AN ACT TO MAKE VARIOUS CHANGES TO THE LAWS AFFECTING CHARTER SCHOOLS. SL 2023-107. Enacted August 16, 2023. Effective August 16, 2023, except as otherwise provided.
Bill Summaries: H219 CHARTER SCHOOL OMNIBUS.
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Bill H 219 (2023-2024)Summary date: Aug 17 2023 - View Summary
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Bill H 219 (2023-2024)Summary date: Jul 24 2023 - View Summary
The Governor vetoed the act on July 21, 2023. The Governor's objections and veto message are available here: https://webservices.ncleg.gov/ViewBillDocument/2023/6953/0/H219-BD-NBC-11247.
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Bill H 219 (2023-2024)Summary date: Jun 29 2023 - View Summary
Senate amendment to the 4th edition makes the following changes.
Adds a Part to the act repealing Section 2 of H 618 (Charter School Review Board) if that act becomes law. Section 2 provides that current members of the Charter Schools Advisory Board serve as initial members of the Charter Schools Review Board and sets out terms upon the expiration of the current terms of Charter School Review Board members. If H 618 becomes law, amends the future terms of the Review Board members set out in the specified appointment procedure for those with terms that expire in 2025 (was, 2023) and specifies that those appointees are to serve two-year terms. Effective on the date that H 618 becomes law. Makes conforming organizational changes.
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Bill H 219 (2023-2024)Summary date: Jun 27 2023 - View Summary
Senate committee substitute to the 3rd edition makes the following changes.
Part I.
Inserts new provision amending GS 115C-218.5(a) if House Bill 618 of the 2023 Regular Session (entitled An Act to Convert the Charter Schools Advisory Board into the Charter Schools Review Board, to Shift the Authority to Approve Charters from the State Board to the Review Board, and to Create a Right of Appeal to the State Board of Education from Review Board Decisions) does not become law, as follows. Prohibits the State Board of Education (Board) (was Charter School Review Board) from considering any alleged impact on the local school administrative unit or units in the area served by a charter school when deciding whether to grant, renew, amend, or terminate a charter.
Clarifies that the change to GS 115C-218.5(a) replacing the Board with the Charter School Review Board (Review Board) as the entity examining charter school applications only take effect if House Bill 618 becomes law.
Makes organizational changes to account for new section.
Part II.
Inserts new provision also amending GS 115C-218.7 (pertaining to material revisions of charters) to reflect the language in the statute if House Bill 618 does not become law. Specifies that the change to GS 115C-218.7 replacing the Board with the Review Board only takes effect if House Bill 618 becomes law.
Makes organizational changes to account for new section.
Part VII.
Deletes entirety of the third edition’s Part VII concerning charter school funding comparability and Part VIII concerning the classification of charter and nonpublic schools for interscholastic athletics. Replaces it with the following.
Authorizes the charter school Central Park School for Children in Durham County (Central Park School) to establish a pilot program to expand the school's weighted lottery admission procedures for a period of up to four years. Specifies that the pilot program must preserve existing weighting factors but may add additional weighting factors that serve the goal of assisting educationally or economically disadvantaged students, including walk zones. Specifies that an admissions lottery pilot program is not considered a material change of the Central Park School’s charter. Requires the Central Park School to submit an annual report for each year in which the pilot program is being designed or conducted to the Office of Charter Schools by June 15 that contains the following information: (1) a description of the pilot weighted lottery procedures, including the weighted factors considered and how those factors further the goals of the weighted lottery system; (2) how the pilot differed from the existing procedure; and (3) the number of students admitted under the pilot program that would not have otherwise been admitted. Applies to weighted lotteries conducted for the admissions process for the 2024-25 school year.
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Bill H 219 (2023-2024)Summary date: May 3 2023 - View Summary
House committee substitute to the 2nd edition makes the following changes. Changes the amended statute to GS 115C-47 (was, GS 115C-74) to require local boards of education not consider a student's current or prior enrollment in a charter school in any criteria used by the local school board for determination of admissions or eligibility to any school or special programs.
