§302A-1182 New century charter schools; establishment. (a) Up to a total of twenty-five schools may be established as new century charter schools. These new century charter schools may be established by:

(1) The creation of a new school pursuant to subsection (c);

(2) An existing public school pursuant to subsection (b); or

(3) The creation of a new school, comprising programs or sections of existing public school populations and using existing public school facilities pursuant to subsection (c).

(b) Any public school or schools may submit a letter of intent to the board to form a new century charter school, establish a local school board as its governing body, and develop a detailed implementation plan pursuant to subsection (d); provided that:

(1) The local school board as its governing body shall be composed of, at a minimum, one representative from each of the following participant groups:

(A) Principals;

(B) Instructional staff members selected by the school instructional staff;

(D) Parents of students attending the school selected by the parents of the school;

(E) Student body representatives selected by the students of the school; and

(F) The community at-large; and

(2) The detailed implementation plan shall be approved by sixty per cent of the school's existing administrative, support, and teaching personnel, and parents; provided that the school personnel may request their bargaining unit representative to certify and conduct the elections for their respective bargaining units.

(c) As an alternative to subsection (b), any community, group of teachers, group of teachers and administrators, entity recognized as a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or any program within an existing school may submit a letter of intent to the board to form a new century charter school, establish a local school board as its governing body, and develop a detailed implementation plan pursuant to subsection (d).

(d) The local school board shall, with the support and guidance of the superintendent, formulate and develop a detailed implementation plan that meets the requirements of this subsection and of section 302A-1184. The plan shall include but not be limited to the following:

(1) A description of employee rights and management issues and a framework for addressing those issues that protect the rights of employees;

(2) A plan for identifying, recruiting, and selecting students that is not exclusive, elitist, or segregationist;

(3) The curriculum and instructional framework to be used to achieve student outcomes, including an assessment plan;

(4) A comprehensive plan for the assessment of student, administrative support, and teaching personnel performance, that:

(A) Recognizes the interests of the general public;

(B) Incorporates or exceeds state educational content and performance standards;

(C) Includes a system of faculty and staff accountability that holds faculty and staff both individually and collectively accountable for their performance, and that is at least equivalent to the average system of accountability in public schools throughout the State; and

(D) Provides for program audits and annual financial audits.

(5) The governance structure of the school;

(6) A plan for any necessary design, construction, renovation, and management of facilities that is consistent with the state facilities plan; provided that if the facilities management plan includes use of existing school facilities, the new century charter school shall receive authorization from the administrator responsible for the facilities; provided further that the final determination of use shall fall within the board's discretion.

(e) The detailed implementation plan shall be submitted to the new century charter school review panel, which shall be composed of seven members as follows:

(1) Four of the members shall be board of education members or their designees appointed by the chairperson of the board of education;

(2) Two of the members shall be members of the new century charter school community approved by the chairperson of the board of education from a list submitted by existing new century charter schools; and

(3) One member shall be the superintendent of education or the superintendent's designee.

Panel review procedures shall be as provided in this section. The board may adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 to further guide the panel's review process.

(f) The new century charter school review panel shall have sixty working days to review the completed implementation plan for a proposed new century charter school to ensure that it meets the requirements of subsection (d) and section 302A-1184. Within forty-five working days, the panel shall issue a report of its preliminary findings to the board of education and the local school board. If the panel subsequently determines that the implementation plan:

(1) Meets the requirements of subsection (d) and section 302A-1184, the panel shall by the sixtieth working day submit a recommendation to the board of education to issue a charter to the proposed new century charter school. Upon receipt of the panel's recommendation, the board shall issue a charter, and the implementation plan shall be converted to a written performance contract between the school and the board; or

(2) Fails to meet the requirements of subsection (d) or section 302A-1184, the panel:

(A) Shall notify the local school board of the finding in writing to enable the local school board to appropriately amend the plan to resolve the conflict; and

(B) May submit a recommendation to the board to issue a provisional approval for a charter if the panel determines that the applicant may reasonably be expected to expeditiously resolve any remaining conflict or conflicts impeding the issuance of a charter. The provisional approval shall be effective for one year. The board may extend the provisional approval beyond a period of one year. If a charter is subsequently issued, the amended implementation plan shall be converted to a written performance contract between the school and the board.

(g) An amended implementation plan shall be submitted within thirty working days of notification pursuant to subsection (f)(2)(A). The board shall deny the issuance of a charter if the local school board does not submit an amended implementation plan within the thirty working day period. The panel shall have thirty working days to review the amended implementation plan. If the amended implementation plan:

(1) Meets the requirements of subsection (d) and section 302A-1184, the panel shall by the thirtieth working day submit a recommendation to the board of education to issue a charter to the proposed new century charter school. If a charter is issued, the amended implementation plan shall be converted to a written performance contract between the school and the board; or

(2) Fails to resolve any conflicts to the panel's satisfaction or involves new and different issues of conflict with subsection (d) or section 302A-1184, the panel shall deny issuance of a charter.

(h) A local school board may file an appeal of the denial of an application for a charter with the panel. Upon filing an appeal, the panel shall forward the implementation plan and appropriate documentation of the appeal to the board of education. Within thirty working days, the board of education shall issue a report of its findings and final determination to the local school board. If the implementation plan is approved, the board of education shall issue a charter and the implementation plan shall be converted to a written performance contract between the school and the board of education.

(i) The new century charter schools shall not charge tuition. The State shall afford the local school board of any new century charter school the same protections as the State affords to the board. [L 1999, c 62, pt of §2; am L 2000, c 187, §3; am L 2001, c 209, §1]