Colorado § 22-30.5-107 - Charter application - process.

§ 22-30.5-107. Charter application - process.

(1) (a) A charter applicant cannot apply to, or enter into a charter contract with, a school district unless a majority of the proposed charter school's pupils, other than online pupils, will reside in the chartering school district or in school districts contiguous thereto.

(b) The local board of education shall receive and review all applications for charter schools. If the local board of education does not review a charter application, that charter application is denied. For applications beginning in 2025, a charter applicant must file its application with the local board of education during the period beginning February 1 and ending April 1, eighteen months before the charter school is set to open. An application is considered filed when the school district administration receives the charter application from the charter applicant either in hard copy or electronically. Prior to any change in the application deadline, the local board of education shall notify the department and each charter school applicant in the district of the proposed change by certified letter. The local board of education shall not charge any application fees.

(c) Within fifteen days after receiving a charter school application, the school district shall determine whether the application contains the minimum components specified in section 22-30.5-106 (1) and is therefore complete. If the application is not complete, the school district shall notify the charter applicant within the fifteen-day period and provide a list of the information required to complete the charter application. The charter applicant has fifteen days after the date it receives the notice to provide the required information to the local board of education for review. The local board of education is not required to take action on the charter application if the charter applicant does not provide the required information within the fifteen-day period. The school district may request additional information during the review period and provide reasonable time for the charter applicant to respond. The school district may, but is not required to, accept any additional information the charter applicant provides that the school district does not request. The district accountability committee shall review the complete charter school application at least fifteen days, if possible, before the local board of education takes action on the application.

(d) Any date in this subsection (1) that falls on a weekend, a legal holiday, or a day school is not in session is extended to the next school day.

(1.5) For purposes of reviewing a charter school application, a district accountability committee shall include at least:

(a) One person with a demonstrated knowledge of charter schools, regardless of whether that person resides within the school district; and

(b) One parent or legal guardian of a child enrolled in a charter school in the school district; except that, if there are no charter schools in the school district, the local board of education shall appoint a parent or legal guardian of a child enrolled in the school district.

(2) After giving reasonable public notice, the local board of education shall hold community meetings in the affected areas or the entire school district to obtain information to assist the local board of education in its decision to approve a charter school application. The local board of education shall rule by resolution on the application for a charter school in a public hearing, upon reasonable public notice, no later than June 30. A charter school shall use the school and fiscal year, July 1 to June 30, following the submission of its charter application as a planning year, during which the charter school shall prepare for serving students the next school year. All negotiations between the charter school and the local board of education on the contract shall be concluded by, and all terms of the contract agreed upon, no later than ninety days after the local board of education rules by resolution on the application for a charter school or September 30, whichever date is later.

(2.5) The charter applicant and the local board of education may jointly waive or extend the timelines set forth in this section. As specified in section 22-2-117, the local board of education may apply to the state board of education for a modification or waiver of the timelines set forth in this section. If the state board of education approves the waiver, the local board of education must publish notice of the waiver on the local board of education's website within thirty days after the approval. The new timeline only applies to the applications submitted following the date of the public posting of the waiver.

(3) If a local board of education denies a charter school application, does not review a charter school application, or unilaterally imposes conditions that are unacceptable to the charter applicant, the charter applicant may appeal the decision to the state board pursuant to section 22-30.5-108.

(3.5) Nothing in this part 1 shall prohibit a school district from adopting one or more policies that encourage charter applicants to address specified school district needs.

(4) If a local board of education denies or does not review a charter school application, it shall state its reasons for the denial or refusal to review. Within fifteen days after denying or refusing to review a charter school application, the local board of education shall notify the department of the denial or refusal and the reasons therefor. If a local board of education approves a charter application, it shall send a copy of the approved charter application to the department within fifteen days after approving the charter application.

(5) A school district may unilaterally impose conditions on a charter applicant or on a charter school only through adoption of a resolution of the local board of education of the school district. If a local board adopts a resolution unilaterally imposing conditions on a charter applicant or on a charter school, the resolution shall, at a minimum, state the school district's reasons for imposing the conditions unilaterally, despite the objections of the charter applicant or the charter school. The charter applicant or charter school may appeal the decision of the local board of education to unilaterally impose the conditions by filing the notice of appeal with the state board within thirty days after adoption of the resolution, as provided in section 22-30.5-108 (2)(a).

Source: L. 93: Entire article added, p. 1055, § 1, effective June 3. L. 96: Entire section amended, p. 753, § 5, effective May 22. L. 97: (1) amended, p. 586, § 16, effective April 30. L. 99: (1.5) added and (2) amended, p. 1209, § 2, effective August 4. L. 2002: (1) amended, p. 1749, § 23, effective June 7; entire section amended, p. 187, § 1, effective July 1, 2003. L. 2004: Entire section amended, p. 1576, § 6, effective June 3. L. 2012: (1) and (2) amended, (SB 12-061), ch. 109, p. 375, § 3, effective April 13. L. 2023: (1)(b), (2), and (2.5) amended and (1)(d) added, (HB 23-1025), ch. 110, p. 393, § 1, effective August 7.

Editor's note: Amendments to subsection (1) by Senate Bill 02-051 and House Bill 02-1349 were harmonized.

ANNOTATION

Applied in Acad. of Charter Schs. v. Adams Cty. Sch. Dist. No. 12, 32 P.3d 456 (Colo. 2001).