Proposed charter, how submitted, requirements, submission to stateboard, powers and duties--approval, revocation,termination--definitions--lease of public school facilities,when--unlawful reprisal, defined, prohibited.
160.405. 1. A person, group or organization seeking to establish acharter school shall submit the proposed charter, as provided in thissection, to a sponsor. If the sponsor is not a school board, the applicantshall give a copy of its application to the school board of the district inwhich the charter school is to be located and to the state board ofeducation, within five business days of the date the application is filedwith the proposed sponsor. The school board may file objections with theproposed sponsor, and, if a charter is granted, the school board may fileobjections with the state board of education. The charter shall include amission statement for the charter school, a description of the charterschool's organizational structure and bylaws of the governing body, whichwill be responsible for the policy and operational decisions of the charterschool, a financial plan for the first three years of operation of thecharter school including provisions for annual audits, a description of thecharter school's policy for securing personnel services, its personnelpolicies, personnel qualifications, and professional development plan, adescription of the grades or ages of students being served, the school'scalendar of operation, which shall include at least the equivalent of afull school term as defined in section 160.011, and an outline of criteriaspecified in this section designed to measure the effectiveness of theschool. The charter shall also state:
(1) The educational goals and objectives to be achieved by thecharter school;
(2) A description of the charter school's educational program andcurriculum;
(3) The term of the charter, which shall be not less than five years,nor greater than ten years and shall be renewable;
(4) A description of the charter school's pupil performancestandards, which must meet the requirements of subdivision (6) ofsubsection 5 of this section. The charter school program must be designedto enable each pupil to achieve such standards;
(5) A description of the governance and operation of the charterschool, including the nature and extent of parental, professional educator,and community involvement in the governance and operation of the charterschool; and
(6) A description of the charter school's policies on studentdiscipline and student admission, which shall include a statement, whereapplicable, of the validity of attendance of students who do not reside inthe district but who may be eligible to attend under the terms of judicialsettlements.
2. Proposed charters shall be subject to the following requirements:
(1) A charter may be approved when the sponsor determines that therequirements of this section are met and determines that the applicant issufficiently qualified to operate a charter school. The sponsor's decisionof approval or denial shall be made within ninety days of the filing of theproposed charter;
(2) If the charter is denied, the proposed sponsor shall notify theapplicant in writing as to the reasons for its denial and forward a copy tothe state board of education within five business days following thedenial;
(3) If a proposed charter is denied by a sponsor, the proposedcharter may be submitted to the state board of education, along with thesponsor's written reasons for its denial. If the state board determinesthat the applicant meets the requirements of this section, that theapplicant is sufficiently qualified to operate the charter school, and thatgranting a charter to the applicant would be likely to provide educationalbenefit to the children of the district, the state board may grant acharter and act as sponsor of the charter school. The state board shallreview the proposed charter and make a determination of whether to deny orgrant the proposed charter within sixty days of receipt of the proposedcharter, provided that any charter to be considered by the state board ofeducation under this subdivision shall be submitted no later than Marchfirst prior to the school year in which the charter school intends to beginoperations. The state board of education shall notify the applicant inwriting as the reasons for its denial, if applicable; and
(4) The sponsor of a charter school shall give priority to charterschool applicants that propose a school oriented to high-risk students andto the reentry of dropouts into the school system. If a sponsor grantsthree or more charters, at least one-third of the charters granted by thesponsor shall be to schools that actively recruit dropouts or high-riskstudents as their student body and address the needs of dropouts orhigh-risk students through their proposed mission, curriculum, teachingmethods, and services. For purposes of this subsection, a "high-risk"student is one who is at least one year behind in satisfactory completionof course work or obtaining credits for graduation, pregnant or a parent,homeless or has been homeless sometime within the preceding six months, haslimited English proficiency, has been suspended from school three or moretimes, is eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch, or has beenreferred by the school district for enrollment in an alternative program."Dropout" shall be defined through the guidelines of the school core datareport. The provisions of this subsection do not apply to charterssponsored by the state board of education.