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Bill H 219 (2023-2024)Summary date: May 2 2023 - View Summary
House committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes. Changes statutory references in GS 115C-218.7 (material revisions of charters) and GS 115C-218.8 (nonmaterial revisions of charters) to refer to low-performing schools under GS 115C-218.94, pertaining to identification of low-performing and continually low-performing charter schools (was, GS 115C-105.37A, a continually low performing school and reassignment of students). Deletes new GS 115C-218.87 (authorizing charter schools to establish micro school programs) and conforming changes to GS 115C-84.3 and GS 115C-218.1.
Adds new subsection (h1) to GS 115C-218.45 to authorize charter schools unable to fill current enrollment with students qualified under the laws of this State for admission to a public school to enroll out-of-state students who are domiciliaries of other states. Requires the charter school to charge those students a tuition of at least 50% of the total per pupil allocation of the local appropriation for the county where the charter school is located and the per pupil State appropriation for that school year but no more than 100% of the total of the per pupil allocation of the local appropriation for the county in which the charter school is located and the per pupil State appropriation for that school year. Caps the number of out-of-state enrollees at 10% of the number of students enrolled in the charter school. Defines foreign exchange student for purposes of the subsection. Permits charter schools to enroll no more than two foreign exchange students per high school grades nine through twelve in any given school year at the charter school. Sets forth the same tuition framework as described above. Specifies that foreign exchange students do not count toward the enrollment capacity or cap for any program, class, building, or grade levels for grades nine through 12 and are not be subject to any lottery process used by the charter school for enrollment. Specifies that new GS 115C-218.45(h1) applies beginning with the admissions process for the 2024-25 school year.
Deletes new subsection (b1) to GS 115C-218.45 (non-discrimination provisions of charter school students) and instead enacts new GS 115C-74(68), which prohibits a local board of education from considering a student's current or prior enrollment in a charter school in any criteria used by the local board for determination of admissions or eligibility to any school or special program.
Deletes amendments to GS 115C-426(c) (uniform budget).
Amends GS 115C-407.55 (rules for high school interscholastic athletic activities) as follows. Requires all rules adopted by the State Board of Education (Board) for high school interscholastic activities by public schools to require that charter schools and nonpublic schools be classified as follows: (1) the charter or nonpublic school must determine, based on the address of the student, the school in the local school administrative unit the student would be assigned to attend by the local board of education. Requires the charter or nonpublic school to submit to the administering organization (i) the names of all schools to which the students would have been assigned and (ii) the percentage of students who would have attended each of those schools; (2) the charter or nonpublic school classification must be based on the classification of the school or schools that the largest percentage of the student body of that school would have been assigned to attend in any local school administrative unit; and (3) permits a charter or nonpublic school to apply for a hardship waiver based on the school's classification made in accordance with this subdivision. Requires the Board to adopt emergency rules to implement GS 115C-407.55 as amended by the act for the 2023-24 school year.
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Bill H 219 (2023-2024)Summary date: Feb 28 2023 - View Summary
Part I
Amends GS 115C-218.5 (pertaining to final approval of applications for charter schools) to prohibit the State Board of Education (Board) from considering any alleged impact on the local school administrative unit(s) in the area served by the charter school when deciding whether to grant, renew, amend, or terminate a charter.
Amends GS 115C-218.6(b)(2), pertaining to when a charter school’s diminished academic outcomes would bar the Board from renewing a charter school’s charter because those outcomes have not been comparable to the academic outcomes of the students in the local school administrative unit, as follows. Specifies that, if a school's charter results in it providing services to certain targeted subgroups, the school's academic performance will be judged in comparison to the academic outcomes of students in the same subgroups in the local school administrative unit where the school is located.
