Colorado § 22-30.5-105 - Charter schools - contract contents - regulations.

§ 22-30.5-105. Charter schools - contract contents - regulations.

(1) (a) An approved charter application shall serve as the basis for a contract between a charter school and the chartering local board of education.

(b) A local board of education may approve a charter school application submitted by a nonprofit entity and enter into a charter contract directly with the nonprofit entity to operate a charter school. A local board of education shall not approve a charter school application that is submitted by a for-profit entity or that identifies a for-profit entity as one of the charter applicants, and the local board of education shall not enter into a charter contract directly with a for-profit entity to operate a charter school.

(2) (a) The contract between a charter school and the chartering local board of education shall reflect all agreements regarding the release of the charter school from school district policies. Each charter school's contract shall include a statement specifying the manner in which the charter school shall comply with the intent of the state statutes, state board rules, and district rules that are waived for the charter school by application.

(b) Repealed.

(c) A contract between a charter school and the chartering local board of education approved on or after July 1, 2002, shall specify:

(I) If the contract is not a renewal of an expiring contract, the manner in which the school district governed by the local board of education will support any start-up facility needs of the charter school;

(II) The manner in which the school district governed by the local board of education will support any long-term facility needs of the charter school;

(III) The actions that the charter school must take in order to:

(A) Have its capital construction needs included as part of the next ballot question for approval of bonded indebtedness to be submitted by the local board of education of its chartering school district to the voters of the district; or

(B) Have the local board of education submit a ballot question for approval of a special mill levy to finance the capital construction needs of the charter school to the voters of the district pursuant to section 22-30.5-405;

(IV) The financial information, including but not limited to an annual governmental audit, the charter school must report to the chartering school district, the deadline for reporting such information to the chartering school district in order to enable the chartering school district to comply with the requirements specified in this title and in rules promulgated by the state board pertaining to reporting financial information to the department of education, and the circumstances under which the chartering school district may withhold a portion of the charter school's monthly payment as provided in section 22-30.5-112 (8) for failure to comply with financial reporting requirements specified in the contract; and

(V) Whether, and the circumstances under which, the local board of education delegates to the charter school the authority to impose a transportation fee on students who are enrolled in the charter school and, if so, the procedures for imposition of the fee.

(3) A contract between a charter school and the chartering local board of education shall reflect all requests for release of the charter school from state statutes and state board rules that are not automatic waivers and a list of the automatic waivers that the charter school is invoking. Within ten days after the contract is approved by the chartering local board of education, the chartering local board of education shall deliver to the state board any request for waiver of state statutes and state board rules that are not automatic waivers. The chartering local board of education shall request the release by submitting a complete copy of the signed charter contract. Within forty-five days after a request for release is received by the state board, the state board shall either grant or deny the request. If the state board grants the request, it may orally notify the chartering local board of education and the charter school of its decision. If the state board denies the request, it shall notify the chartering local board of education and the charter school in writing that the request is denied and specify the reasons for denial. If the chartering local board of education and the charter school do not receive notice of the state board's decision within forty-five days after submittal of the request for release, the request shall be deemed granted. If the state board denies a request for release that includes multiple state statutes or state board rules, the denial shall specify the state statutes and state board rules for which the release is denied, and the denial shall apply only to those state statutes and state board rules so specified.

(4) A material revision of the terms of a charter contract may be made only with the approval of the chartering local board of education and the governing body of the charter school.

(5) A term included in a charter contract that would require a charter school to waive or otherwise forgo receipt of any amount of additional mill levy revenue due to the charter school as provided in section 22-32-108.5 or any amount of operational or capital construction money provided to the charter school pursuant to the provisions of this article 30.5 or pursuant to any other provision of law is hereby declared null and void as against public policy and is unenforceable. In no event shall this subsection (5) be construed to prohibit a charter school from contracting with its chartering local board of education for the purchase of services, including but not limited to the purchase of educational services.