3. If a charter is approved by a sponsor, the charter applicationshall be submitted to the state board of education, along with a statementof finding that the application meets the requirements of sections 160.400to 160.420 and section 167.439, RSMo, and a monitoring plan under which thecharter sponsor will evaluate the academic performance of students enrolledin the charter school. The state board of education may, within sixtydays, disapprove the granting of the charter. The state board of educationmay disapprove a charter on grounds that the application fails to meet therequirements of sections 160.400 to 160.420 and section 167.349, RSMo, orthat a charter sponsor previously failed to meet the statutoryresponsibilities of a charter sponsor.
4. Any disapproval of a charter pursuant to subsection 3 of thissection shall be subject to judicial review pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo.
5. A charter school shall, as provided in its charter:
(1) Be nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employmentpractices, and all other operations;
(2) Comply with laws and regulations of the state, county, or cityrelating to health, safety, and state minimum educational standards, asspecified by the state board of education, including the requirementsrelating to student discipline under sections 160.261, 167.161, 167.164,and 167.171, RSMo, notification of criminal conduct to law enforcementauthorities under sections 167.115 to 167.117, RSMo, academic assessmentunder section 160.518, transmittal of school records under section 167.020,RSMo, and the minimum number of school days and hours required undersection 160.041;
(3) Except as provided in sections 160.400 to 160.420, be exempt fromall laws and rules relating to schools, governing boards and schooldistricts;
(4) Be financially accountable, use practices consistent with theMissouri financial accounting manual, provide for an annual audit by acertified public accountant, publish audit reports and annual financialreports as provided in chapter 165, RSMo, provided that the annualfinancial report may be published on the department of elementary andsecondary education's Internet web site in addition to other publishingrequirements, and provide liability insurance to indemnify the school, itsboard, staff and teachers against tort claims. A charter school thatreceives local educational agency status under subsection 6 of this sectionshall meet the requirements imposed by the Elementary and SecondaryEducation Act for audits of such agencies. For purposes of an audit bypetition under section 29.230, RSMo, a charter school shall be treated as apolitical subdivision on the same terms and conditions as the schooldistrict in which it is located. For the purposes of securing suchinsurance, a charter school shall be eligible for the Missouri publicentity risk management fund pursuant to section 537.700, RSMo. A charterschool that incurs debt must include a repayment plan in its financialplan;
(5) Provide a comprehensive program of instruction for at least onegrade or age group from kindergarten through grade twelve, which mayinclude early childhood education if funding for such programs isestablished by statute, as specified in its charter;
(6) (a) Design a method to measure pupil progress toward the pupilacademic standards adopted by the state board of education pursuant tosection 160.514, collect baseline data during at least the first threeyears for determining how the charter school is performing and to theextent applicable, participate in the statewide system of assessments,comprised of the essential skills tests and the nationally standardizednorm-referenced achievement tests, as designated by the state boardpursuant to section 160.518, complete and distribute an annual report cardas prescribed in section 160.522, which shall also include a statement thatbackground checks have been completed on the charter school's boardmembers, report to its sponsor, the local school district, and the stateboard of education as to its teaching methods and any educationalinnovations and the results thereof, and provide data required for thestudy of charter schools pursuant to subsection 4 of section 160.410. Nocharter school will be considered in the Missouri school improvementprogram review of the district in which it is located for the resource orprocess standards of the program.
(b) For proposed high risk or alternative charter schools, sponsorsshall approve performance measures based on mission, curriculum, teachingmethods, and services. Sponsors shall also approve comprehensive academicand behavioral measures to determine whether students are meetingperformance standards on a different time frame as specified in thatschool's charter. Student performance shall be assessed comprehensively todetermine whether a high risk or alternative charter school has documentedadequate student progress. Student performance shall be based onsponsor-approved comprehensive measures as well as standardized publicschool measures. Annual presentation of charter school report card data tothe department of elementary and secondary education, the state board, andthe public shall include comprehensive measures of student progress.