Part II
Amends GS 115C-218.7 (pertaining to material revisions of charters) as to limit enrollment caps to low-performing schools as follows. Deletes the entirety of the text in subsection GS115C-218.7(b)-(d) (barring enrollment growth of greater than 20% for a low-performing charter school and setting forth circumstances when enrollment growth will be allowed for high-performing charter schools, including formulae for determining actual enrollment and maximum allowed enrollment, documentation requirements, and requests for increased maximum enrollment requests due to capital expansions) and replaces it with the following subsection(b). Specifies that if a charter school has been identified as low-performing under state law, then it will be considered a material revision of the school's charter to increase its maximum authorized enrollment by more than 20% of the previous year's maximum authorized enrollment. Incorporates new definition of maximum authorized enrollment from GS 115C-218.8 (pertaining to nonmaterial revisions of charters) as the target enrollment defined in a school’s charter. Makes conforming deletions.
Amends two of the circumstances under GS 115C-218.8 that describe nonmaterial changes to a charter school’s charter as follows. Amends GS 115C-218.8(1) to specify that it is not a material revision of a charter school’s charter to increase its maximum authorized enrollment during its second year of operation and annually thereafter so long as the charter school is not identified as low performing under GS 115C-105.37A (pertaining to continually low performing schools). Specifies that a charter school may only update its maximum authorized enrollment once per year and cannot decrease based on actual enrollment. Sets forth new definition of maximum authorized enrollment as discussed above. (Currently, that nonmaterial change is only if charter school increases its enrollment in accordance with the standards in procedures set forth in current version of GS 115C-218.7, which will be deleted by the act as specified above). Amends GS 115C-218.8(2) to specify that that if a school is designated as low performing under GS 105.37A and has a planned growth authorized in its charter, it is a nonmaterial change to the school’s charter if it increases its maximum authorized enrollment during the school’s second year of operation and annually thereafter in line with that planned growth. (Currently, there is no reference to low performing schools with a planned growth authorized in its charter or reference to maximum authorized growth in GS 115C-218.8(2)).
Part III
Enacts new GS 115C-218.87, establishing micro school programs in charter schools. Defines micro school as a group of students enrolled in a charter school that have been assigned to attend the school in accordance with this statute. Specifies that no more than 50% of the charter school’s total enrollment may be assigned to micro schools. Permits charter schools to apply for a micro school program either in its initial charter application or by a submitting a revision to the school’s charter including the following information: (1) The number and grade level of students that will comprise a micro school, which may combine students of varying grade levels. (2) The method of instruction for the micro school which may be conducted in any one or combination of the following methods: (i) on the charter school campus. (ii) at a location other than the charter school campus; or (iii) through virtual instruction. (3) Any specialized curriculum or program to be provided to a micro school. (4) The process by which students may be assigned to or withdrawn from a micro school. Specifies that at a minimum, the process will include the following: (i) how a parent may request a student be assigned to a micro school; (ii) the criteria the school will use to determine whether the parent's request for assignment will be granted or denied; (iii) how the school will make a recommendation to a parent that the student be assigned to a micro school; (iv) how a parent may consent to or reject the school's recommendation that the student be assigned. Specifies that no student will be assigned to a micro school without parental consent. Specifies that students and teachers assigned to micro schools must comply with the charter school’s charter, except those in conflict with GS 115C-218.87. Makes conforming changes to GS 115C-84.3 (remote instruction) and GS 115C-218.1 (charter school applications). Requires the Board to adopt rules to delegate to the Office of Charter Schools (OCS) the authority to approve a revision of an existing school’s charter that establishes a micro school program.
Part IV
Amends GS 115C-218.45(f) (pertaining to enrollment priority for charter schools) by enacting two new subdivisions that add admissions preferences for graduates of certain pre-k programs and for military families as follows. Specifies charter schools may give enrollment preferences to any student who was enrolled for at least 75 consecutive days in the prior semester in a preschool program operated by an entity other than the charter school so long as the charter school has a written enrollment articulation agreement with the program operator to give the program’s students enrollment priority and such enrollments are limited to no more than 10% of the school’s total enrollment. Specifies that charter schools may give enrollment preference to a student whose parent or legal guardian is on active military duty.
