160.1596 Board of directors of public charter schools -- Required elements of
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/ky/160-1596A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
charter contract with authorizer -- Calculation of daily average attendance --
Proportional transfer of funds -- Services -- Negotiation by collaborative --
Calculations for first year -- Authorizer fee -- Schedule for funds transfer --
Grants -- Share of state and federal funds -- Distribution of closed school's
assets -- Administrative regulations -- Annual report by authorizer.
(a)For purposes of this section, a member of the board of directors of a public
charter school shall be considered an officer under KRS 61.040 and shall,
within sixty
(60)days of final approval of an application, take an oath of
office as required under KRS 62.010.
(b)Within seventy-five
(75)days of the final approval of an application, the
board of directors and the authorizer shall enter into a binding charter contract
that establishes the academic and operational performance expectations and
measures by which the public charter school will be evaluated.
(c)The executed charter contract shall become the final authorization for the
public charter school. The charter contract shall include:
1. The term of the contract;
2. The agreements relating to each item required under KRS 160.1592(3)
and 160.1593(3), as modified or supplemented during the approval
process;
3. The rights and duties of each party;
4. The administrative relationship between the authorizer and the public
charter school;
5. The allocation of state, local, and federal funds, and the schedule to
disburse funds to the public charter school by the authorizer;
6. The process the authorizer will use to provide ongoing oversight,
including a process to conduct annual site visits;
7. The specific commitments of the public charter school authorizer
relating to its obligations to oversee, monitor the progress of, and
supervise the public charter school;
8. The process and criteria the authorizer will use to annually monitor and
evaluate the overall academic, operating, and fiscal conditions of the
public charter school, including the process the authorizer will use to
oversee the correction of any deficiencies found in the annual review;
9. The process for revision or amendment to the terms of the charter
contract agreed to by the authorizer and the board of directors of the
public charter school;
10. The process agreed to by the authorizer and the board of directors of the
public charter school that identifies how disputes between the authorizer
and the board will be handled; and
11. Any other terms and conditions agreed to by the authorizer and the board
of directors, including pre-opening conditions. Reasonable conditions
shall not include enrollment caps or operational requirements that place
undue constraints on a public charter school or are contradictory to the
provisions of KRS 160.1590 to 160.1599 and 161.141. Such conditions,
even when incorporated in a charter contract, shall be considered
unilaterally imposed conditions.
(d)1. The performance provisions within a charter contract shall be based on a
performance framework that sets forth the academic and operational
performance indicators, measures, and metrics to be used by the
authorizer to evaluate each public charter school. The performance
framework shall include at a minimum indicators, measures, and metrics
for:
a. Student academic proficiency;
b. Student academic growth;
c. Achievement gaps in both student proficiency and student growth
for student subgroups, including race, sex, socioeconomic status,
and areas of exceptionality;
d. Student attendance;
e. Student suspensions;
f. Student withdrawals;
g. Student exits;
h. Recurrent enrollment from year to year;
i. College or career readiness at the end of grade twelve (12);
j. Financial performance and sustainability; and
k. Board of directors' performance and stewardship, including
compliance with all applicable statutes, administrative regulations,
and terms of the charter contract.
2. The performance framework shall allow the inclusion of additional
rigorous, valid, and reliable indicators proposed by a public charter
school to augment external evaluations of its performance. The proposed
indicators shall be consistent with the purposes of KRS 160.1590 to
160.1599 and 161.141 and shall be negotiated with the authorizer.
3. The performance framework shall require the disaggregation of student
performance data by subgroups, including race, sex, socioeconomic
status, and areas of exceptionality.
4. The authorizer shall be responsible for collecting, analyzing, and
reporting to the state board all state-required assessment and
achievement data for each public charter school it oversees.
(e)Annual student achievement performance targets shall be set, in accordance
with the state accountability system, by each public charter school in
conjunction with its authorizer, and those measures shall be designed to help
each school meet applicable federal, state, and authorizer goals.