(c) Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as permitting acharter school to be held to lower performance standards than other publicschools within a district; however, the charter of a charter school maypermit students to meet performance standards on a different time frame asspecified in its charter;
(7) Assure that the needs of special education children are met incompliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations;
(8) Provide along with any request for review by the state board ofeducation the following:
(a) Documentation that the applicant has provided a copy of theapplication to the school board of the district in which the charter schoolis to be located, except in those circumstances where the school districtis the sponsor of the charter school; and
(b) A statement outlining the reasons for approval or disapproval bythe sponsor, specifically addressing the requirements of sections 160.400to 160.420 and 167.349, RSMo.
6. The charter of a charter school may be amended at the request ofthe governing body of the charter school and on the approval of thesponsor. The sponsor and the governing board and staff of the charterschool shall jointly review the school's performance, management andoperations at least once every two years or at any point where theoperation or management of the charter school is changed or transferred toanother entity, either public or private. The governing board of a charterschool may amend the charter, if the sponsor approves such amendment, orthe sponsor and the governing board may reach an agreement in writing toreflect the charter school's decision to become a local educational agencyfor the sole purpose of seeking direct access to federal grants. In suchcase the sponsor shall give the department of elementary and secondaryeducation written notice no later than March first of any year, with theagreement to become effective July first. The department may waive theMarch first notice date in its discretion. The department shall identifyand furnish a list of its regulations that pertain to local educationalagencies to such schools within thirty days of receiving such notice.
7. (1) A sponsor shall revoke a charter or take other appropriateremedial action, which may include placing the charter school onprobationary status, at any time if the charter school commits a seriousbreach of one or more provisions of its charter or on any of the followinggrounds: failure to meet academic performance standards as set forth inits charter, failure to meet generally accepted standards of fiscalmanagement, failure to provide information necessary to confirm compliancewith all provisions of the charter and sections 160.400 to 160.420 and167.349, RSMo, within forty-five days following receipt of written noticerequesting such information, or violation of law.
(2) The sponsor may place the charter school on probationary statusto allow the implementation of a remedial plan, which may require a changeof methodology, a change in leadership, or both, after which, if such planis unsuccessful, the charter may be revoked.
(3) At least sixty days before acting to revoke a charter, thesponsor shall notify the governing board of the charter school of theproposed action in writing. The notice shall state the grounds for theproposed action. The school's governing board may request in writing ahearing before the sponsor within two weeks of receiving the notice.
(4) The sponsor of a charter school shall establish procedures toconduct administrative hearings upon determination by the sponsor thatgrounds exist to revoke a charter. Final decisions of a sponsor fromhearings conducted pursuant to this subsection are subject to judicialreview pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo.
(5) A termination shall be effective only at the conclusion of theschool year, unless the sponsor determines that continued operation of theschool presents a clear and immediate threat to the health and safety ofthe children.
(6) A charter sponsor shall make available the school accountabilityreport card information as provided under section 160.522 and the resultsof the academic monitoring required under subsection 3 of this section.
8. A sponsor shall take all reasonable steps necessary to confirmthat each charter school sponsored by such sponsor is in materialcompliance and remains in material compliance with all material provisionsof the charter and sections 160.400 to 160.420 and 167.349, RSMo. Everycharter school shall provide all information necessary to confirm ongoingcompliance with all provisions of its charter and sections 160.400 to160.420 and 167.349, RSMo, in a timely manner to its sponsor.
9. A school district may enter into a lease with a charter school forphysical facilities.
10. A governing board or a school district employee who has controlover personnel actions shall not take unlawful reprisal against anotheremployee at the school district because the employee is directly orindirectly involved in an application to establish a charter school. Agoverning board or a school district employee shall not take unlawfulreprisal against an educational program of the school or the schooldistrict because an application to establish a charter school proposes theconversion of all or a portion of the educational program to a charterschool. As used in this subsection, "unlawful reprisal" means an actionthat is taken by a governing board or a school district employee as adirect result of a lawful application to establish a charter school andthat is adverse to another employee or an educational program.
