Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB1360
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Full Text of HB1360  99th General Assembly

HB1360enr 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

  
  
  

 


 
HB1360 EnrolledLRB099 07049 NHT 27132 b

1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
527A-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,
9nonreligious, non-home based, and non-profit school. A charter
10school shall be organized and operated as a nonprofit
11corporation or other discrete, legal, nonprofit entity
12authorized under the laws of the State of Illinois.
13    (b) A charter school may be established under this Article
14by creating a new school or by converting an existing public
15school or attendance center to charter school status. Beginning
16on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd
17General Assembly, in all new applications to establish a
18charter school in a city having a population exceeding 500,000,
19operation of the charter school shall be limited to one campus.
20The changes made to this Section by this amendatory Act of the
2193rd General Assembly do not apply to charter schools existing
22or approved on or before the effective date of this amendatory
23Act.

 

 

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1    (b-5) In this subsection (b-5), "virtual-schooling" means
2a cyber school where students engage in online curriculum and
3instruction via the Internet and electronic communication with
4their teachers at remote locations and with students
5participating at different times.
6    From April 1, 2013 through December 31, 2016, there is a
7moratorium on the establishment of charter schools with
8virtual-schooling components in school districts other than a
9school district organized under Article 34 of this Code. This
10moratorium does not apply to a charter school with
11virtual-schooling components existing or approved prior to
12April 1, 2013 or to the renewal of the charter of a charter
13school with virtual-schooling components already approved
14prior to April 1, 2013.
15    On or before March 1, 2014, the Commission shall submit to
16the General Assembly a report on the effect of
17virtual-schooling, including without limitation the effect on
18student performance, the costs associated with
19virtual-schooling, and issues with oversight. The report shall
20include policy recommendations for virtual-schooling.
21    (c) A charter school shall be administered and governed by
22its board of directors or other governing body in the manner
23provided in its charter. The governing body of a charter school
24shall be subject to the Freedom of Information Act and the Open
25Meetings Act.
26    (d) For purposes of this subsection (d), "non-curricular

 

 

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1health and safety requirement" means any health and safety
2requirement created by statute or rule to provide, maintain,
3preserve, or safeguard safe or healthful conditions for
4students and school personnel or to eliminate, reduce, or
5prevent threats to the health and safety of students and school
6personnel. "Non-curricular health and safety requirement" does
7not include any course of study or specialized instructional
8requirement for which the State Board has established goals and
9learning standards or which is designed primarily to impart
10knowledge and skills for students to master and apply as an
11outcome of their education.
12    A charter school shall comply with all non-curricular
13applicable health and safety requirements applicable to public
14schools under the laws of the State of Illinois. On or before
15September 1, 2015, the State Board shall promulgate and post on
16its Internet website a list of non-curricular health and safety
17requirements that a charter school must meet. The list shall be
18updated annually no later than September 1. Any charter
19contract between a charter school and its authorizer must
20contain a provision that requires the charter school to follow
21the list of all non-curricular health and safety requirements
22promulgated by the State Board and any non-curricular health
23and safety requirements added by the State Board to such list
24during the term of the charter. Nothing in this subsection (d)
25precludes an authorizer from including non-curricular health
26and safety requirements in a charter school contract that are

 

 

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1not contained in the list promulgated by the State Board,
2including non-curricular health and safety requirements of the
3authorizing local school board.
4    (e) Except as otherwise provided in the School Code, a
5charter school shall not charge tuition; provided that a
6charter school may charge reasonable fees for textbooks,
7instructional materials, and student activities.
8    (f) A charter school shall be responsible for the
9management and operation of its fiscal affairs including, but
10not limited to, the preparation of its budget. An audit of each
11charter school's finances shall be conducted annually by an
12outside, independent contractor retained by the charter
13school. To ensure financial accountability for the use of
14public funds, on or before December 1 of every year of
15operation, each charter school shall submit to its authorizer
16and the State Board a copy of its audit and a copy of the Form
17990 the charter school filed that year with the federal
18Internal Revenue Service. In addition, if deemed necessary for
19proper financial oversight of the charter school, an authorizer
20may require quarterly financial statements from each charter
21school.
22    (g) A charter school shall comply with all provisions of
23this Article; the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act; all
24federal and State laws and rules applicable to public schools
25that pertain to special education and the instruction of
26English language learners, referred to in this Code as

