Relating to charter school requirements, including reporting requirements, governance standards, financial accountability, and oversight by the state board of education

The bill requires charter schools to annually report to the department of education the number of resident students who applied for admission and the number of resident students who were denied admission, including the reason for each denial. Current law requires charter schools to notify the public school district of residence not later than March of the school year preceding the school year of enrollment. The bill requires charter schools to also report to the department. The bill further requires the department to notify school districts of the amount of resident students enrolled in a charter school under Code chapter 256E prior to the beginning of the school year. The bill requires each charter school governing board to report to the department the amount of resident students who withdrew from the charter school and reentered a public school during the school year, indicating whether the student’s return to a public school was voluntary. The bill further requires the department to report such information to the affected school districts. The bill requires the governing board of a charter school to select and retain independent auditors and legal counsel, and prohibits a management entity from doing so. The bill requires that all members of the governing board of a charter school be residents of Iowa, at least percent of the membership be parents or legal guardians of students currently enrolled in the charter school, and at least one member of the governing board be a representative of the school district in which the charter school is physically located. The bill requires the representative to be a voting member of the governing board.35. The bill requires the state board of education to develop and implement oversight standards and procedures for charter schools that provide for regular monitoring, including periodic on-site visits, data validation, annual performance reports evaluating a charter school’s academic, financial, and operational performance, and differentiated oversight and monitoring based on a charter school’s performance, including enhanced monitoring for schools that fail to meet performance expectations or meet compliance standards. Such monitoring may include corrective action plans, probationary status, or nonrenewal of a charter school contract. The bill requires that the state board shall not approve a charter school application if doing so would result in more than one charter school per 10,000 students statewide in the grade level groupings of elementary, middle, or high school. The bill requires charter schools to include, in their annual report concerning financial performance, detailed information regarding the charter school’s revenues and expenditures, including salaries and benefits, management or administrative fees, contractual payments, and any profits, surpluses, or other financial benefits realized by a founding or managing entity, including an education management organization or charter management organization, as well as any related-party transactions. Pursuant to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act and 2013 Iowa Acts, chapter 121, section 73, the department is required to publish on its internet site an online tool showing how public schools performed on certain required measures. The department fulfills these requirements by publishing the Iowa school performance profiles annually. The bill provides that, for purposes of calculating the performance grade, a student dropping out of an accredited nonpublic school, a charter school established pursuant to Code chapter 256E, or a charter school or innovation zone school established pursuant to Code chapter 256F, will not adversely affect the performance grade of the student’s school district of residence.