financial oversight of the charter school, an authorizer | 3 | | may require quarterly financial statements from each charter | 4 | | school.
| 5 | | (g) A charter school shall comply with all provisions of | 6 | | this Article, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, all | 7 | | federal and State laws and rules applicable to public schools | 8 | | that pertain to special education and the instruction of | 9 | | English learners, and
its charter. A charter
school is exempt | 10 | | from all other State laws and regulations in this Code
| 11 | | governing public
schools and local school board policies; | 12 | | however, a charter school is not exempt from the following:
| 13 | | (1) Sections 10-21.9 and 34-18.5 of this Code regarding | 14 | | criminal
history records checks and checks of the Statewide | 15 | | Sex Offender Database and Statewide Murderer and Violent | 16 | | Offender Against Youth Database of applicants for | 17 | | employment;
| 18 | | (2) Sections 10-20.14, 10-22.6, 24-24, 34-19, and | 19 | | 34-84a of this Code regarding discipline of
students;
| 20 | | (3) the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees | 21 | | Tort Immunity Act;
| 22 | | (4) Section 108.75 of the General Not For Profit | 23 | | Corporation Act of 1986
regarding indemnification of | 24 | | officers, directors, employees, and agents;
| 25 | | (5) the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act;
| 26 | | (5.5) subsection (b) of Section 10-23.12 and |
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| 1 | | subsection (b) of Section 34-18.6 of this Code; | 2 | | (6) the Illinois School Student Records Act;
| 3 | | (7) Section 10-17a of this Code regarding school report | 4 | | cards;
| 5 | | (8) the P-20 Longitudinal Education Data System Act; | 6 | | (9) Section 27-23.7 of this Code regarding bullying | 7 | | prevention; | 8 | | (10) Section 2-3.162 of this Code regarding student | 9 | | discipline reporting; | 10 | | (11) Sections 22-80 and 27-8.1 of this Code; and | 11 | | (12) Sections 10-20.60 and 34-18.53 of this Code ; . | 12 | | (13) (12) Sections 10-20.63 10-20.60 and 34-18.56 | 13 | | 34-18.53 of this Code ; and . | 14 | | (14) (12) Section 26-18 of this Code. | 15 | | The change made by Public Act 96-104 to this subsection (g) | 16 | | is declaratory of existing law. | 17 | | (h) A charter school may negotiate and contract with a | 18 | | school district, the
governing body of a State college or | 19 | | university or public community college, or
any other public or | 20 | | for-profit or nonprofit private entity for: (i) the use
of a | 21 | | school building and grounds or any other real property or | 22 | | facilities that
the charter school desires to use or convert | 23 | | for use as a charter school site,
(ii) the operation and | 24 | | maintenance thereof, and
(iii) the provision of any service, | 25 | | activity, or undertaking that the charter
school is required to | 26 | | perform in order to carry out the terms of its charter.
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| 1 | | However, a charter school
that is established on
or
after April | 2 | | 16, 2003 (the effective date of Public Act 93-3) and that | 3 | | operates
in a city having a population exceeding
500,000 may | 4 | | not contract with a for-profit entity to
manage or operate the | 5 | | school during the period that commences on April 16, 2003 (the
| 6 | | effective date of Public Act 93-3) and
concludes at the end of | 7 | | the 2004-2005 school year.
Except as provided in subsection (i) | 8 | | of this Section, a school district may
charge a charter school | 9 | | reasonable rent for the use of the district's
buildings, | 10 | | grounds, and facilities. Any services for which a charter | 11 | | school
contracts
with a school district shall be provided by | 12 | | the district at cost. Any services
for which a charter school | 13 | | contracts with a local school board or with the
governing body | 14 | | of a State college or university or public community college
| 15 | | shall be provided by the public entity at cost.
| 16 | | (i) In no event shall a charter school that is established | 17 | | by converting an
existing school or attendance center to | 18 | | charter school status be required to
pay rent for space
that is | 19 | | deemed available, as negotiated and provided in the charter | 20 | | agreement,
in school district
facilities. However, all other | 21 | | costs for the operation and maintenance of
school district | 22 | | facilities that are used by the charter school shall be subject
| 23 | | to negotiation between
the charter school and the local school | 24 | | board and shall be set forth in the
charter.
| 25 | | (j) A charter school may limit student enrollment by age or | 26 | | grade level.
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| 1 | | (k) If the charter school is approved by the Commission, | 2 | | then the Commission charter school is its own local education | 3 | | agency. | 4 | | (Source: P.A. 99-30, eff. 7-10-15; 99-78, eff. 7-20-15; 99-245, | 5 | | eff. 8-3-15; 99-325, eff. 8-10-15; 99-456, eff. 9-15-16; | 6 | | 99-642, eff. 7-28-16; 99-927, eff. 6-1-17; 100-29, eff. 1-1-18; | 7 | | 100-156, eff. 1-1-18; 100-163, eff. 1-1-18; 100-413, eff. | 8 | | 1-1-18; 100-468, eff. 6-1-18; revised 9-25-17.)
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