11. Charter school board members shall be subject to the sameliability for acts while in office as if they were regularly and dulyelected members of school boards in any other public school district inthis state. The governing board of a charter school may participate, tothe same extent as a school board, in the Missouri public entity riskmanagement fund in the manner provided under sections 537.700 to 537.756,RSMo.
12. Any entity, either public or private, operating, administering,or otherwise managing a charter school shall be considered a quasi-publicgovernmental body and subject to the provisions of sections 610.010 to610.035, RSMo.
13. The chief financial officer of a charter school shall maintain:
(1) A surety bond in an amount determined by the sponsor to beadequate based on the cash flow of the school; or
(2) An insurance policy issued by an insurance company licensed to dobusiness in Missouri on all employees in the amount of five hundredthousand dollars or more that provides coverage in the event of employeetheft.
Proposed charter, how submitted, requirements, submission to stateboard, powers and duties--approval, revocation,termination--definitions--lease of public school facilities,when--unlawful reprisal, defined, prohibited.
160.405. 1. A person, group or organization seeking to establish acharter school shall submit the proposed charter, as provided in thissection, to a sponsor. If the sponsor is not a school board, the applicantshall give a copy of its application to the school board of the district inwhich the charter school is to be located and to the state board ofeducation, within five business days of the date the application is filedwith the proposed sponsor. The school board may file objections with theproposed sponsor, and, if a charter is granted, the school board may fileobjections with the state board of education. The charter shall include amission statement for the charter school, a description of the charterschool's organizational structure and bylaws of the governing body, whichwill be responsible for the policy and operational decisions of the charterschool, a financial plan for the first three years of operation of thecharter school including provisions for annual audits, a description of thecharter school's policy for securing personnel services, its personnelpolicies, personnel qualifications, and professional development plan, adescription of the grades or ages of students being served, the school'scalendar of operation, which shall include at least the equivalent of afull school term as defined in section 160.011, and an outline of criteriaspecified in this section designed to measure the effectiveness of theschool. The charter shall also state:
(1) The educational goals and objectives to be achieved by thecharter school;
(2) A description of the charter school's educational program andcurriculum;
(3) The term of the charter, which shall be not less than five years,nor greater than ten years and shall be renewable;
(4) A description of the charter school's pupil performancestandards, which must meet the requirements of subdivision (6) ofsubsection 5 of this section. The charter school program must be designedto enable each pupil to achieve such standards;
(5) A description of the governance and operation of the charterschool, including the nature and extent of parental, professional educator,and community involvement in the governance and operation of the charterschool; and
(6) A description of the charter school's policies on studentdiscipline and student admission, which shall include a statement, whereapplicable, of the validity of attendance of students who do not reside inthe district but who may be eligible to attend under the terms of judicialsettlements.
2. Proposed charters shall be subject to the following requirements:
(1) A charter may be approved when the sponsor determines that therequirements of this section are met and determines that the applicant issufficiently qualified to operate a charter school. The sponsor's decisionof approval or denial shall be made within ninety days of the filing of theproposed charter;
(2) If the charter is denied, the proposed sponsor shall notify theapplicant in writing as to the reasons for its denial and forward a copy tothe state board of education within five business days following thedenial;
(3) If a proposed charter is denied by a sponsor, the proposedcharter may be submitted to the state board of education, along with thesponsor's written reasons for its denial. If the state board determinesthat the applicant meets the requirements of this section, that theapplicant is sufficiently qualified to operate the charter school, and thatgranting a charter to the applicant would be likely to provide educationalbenefit to the children of the district, the state board may grant acharter and act as sponsor of the charter school. The state board shallreview the proposed charter and make a determination of whether to deny orgrant the proposed charter within sixty days of receipt of the proposedcharter, provided that any charter to be considered by the state board ofeducation under this subdivision shall be submitted no later than Marchfirst prior to the school year in which the charter school intends to beginoperations. The state board of education shall notify the applicant inwriting as the reasons for its denial, if applicable; and
(4) The sponsor of a charter school shall give priority to charterschool applicants that propose a school oriented to high-risk students andto the reentry of dropouts into the school system. If a sponsor grantsthree or more charters, at least one-third of the charters granted by thesponsor shall be to schools that actively recruit dropouts or high-riskstudents as their student body and address the needs of dropouts orhigh-risk students through their proposed mission, curriculum, teachingmethods, and services. For purposes of this subsection, a "high-risk"student is one who is at least one year behind in satisfactory completionof course work or obtaining credits for graduation, pregnant or a parent,homeless or has been homeless sometime within the preceding six months, haslimited English proficiency, has been suspended from school three or moretimes, is eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch, or has beenreferred by the school district for enrollment in an alternative program."Dropout" shall be defined through the guidelines of the school core datareport. The provisions of this subsection do not apply to charterssponsored by the state board of education.