(6) A charter school that provides a half-day kindergarten educational program before the 2019-20 school year and chooses to expand the kindergarten educational program to a full day shall notify the chartering local board of education of the expansion of the kindergarten educational program and of the school year in which the anticipated program expansion takes effect. The charter school and the authorizing local board of education shall amend the charter contract as necessary to allow for the program expansion. If the local board objects to the program expansion, the local board shall provide to the charter school a written explanation of the grounds for its objection. If the charter school and the authorizing local board of education cannot agree on an amendment to the charter contract for the program expansion, the charter school may file a notice with the state board as provided in section 22-30.5-108 to appeal the decision of the local board concerning a unilateral imposition of conditions on the charter school. The state board shall decide the appeal in accordance with the provisions of section 22-30.5-108. Negotiations to amend the charter contract to allow the expansion of the kindergarten educational program shall not include negotiations regarding terms of the charter contract that are not directly impacted by the program expansion and shall not include reauthorization of the charter school.

Source: L. 93: Entire article added, p. 1054, § 1, effective June 3. L. 97: (1) amended, p. 400, § 2, effective August 6. L. 98: (3) amended, p. 1209, § 1, effective August 5. L. 2001: (2) amended, p. 337, § 3, effective April 16. L. 2002: (2)(c) and (5) added, pp. 1766, 1753, §§ 33, 30, effective June 7. L. 2004: Entire section amended, p. 1573, § 4, effective June 3. L. 2005: (2)(c)(III)(B) and (2)(c)(IV) amended and (2)(c)(V) added, p. 1507, § 2, effective June 9. L. 2007: (2)(b) repealed, p. 745, § 28, effective May 9. L. 2009: (5) amended, (SB 09-256), ch. 294, p. 1555, § 12, effective May 21. L. 2012: (1) amended, (SB 12-067), ch. 131, p. 451, § 3, effective August 8. L. 2014: (2)(a) and (3) amended, (HB 14-1292), ch. 243, p. 904, § 5, effective May 21. L. 2017: (5) amended, (HB 17-1375), ch. 287, p. 1591, § 2, effective June 2. L. 2019: (6) added, (HB 19-1262), ch. 245, p. 2399, § 8, effective May 21.

Cross references: For the short title ("Student Success Act") in HB 14-1292, see section 1 of chapter 243, Session Laws of Colorado 2014.

ANNOTATION

The general assembly did not intend approval of a charter application to establish a final contract between the local board and the charter school proponents, but rather intended the approval to be an interim step toward creation of that contract. A local board can comply with a state board order to approve a charter application and still expect resolution of its initial grounds for denial in a satisfactory final agreement. Bd. of Educ., Dist. No. 1 v. Booth, 984 P.2d 639 (Colo. 1999).

No requirement to provide any particular level or type of long-term facility support to a charter school at the expense of local control. Section requires only that the charter school contracts address the manner of support while retaining the ability of the district to negotiate what that support will be. Dolores Huerta Prep. High v. Colo. State Bd. of Educ., 215 P.3d 1229 (Colo. App. 2009).

The governing policy provisions of a charter contract are made up of the charter school application and all agreements and requests releasing the charter school from school district policies. Acad. of Charter Schs. v. Adams Cty. Sch. Dist. No. 12, 32 P.3d 456 (Colo. 2001).

The state board of education has complete statutory authority to settle any disputes arising from implementation of the governing policy provisions of the charter contract, and the governing policy provisions are not subject to judicial review. Acad. of Charter Schs. v. Adams Cty. Sch. Dist. No. 12, 32 P.3d 456 (Colo. 2001).

Contract requiring a pro-rata reduction of the district per pupil revenues funding to a school for a student transferring out may violate subsection (5) because it would include a reduction of capital construction funds and other funds covering direct and indirect costs incurred in the operation of the charter school and the education of its students, which are not enrollment sensitive. Ridgeview Classical Sch. v. Poudre Sch. Dist. R-1, 214 P.3d 476 (Colo. App. 2008).

In order for a contract for purchase of services from the school district to be valid, it must be at the discretion of the school, must be provided by the district at cost, and must be for a direct budgeted service of the school district, or a service, activity, or undertaking that the charter school is required or chooses to perform in order to carry out the educational program described in the charter contract. Ridgeview Classical Sch. v. Poudre Sch. Dist. R-1, 214 P.3d 476 (Colo. App. 2008).

Applied in Acad. of Charter Schs. v. Adams Cty. Sch. Dist. No. 12, 994 P.2d 442 (Colo. App. 1999), aff'd in part, rev'd in part on other grounds, 32 P.3d 456 (Colo. 2001).