 

 

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1"children of limited English-speaking ability"; and its
2charter. A charter school is exempt from all other State laws
3and regulations in this Code governing public schools and local
4school board policies; however, a charter school is not exempt
5from , except the following:
6        (1) Sections 10-21.9 and 34-18.5 of this Code regarding
7    criminal history records checks and checks of the Statewide
8    Sex Offender Database and Statewide Murderer and Violent
9    Offender Against Youth Database of applicants for
10    employment;
11        (2) Sections 24-24 and 34-84A of this Code regarding
12    discipline of students;
13        (3) the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees
14    Tort Immunity Act;
15        (4) Section 108.75 of the General Not For Profit
16    Corporation Act of 1986 regarding indemnification of
17    officers, directors, employees, and agents;
18        (5) the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act;
19        (6) the Illinois School Student Records Act;
20        (7) Section 10-17a of this Code regarding school report
21    cards;
22        (8) the P-20 Longitudinal Education Data System Act;
23    and
24        (9) Section 27-23.7 of this Code regarding bullying
25    prevention; and .
26        (10) (9) Section 2-3.162 2-3.160 of this the School

 

 

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1    Code regarding student discipline reporting.
2    The change made by Public Act 96-104 to this subsection (g)
3is declaratory of existing law.
4    (h) A charter school may negotiate and contract with a
5school district, the governing body of a State college or
6university or public community college, or any other public or
7for-profit or nonprofit private entity for: (i) the use of a
8school building and grounds or any other real property or
9facilities that the charter school desires to use or convert
10for use as a charter school site, (ii) the operation and
11maintenance thereof, and (iii) the provision of any service,
12activity, or undertaking that the charter school is required to
13perform in order to carry out the terms of its charter.
14However, a charter school that is established on or after the
15effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General
16Assembly and that operates in a city having a population
17exceeding 500,000 may not contract with a for-profit entity to
18manage or operate the school during the period that commences
19on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd
20General Assembly and concludes at the end of the 2004-2005
21school year. Except as provided in subsection (i) of this
22Section, a school district may charge a charter school
23reasonable rent for the use of the district's buildings,
24grounds, and facilities. Any services for which a charter
25school contracts with a school district shall be provided by
26the district at cost. Any services for which a charter school

 

 

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1contracts with a local school board or with the governing body
2of a State college or university or public community college
3shall be provided by the public entity at cost.
4    (i) In no event shall a charter school that is established
5by converting an existing school or attendance center to
6charter school status be required to pay rent for space that is
7deemed available, as negotiated and provided in the charter
8agreement, in school district facilities. However, all other
9costs for the operation and maintenance of school district
10facilities that are used by the charter school shall be subject
11to negotiation between the charter school and the local school
12board and shall be set forth in the charter.
13    (j) A charter school may limit student enrollment by age or
14grade level.
15    (k) If the charter school is approved by the Commission,
16then the Commission charter school is its own local education
17agency.
18(Source: P.A. 97-152, eff. 7-20-11; 97-154, eff. 1-1-12;
1997-813, eff. 7-13-12; 98-16, eff. 5-24-13; 98-639, eff. 6-9-14;
2098-669, eff. 6-26-14; 98-739, eff. 7-16-14; 98-783, eff.
211-1-15; 98-1059, eff. 8-26-14; 98-1102, eff. 8-26-14; revised
2210-14-14.)
 
23    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
24becoming law.