3. If a charter is approved by a sponsor, the charter applicationshall be submitted to the state board of education, along with a statementof finding that the application meets the requirements of sections 160.400to 160.420 and section 167.439, RSMo, and a monitoring plan under which thecharter sponsor will evaluate the academic performance of students enrolledin the charter school. The state board of education may, within sixtydays, disapprove the granting of the charter. The state board of educationmay disapprove a charter on grounds that the application fails to meet therequirements of sections 160.400 to 160.420 and section 167.349, RSMo, orthat a charter sponsor previously failed to meet the statutoryresponsibilities of a charter sponsor.
4. Any disapproval of a charter pursuant to subsection 3 of thissection shall be subject to judicial review pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo.
5. A charter school shall, as provided in its charter:
(1) Be nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employmentpractices, and all other operations;
(2) Comply with laws and regulations of the state, county, or cityrelating to health, safety, and state minimum educational standards, asspecified by the state board of education, including the requirementsrelating to student discipline under sections 160.261, 167.161, 167.164,and 167.171, RSMo, notification of criminal conduct to law enforcementauthorities under sections 167.115 to 167.117, RSMo, academic assessmentunder section 160.518, transmittal of school records under section 167.020,RSMo, and the minimum number of school days and hours required undersection 160.041;
(3) Except as provided in sections 160.400 to 160.420, be exempt fromall laws and rules relating to schools, governing boards and schooldistricts;
(4) Be financially accountable, use practices consistent with theMissouri financial accounting manual, provide for an annual audit by acertified public accountant, publish audit reports and annual financialreports as provided in chapter 165, RSMo, provided that the annualfinancial report may be published on the department of elementary andsecondary education's Internet web site in addition to other publishingrequirements, and provide liability insurance to indemnify the school, itsboard, staff and teachers against tort claims. A charter school thatreceives local educational agency status under subsection 6 of this sectionshall meet the requirements imposed by the Elementary and SecondaryEducation Act for audits of such agencies. For purposes of an audit bypetition under section 29.230, RSMo, a charter school shall be treated as apolitical subdivision on the same terms and conditions as the schooldistrict in which it is located. For the purposes of securing suchinsurance, a charter school shall be eligible for the Missouri publicentity risk management fund pursuant to section 537.700, RSMo. A charterschool that incurs debt must include a repayment plan in its financialplan;
(5) Provide a comprehensive program of instruction for at least onegrade or age group from kindergarten through grade twelve, which mayinclude early childhood education if funding for such programs isestablished by statute, as specified in its charter;
(6) (a) Design a method to measure pupil progress toward the pupilacademic standards adopted by the state board of education pursuant tosection 160.514, collect baseline data during at least the first threeyears for determining how the charter school is performing and to theextent applicable, participate in the statewide system of assessments,comprised of the essential skills tests and the nationally standardizednorm-referenced achievement tests, as designated by the state boardpursuant to section 160.518, complete and distribute an annual report cardas prescribed in section 160.522, which shall also include a statement thatbackground checks have been completed on the charter school's boardmembers, report to its sponsor, the local school district, and the stateboard of education as to its teaching methods and any educationalinnovations and the results thereof, and provide data required for thestudy of charter schools pursuant to subsection 4 of section 160.410. Nocharter school will be considered in the Missouri school improvementprogram review of the district in which it is located for the resource orprocess standards of the program.