Part V
Enacts new subsection GS 115C-218.45(b1) which prohibits a local board of education from discriminating against students applying for admission to any school or special program operated by the local board of education based on the fact that a student is currently attending, or has attended, a charter school.
Part VI
Enacts new GS 153A-461 which authorizes counties to provide funds to charter schools by direct appropriation for certain specified purposes and to lease real property to those schools. Amends GS 115C-218.105 to enact subsections (b1) and (b2) as follows. Subsection (b1) sets forth the following sole purposes for which counties may provide funds discussed above to charter schools: (1) the acquisition of real property for school purposes, including, but not limited to, school sites, playgrounds, and athletic fields; (2) the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, enlargement, renovation, or replacement of buildings and other structures, including, but not limited to, buildings for classrooms and laboratories, physical and vocational educational purposes, libraries, auditoriums, and gymnasiums; (3) the acquisition or replacement of furniture and furnishings, instructional apparatus, technology, data processing equipment, business machines, and similar items of furnishings and equipment. Subsection (b2) specifies promissory note and deed of trust requirements for when charter schools use funds for real property, including authority granted to the county to subordinate the deed to other liens. Provides for deed of release upon repayment by charter school.
Amends GS 115C-218.100(b) (pertaining to distribution of assets upon dissolution of a charter school) as follows. Exempts capital-sourced assets from those net assets of a charter school that is deemed to be the property of a local school administrative unit in the district where the school is located upon dissolution of the charter school. Specifies that capital-source assets include (1) capital funds provided to a charter school by one or more counties under new subsection GS115C-218.105(b1), discussed above and (2) net assets purchased or improved with such funds, up to the total amount of the funds provided. Specifies that capital-sourced assets are deemed the property of the county or counties providing the funding and, if applicable, divided between the counties in proportion to the funds provided.
Makes conforming changes to GS 153A-149 (county property taxes) to allow property taxes to be used for capital funds to charter schools.
Part VII
Enacts new GS 115C-218.107 pertaining to charter school funding comparability, setting forth the General Assembly’s intent that State and local funds for students attending charter schools is to be provided in a manner that results in per-pupil funding roughly equal to that provided to students attending other public school units. Amends GS 115C-218.105 (pertaining to state and local funds for a charter school) as follows. Changes the formula for the base amount that the Board must allocate to each charter school for students who are not disabled or who do not have limited English proficiency to be an amount equal to the average per pupil allocation for average daily membership from the local school administrative unit allotments in which the charter school is located based on the number of students actually enrolled in the school, up to the maximum authorized enrollment. (Currently, that formula is based on each child attending the charter school.) Specifies that the Board will allow for annual adjustments to the amount allocated to a charter school based on the number of students actually enrolled in the school, up to the maximum authorized enrollment. (Currently, the Board must allow for annual adjustments based on enrollment growth in school years following the school’s initial year of operation). Deletes provisions stipulating that if a local school unit is required to transfer funds to a charter school for a child attending that school, then any source of that funds that consists of revenue derived from supplemental taxes can only be transferred to a charter school located in the tax district for which those taxes are levied and where the student resides. Amends GS 115C-218.426(c) (pertaining to the uniform budget format) to narrow the scope of permitted uses for other funds to account for trust funds, federal grants restricted as to use, and special programs. (Currently, those funds may be used for reimbursements, including indirect costs, fees for actual costs, tuition, sales tax revenues distributed using the ad valorem method pursuant to state law (GS 105-472(b)(2)), sales tax refunds, gifts and grants restricted as to use, trust funds, federal appropriations made directly to local school administrative units, municipal appropriations made directly to local school administrative units under GS 160A-700 and funds received for prekindergarten programs.) Deletes language specifying that the appropriation or use of fund balance or interest income by a local school administrative unit is not construed as a local current expense appropriation included as a part of the local current expense fund.
Applies beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.