Colorado § 22-30.5-104.7 - Charter school networks - authority - definitions.

§ 22-30.5-104.7. Charter school networks - authority - definitions.

(1) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires, "charter school network" means a charter school pursuant to this part 1, an institute charter school pursuant to part 5 of this article, or a charter school authorized by the Colorado school for the deaf and the blind, any of which subsequently organizes an additional school or schools pursuant to the same statutory authority. A charter school network is responsible for governance, oversight, and monitoring of compliance and performance for each school, as required by the charter contract or contracts and by applicable state or federal laws.

(2) Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary, a charter school network:

(a) May hold one or more charter contracts through one or more authorizers for purposes of operating more than one school;

(b) May be governed by a single governing body;

(c) May use one or more charter contracts if the charter school network operates more than one school through the same authorizer; except that, if more than one school holding a distinct school code assigned by the department operates under the same contract, the authorizer is:

(I) Obligated to separately accredit each school; and

(II) Legally empowered to not renew, revoke, or otherwise take action with respect to each school without being obligated to take action toward another school operated by the charter school network;

(d) Is authorized to make necessary and appropriate expenditures from any lawful source for central office purposes and to allocate funds among the schools that it operates, as permitted by law and consistent with the terms of the charter contract. A charter school network:

(I) Shall not spend additional local revenues authorized pursuant to sections 22-54-107.5, 22-54-108, and 22-54-108.5 or proceeds from bonded indebtedness incurred pursuant to article 42 of this title that are allocated for a school authorized by one authorizer to support a school authorized by a different authorizer;

(II) Shall account for all additional local revenues authorized pursuant to sections 22-54-107.5, 22-54-108, and 22-54-108.5 or proceeds from bonded indebtedness incurred pursuant to article 42 of this title and their expenditure and shall report the expenditures separately, as needed, to demonstrate that the funds have been expended appropriately;

(III) Commencing July 1, 2015, comply with section 22-44-304 (1)(d) in reporting expenditures at the local education provider and school-site level.

(3) Nothing in this section affects the process for granting or denying a request for a separate or new school code to any one school within a charter school network.

(4) Nothing in this section allows a charter school network to open a school without authorizer consent as part of the application process pursuant to section 22-30.5-107, 22-30.5-510, or 22-80-102 (4)(b).

(5) The authorizer of a school that is part of a charter school network shall collect, analyze, and report data from state assessments in accordance with statute, state board rules, and school district or state charter school institute performance frameworks for each school operated by the charter school network. The charter school network shall report the performance of each school as a separate school, and each school must be held independently accountable for its performance.

(6) Each charter school network shall comply with the audit requirements imposed on charter schools as follows:

(a) The charter school network shall be audited as an organization, treating the charter school network as a single legal entity; except that the authorizing school district for a charter school that is included in the network may request and the network shall provide an audit of the school district's charter school;

(b) The charter school network shall report as supplementary information in its audited financial statements a balance sheet and statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balances using the modified accrual basis of accounting for each charter school campus that has a separate school code within the charter school network; and

(c) The audit must address compliance with paragraph (d) of subsection (2) of this section.

Source: L. 2015: Entire section added, (HB 15-1184), ch. 80, p. 230, § 1, effective August 5. L. 2016: (6) added, (HB 16-1422), ch. 351, p. 1433, § 10, effective June 10.