§302A-1185 New century charter schools; funding. (a) New century charter schools shall receive an allocation of state general funds based upon the operational and educational funding requirements of the schools; provided that:
(1) Beginning in fiscal year 1999-2000, and every year thereafter, the auditor shall determine the appropriate allocation based on the total department general fund appropriation and per pupil expenditure for the previous year; provided that in setting the allocation, the auditor shall explicitly consider the advice of the superintendent and representatives of local school boards and indicate in the final determination the manner in which that advice was accommodated;
(2) Small schools with less than one hundred twenty students shall be given a state subsidy or small school allotment, as determined by the department, to augment the per pupil allocation given; provided that if additional federal grant moneys are received, the auditor shall determine the appropriate portion of the federal grant moneys to be used to offset the small school allotment; provided further that the federal grant moneys shall not include federal impact aid;
(3) The department may provide a limited start-up and planning grant formulated by the auditor to a charter school upon the issuance of its charter;
(4) The auditor shall take into consideration any changes to the department's budget made by the legislature or the governor and any applicable collective bargaining negotiated amounts;
(5) The allocation for self-contained special education students and for other special education students shall be adjusted appropriately to reflect the additional expenses incurred for students in these programs; provided that any increment to the per pupil allocation made in this paragraph shall not exceed the increment available to all other public schools; and
(6) The auditor shall develop a methodology for allocating funds that can be applied to alternative forms of public schools, including but not limited to new century charter schools.
(b) All federal and other financial support for new century charter schools shall be no less than all other public schools; provided that if administrative services are provided to the charter school by the department, the charter school shall reimburse the department for the actual costs of the administrative services in an amount that does not exceed six and one-half per cent of the charter school's allocation.
Any new century charter school shall be eligible to receive any supplementary financial grant or award for which any other public school may submit a proposal, or any supplemental federal grants limited to new century charter schools; provided that if department administrative services, including funds management, budgetary, fiscal accounting, or other related services, are provided with respect to these supplementary grants, the charter school shall reimburse the department for the actual costs of the administrative services in an amount that does not exceed six and one-half per cent of the supplementary grant for which the services are used.
All additional funds that are generated by the local school boards, not from a supplementary grant, shall be separate and apart from allotted funds and may be expended at the discretion of the local school boards.
(c) If, at any time, the new century charter school dissolves or is denied continuation, the State of Hawaii shall have first right, at no cost to the State, to all the assets and facilities of the new century charter school. [L 1999, c 62, pt of §2; am L 2000, c 187, §5]