Bill Text: IA HF160 | 2019-2020 | 88th General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to approval of a charter school application by the boards of directors of a school district.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-02-14 - Subcommittee Meeting: 02/19/2019 12:30PM House Lounge. [HF160 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2019-HF160-Introduced.html
House File 160 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 160 BY SHIPLEY A BILL FOR An Act relating to approval of a charter school application by 1 the boards of directors of a school district. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 1295HH (6) 88 kh/jh
H.F. 160 Section 1. Section 256F.3, subsection 2, paragraph a, Code 1 2019, is amended to read as follows: 2 a. To receive approval by the state board under section 3 256F.5 to establish a charter school in accordance with this 4 chapter , the principal, teachers, or parents or guardians 5 of students at an existing public school shall submit an 6 application to the school board to convert an existing 7 attendance center to a charter school. An attendance center 8 shall not enter into a charter school contract with a school 9 district under this chapter unless the attendance center is 10 located within the school district. The application shall 11 demonstrate the support of at least fifty percent of the 12 teachers employed at the school on the date of the submission 13 of the application and fifty percent of the parents or 14 guardians voting whose children are enrolled at the school, 15 provided that a majority of the parents or guardians eligible 16 to vote participate in the ballot process, according to 17 procedures established by rules of the state board. 18 Sec. 2. Section 256F.3, subsections 4 and 5, Code 2019, are 19 amended to read as follows: 20 4. A school board shall by a majority vote approve or deny 21 an application relating to establish a charter school , if the 22 application meets the requirements of subsection 2, paragraph 23 “a” , no later than sixty calendar days after the application 24 is received. An application approved by a school board and 25 subsequently approved by the state board pursuant to subsection 26 6 shall constitute, at a minimum, an agreement between the 27 school board and the charter school for the operation of the 28 charter school. A school board that denies an application for 29 a conversion to a charter school shall provide notice of denial 30 to the applicant in writing within thirty days after board 31 action. The notice shall specify the exact reasons for denial 32 and provide documentation supporting those reasons. 33 5. An applicant may appeal the failure of a school 34 board denial of to submit the applicant’s charter school 35 -1- LSB 1295HH (6) 88 kh/jh 1/ 2
H.F. 160 application to the state board in accordance with the as 1 provided in subsection 4 by utilizing the procedures set 2 forth in chapter 290 . The state board shall affirm, modify, 3 or reverse the school board’s decision on the basis of the 4 information provided in the application indicating the ability 5 and willingness of the proposed charter school to meet the 6 requirements of section 256F.1, subsection 3 2 , and section 7 256F.4 paragraph “a” . 8 EXPLANATION 9 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 10 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 11 This bill eliminates a school district’s authority to 12 deny an application to convert an existing school district 13 attendance center to a charter school but requires instead 14 that the school board review and submit to the state board of 15 education an application that meets current Code requirements, 16 and allows the applicant to appeal to the state board a school 17 board’s failure to submit the application to the state board. 18 The bill makes corresponding changes. 19 Current Code provisions requiring that the application be 20 submitted by the principal, teachers, or parents or guardians 21 of students at an existing public school attendance center 22 located within the school district; that the application 23 demonstrate the support of at least 50 percent of the teachers 24 and 50 percent of the parents or guardians voting whose 25 children are enrolled at the school; and that authorize the 26 state board of education to approve or deny such application, 27 remain unchanged by the bill. 28 -2- LSB 1295HH (6) 88 kh/jh 2/ 2
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