(b) For proposed high risk or alternative charter schools, sponsorsshall approve performance measures based on mission, curriculum, teachingmethods, and services. Sponsors shall also approve comprehensive academicand behavioral measures to determine whether students are meetingperformance standards on a different time frame as specified in thatschool's charter. Student performance shall be assessed comprehensively todetermine whether a high risk or alternative charter school has documentedadequate student progress. Student performance shall be based onsponsor-approved comprehensive measures as well as standardized publicschool measures. Annual presentation of charter school report card data tothe department of elementary and secondary education, the state board, andthe public shall include comprehensive measures of student progress.
(c) Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as permitting acharter school to be held to lower performance standards than other publicschools within a district; however, the charter of a charter school maypermit students to meet performance standards on a different time frame asspecified in its charter;
(7) Assure that the needs of special education children are met incompliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations;
(8) Provide along with any request for review by the state board ofeducation the following:
(a) Documentation that the applicant has provided a copy of theapplication to the school board of the district in which the charter schoolis to be located, except in those circumstances where the school districtis the sponsor of the charter school; and
(b) A statement outlining the reasons for approval or disapproval bythe sponsor, specifically addressing the requirements of sections 160.400to 160.420 and 167.349, RSMo.
6. The charter of a charter school may be amended at the request ofthe governing body of the charter school and on the approval of thesponsor. The sponsor and the governing board and staff of the charterschool shall jointly review the school's performance, management andoperations at least once every two years or at any point where theoperation or management of the charter school is changed or transferred toanother entity, either public or private. The governing board of a charterschool may amend the charter, if the sponsor approves such amendment, orthe sponsor and the governing board may reach an agreement in writing toreflect the charter school's decision to become a local educational agencyfor the sole purpose of seeking direct access to federal grants. In suchcase the sponsor shall give the department of elementary and secondaryeducation written notice no later than March first of any year, with theagreement to become effective July first. The department may waive theMarch first notice date in its discretion. The department shall identifyand furnish a list of its regulations that pertain to local educationalagencies to such schools within thirty days of receiving such notice.
7. (1) A sponsor shall revoke a charter or take other appropriateremedial action, which may include placing the charter school onprobationary status, at any time if the charter school commits a seriousbreach of one or more provisions of its charter or on any of the followinggrounds: failure to meet academic performance standards as set forth inits charter, failure to meet generally accepted standards of fiscalmanagement, failure to provide information necessary to confirm compliancewith all provisions of the charter and sections 160.400 to 160.420 and167.349, RSMo, within forty-five days following receipt of written noticerequesting such information, or violation of law.
(2) The sponsor may place the charter school on probationary statusto allow the implementation of a remedial plan, which may require a changeof methodology, a change in leadership, or both, after which, if such planis unsuccessful, the charter may be revoked.
(3) At least sixty days before acting to revoke a charter, thesponsor shall notify the governing board of the charter school of theproposed action in writing. The notice shall state the grounds for theproposed action. The school's governing board may request in writing ahearing before the sponsor within two weeks of receiving the notice.
(4) The sponsor of a charter school shall establish procedures toconduct administrative hearings upon determination by the sponsor thatgrounds exist to revoke a charter. Final decisions of a sponsor fromhearings conducted pursuant to this subsection are subject to judicialreview pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo.
(5) A termination shall be effective only at the conclusion of theschool year, unless the sponsor determines that continued operation of theschool presents a clear and immediate threat to the health and safety ofthe children.
(6) A charter sponsor shall make available the school accountabilityreport card information as provided under section 160.522 and the resultsof the academic monitoring required under subsection 3 of this section.
