Bill Text: NJ S1721 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides local board of education with approval authority of charter school application.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-02-28 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Education Committee [S1721 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-S1721-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator NIA H. GILL
District 34 (Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Provides local board of education with approval authority of charter school application.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the approval of a charter school application and amending P.L.1995, c.426.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 4 of P.L.1995, c.426 (C.18A:36A-4) is amended to read as follows:
4. a. A charter school may be established by teaching staff members, parents with children attending the schools of the district, or a combination of teaching staff members and parents. A charter school may also be established by an institution of higher education or a private entity located within the State in conjunction with teaching staff members and parents of children attending the schools of the district. If the charter school is established by a private entity, representatives of the private entity shall not constitute a majority of the trustees of the school, and the charter shall specify the extent to which the private entity shall be involved in the operation of the school. The name of the charter school shall not include the name or identification of the private entity, and the private entity shall not realize a net profit from its operation of a charter school.
b. A currently existing public school is eligible to become a charter school if the following criteria are met:
(1) At least 51% of the teaching staff in the school shall have signed a petition in support of the school becoming a charter school; and
(2) At least 51% of the parents or guardians of pupils attending that public school shall have signed a petition in support of the school becoming a charter school.
c. (1) An application to establish a charter school shall be submitted to the commissioner and the local board of education or State district superintendent, in the case of a school district under full State intervention, in the school year preceding the school year in which the charter school will be established. Notice of the filing of the application shall be sent immediately by the commissioner to the members of the State Legislature, school superintendents, and mayors and governing bodies of all legislative districts, school districts, or municipalities in which there are students who will be eligible for enrollment in the charter school. The board of education or State district superintendent shall review the application and forward a recommendation to the commissioner within 60 days of receipt of the application. [The commissioner shall have final authority to grant or reject a charter application.]
(2) The commissioner shall make a determination to grant or reject a charter application. If the commissioner makes a determination to grant a charter application, the local board of education shall vote to accept or to override the commissioner's determination by a majority vote of the board within 60 days of the commissioner's determination. The charter application shall be deemed approved upon the local board of education's acceptance of the commissioner's determination to grant a charter application, or it shall be deemed rejected upon the local board of education's override of the commissioner's determination. The local board of education shall not have the authority to override the commissioner's determination to reject a charter application.
In the event that a subset of local boards of education of school districts included in the region of residence of a proposed charter school does not accept the commissioner's determination to grant a charter application, the charter school applicant may submit a revised application to the commissioner that does not include the school districts in which the commissioner's determination to grant the charter was overridden.
As used in this subsection, "region of residence" means the contiguous school districts in which a charter school proposes to operate in the application submitted to the commissioner.
d. [The local board of education or a] A charter school applicant may appeal the decision of the commissioner or the local board of education to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court.
e. A charter school established during the 48 months following the effective date of this act, other than a currently existing public school which becomes a charter school pursuant to the provisions of subsection b. of section 4 of this act, shall not have an enrollment in excess of 500 students or greater than 25% of the student body of the school district in which the charter school is established, whichever is less.
Any two charter schools within the same public school district that are not operating the same grade levels may petition the commissioner to amend their charters and consolidate into one school. The commissioner may approve an amendment to consolidate, provided that the basis for consolidation is to accommodate the transfer of students who would otherwise be subject to the random selection process pursuant to section 8 of P.L.1995, c.426 (C.18A:36A-8). (cf: P.L.2011, c.140, s.2)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that a local board of education will have the authority to either accept or overturn the Commissioner of Education's determination to approve a charter application. Under current law, a board of education may review a charter application and submit a recommendation to the commissioner; however, the commissioner has the final authority to grant or reject a charter application.
The bill stipulates that the board of education will vote to accept or reject the commissioner's determination to approve a charter application by a majority vote of the board within 60 days of the commissioner's action. However, the board of education cannot overturn the commissioner's determination to reject a charter school application. If the proposed charter school would serve a region of residence, and a subset of local boards of education vote to override the commissioner's determination to grant a charter, then the applicant may submit a revised application that omits the school districts in which the commissioner's determination to grant the charter was overridden.
Under current law, a charter school applicant may appeal the decision of the commissioner to reject a charter application to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court. The bill would allow a similar appeal if the charter application is rejected by action of the local board of education.