(f)The charter contract shall be signed by the chair of the governing board of the
authorizer and the chair of the board of directors of the public charter school.
An approved charter application shall serve as a charter contract for the public
charter school.
(g)No public charter school may commence operations without a charter contract
executed according to this section and approved in an open meeting of the
governing board of the authorizer.
(2)Within five
(5)days after entering into a charter contract, a copy of the executed
contract shall be submitted by the authorizer to the commissioner of education.
(3)For the purposes of local and state funding, a public charter school shall serve as a
school of the district of location.
(4)For the purposes of federal funding, a public charter school shall serve as a local
education agency.
(5)All students enrolled in a public charter school shall be included in the average
daily attendance calculation under KRS 157.360 and the aggregate and average
daily attendance of transported pupils calculation under KRS 157.370 of the district
of location in the same manner as any other public schools in the district and shall
be reported by the public charter schools to the school district and state Department
of Education for purposes of calculating the state and local share of funding for
each public charter school.
(6)Notwithstanding the formula for allocating district funds under KRS 160.345(8) and
any other statute governing a district's funding of schools, unless an authorizing
district agrees to provide a larger sum of funding in the charter contract, after local
capital outlay funds that are restricted in use pursuant to KRS 157.420(4) and funds
under KRS 157.440(1)(b) and 157.621 necessary to meet debt service obligations
on bonds or other financing mechanisms for new construction and renovation
projects for school facilities are excluded, and before any other funds are budgeted
for district use, a district shall transfer to each of the public charter schools located
within the district:
(a)The amount that is proportional to the public charter school's enrollment or
average daily attendance in comparison with the overall district qualifying
numbers for:
1. Funds that are related to students' attendance and enrollment and
allocated to the district of location pursuant to KRS 157.360;
2. Any add-on or funding factors provided for in the state budget;
3. Any add-on or funding factors provided for by the Kentucky Department
of Education; and
4. Funds pursuant to KRS 157.360(2)(a) and
(b)and (13)(a).
For each funding source identified in this paragraph, the transfer amount shall
be based on the public charter school's qualifying student enrollment or
average daily attendance, depending on the method used in the funding
source's calculation;
(b)On a proportionate per pupil basis:
1. Education funds allocated to the school district pursuant to KRS
157.440(1)(a) and (2)(a), or pursuant to any applicable federal statute;
and
2. All taxes and payments in lieu of taxes transferred to the district of
location or levied and collected by the district of location; and
(c)On a proportionate per pupil transported basis, transportation funds calculated
pursuant to KRS 157.360(2)(c) and 157.370 and distributed to the district of
location, unless the school district provides transportation to students
attending the public charter school under written terms agreed upon by the
district and the public charter school in either the charter contract or, if the
district is not the public charter school's authorizer, a separate agreement.
(a)If transportation funds are transferred under this section to a public charter
school, then the public charter school receiving those funds shall provide
transportation services to the enrolled students residing within the district of
location.
(b)If funds designated for providing additional services to specific students are
transferred under this section, then the public charter school receiving those
funds shall provide those services in the same manner as the district of
location.
(c)If transportation services are not provided by the public charter school and no
written agreement to provide transportation services with the district of
location exists, then no transportation funds shall be transferred and the
district of location shall not be responsible for providing transportation to the
public charter school's students.
(8)Notwithstanding the identification of funds to be transferred in this section, a
collaborative among local school boards authorizing a public charter school may
negotiate among the local boards and a charter applicant to identify the amount of
funds to be transferred to the public charter school. The agreement shall be detailed
in the charter contract.
(a)For the calculation of amounts under subsections
(6)and
(7)of this section
during the first school year of operation of a public charter school in a school
district, beginning with the start of instruction:
1. The public charter school's average daily attendance shall be calculated
based on a projection of the public charter school's enrollment and the
district's overall average daily attendance;
2. The public charter school's aggregate daily attendance of students
transported shall be calculated based on a projection of the public
charter school's enrollment and transportation plan and the district's
overall aggregate daily attendance of students transported; and
3. The amounts attributable to each individual student's attendance at the
public charter school shall be calculated based on a projection of the
public charter school's enrollment and demographics and the district's
overall enrollment and demographics.
(b)The calculations shall be adjusted in January of the first school year of
operation to reflect the first semester's actual data. Subsequent years of
operation shall be calculated using actual data from the prior school year.
(a)Funds identified for transfer under this section shall be transferred by a district
of location to each of the public charter schools located within the district.
However, up to three percent (3%) of the funds identified under this section
for transfer to a public charter school may be retained by an authorizer as an
authorizer fee.
(b)If the authorizer of a public charter school does not include the local board of
education of the district of location, then the district of location shall transfer
the authorizer fee to the public charter school's authorizer.
(c)If the Kentucky Board of Education requires the authorization of a public
charter school on appeal from an authorizer, the board shall receive twenty-
five percent (25%) of the authorizing fee for the duration of joint oversight
required by KRS 160.1595.
(11)Funds identified for transfer by a district of location to a public charter school under
this section shall be transferred throughout the school year according to a schedule
determined by the state board. The scheduled dates shall be within thirty
(30)days
of the dates of state disbursement of funds to school districts. Failure to transfer
required funds shall, for every five
(5)days late, result in a fine to the violator of not
less than five percent (5%) of the total funds per funding period to be transferred.
Fines imposed shall be transferred to the public charter school affected by the delay.
(12)A public charter school shall be eligible for federal and state competitive grants and
shall not be excluded from an opportunity to apply or participate so long as the
public charter school meets the criteria established for the respective grants. Each
public charter school that receives grant aid shall comply with all requirements to
receive such aid.
(13)A public charter school shall receive a proportionate per pupil share of any state
moneys not otherwise identified in this section that is received by the school district
of location. The public charter school shall also receive, according to federal law,
moneys generated under federal categorical aid programs for students that are
eligible for the aid and attending the public charter school. Each public charter
school that receives such aid shall comply with all requirements to receive such aid.
(14)The commissioner of education shall apply for all federal funding that supports
charter school initiatives for which a state must be the applicant and shall cooperate
with any public charter school in its efforts to seek federal funding.
(15)If a public charter school closes for any reason, the assets of the school shall be
distributed first to satisfy outstanding payroll obligations for employees of the
school, then to the creditors of the school, then to the district of location or
authorizing districts if authorized by a collaborative of local boards of education. If
the assets are insufficient to satisfy outstanding obligations, the authorizer shall
petition to Circuit Court of the county in which the public charter school is located
to prioritize the distribution of assets.
(16)The state board shall promulgate administrative regulations to:
(a)Establish the process to be used to evaluate the performance of a charter
school authorizer, based upon the requirements of KRS 160.1590 to 160.1599
and 161.141, and the actions to be taken in response to failures in
performance; and
(b)Govern the calculation and distribution of funds due to public charter schools
from school districts, the schedule of distribution of funds, and the imposition
of fines for late distribution of funds.
(17)By August 31, 2023, and annually thereafter, each public charter school authorizer
shall submit to the commissioner of education, the secretary of the Education and
Labor Cabinet, and the Interim Joint Committee on Education a report to include:
(a)The names of each public charter school operating under contract with the
authorizer during the previous academic year that:
1. Closed during or after the academic year; or
2. Had the contract nonrenewed or revoked;
(b)The names of each public charter school operating under contract with the
authorizer during the previous academic year that have not yet begun to
operate;
(c)The number of applications received, the number reviewed, and the number
approved;
(d)A summary of the academic and financial performance of each public charter
school operated under contract with the authorizer during the previous
academic year; and
(e)The authorizing duties and functions performed by the authorizer during the
previous academic year.