8. A sponsor shall take all reasonable steps necessary to confirmthat each charter school sponsored by such sponsor is in materialcompliance and remains in material compliance with all material provisionsof the charter and sections 160.400 to 160.420 and 167.349, RSMo. Everycharter school shall provide all information necessary to confirm ongoingcompliance with all provisions of its charter and sections 160.400 to160.420 and 167.349, RSMo, in a timely manner to its sponsor.
9. A school district may enter into a lease with a charter school forphysical facilities.
10. A governing board or a school district employee who has controlover personnel actions shall not take unlawful reprisal against anotheremployee at the school district because the employee is directly orindirectly involved in an application to establish a charter school. Agoverning board or a school district employee shall not take unlawfulreprisal against an educational program of the school or the schooldistrict because an application to establish a charter school proposes theconversion of all or a portion of the educational program to a charterschool. As used in this subsection, "unlawful reprisal" means an actionthat is taken by a governing board or a school district employee as adirect result of a lawful application to establish a charter school andthat is adverse to another employee or an educational program.
11. Charter school board members shall be subject to the sameliability for acts while in office as if they were regularly and dulyelected members of school boards in any other public school district inthis state. The governing board of a charter school may participate, tothe same extent as a school board, in the Missouri public entity riskmanagement fund in the manner provided under sections 537.700 to 537.756,RSMo.
12. Any entity, either public or private, operating, administering,or otherwise managing a charter school shall be considered a quasi-publicgovernmental body and subject to the provisions of sections 610.010 to610.035, RSMo.
13. The chief financial officer of a charter school shall maintain:
(1) A surety bond in an amount determined by the sponsor to beadequate based on the cash flow of the school; or
(2) An insurance policy issued by an insurance company licensed to dobusiness in Missouri on all employees in the amount of five hundredthousand dollars or more that provides coverage in the event of employeetheft.
Proposed charter, how submitted, requirements, submission to stateboard, powers and duties--approval, revocation,termination--definitions--lease of public school facilities,when--unlawful reprisal, defined, prohibited.
160.405. 1. A person, group or organization seeking to establish acharter school shall submit the proposed charter, as provided in thissection, to a sponsor. If the sponsor is not a school board, the applicantshall give a copy of its application to the school board of the district inwhich the charter school is to be located and to the state board ofeducation, within five business days of the date the application is filedwith the proposed sponsor. The school board may file objections with theproposed sponsor, and, if a charter is granted, the school board may fileobjections with the state board of education. The charter shall include amission statement for the charter school, a description of the charterschool's organizational structure and bylaws of the governing body, whichwill be responsible for the policy and operational decisions of the charterschool, a financial plan for the first three years of operation of thecharter school including provisions for annual audits, a description of thecharter school's policy for securing personnel services, its personnelpolicies, personnel qualifications, and professional development plan, adescription of the grades or ages of students being served, the school'scalendar of operation, which shall include at least the equivalent of afull school term as defined in section 160.011, and an outline of criteriaspecified in this section designed to measure the effectiveness of theschool. The charter shall also state:
(1) The educational goals and objectives to be achieved by thecharter school;
(2) A description of the charter school's educational program andcurriculum;
(3) The term of the charter, which shall be not less than five years,nor greater than ten years and shall be renewable;
(4) A description of the charter school's pupil performancestandards, which must meet the requirements of subdivision (6) ofsubsection 5 of this section. The charter school program must be designedto enable each pupil to achieve such standards;
(5) A description of the governance and operation of the charterschool, including the nature and extent of parental, professional educator,and community involvement in the governance and operation of the charterschool; and
(6) A description of the charter school's policies on studentdiscipline and student admission, which shall include a statement, whereapplicable, of the validity of attendance of students who do not reside inthe district but who may be eligible to attend under the terms of judicialsettlements.
2. Proposed charters shall be subject to the following requirements:
(1) A charter may be approved when the sponsor determines that therequirements of this section are met and determines that the applicant issufficiently qualified to operate a charter school. The sponsor's decisionof approval or denial shall be made within ninety days of the filing of theproposed charter;
(2) If the charter is denied, the proposed sponsor shall notify theapplicant in writing as to the reasons for its denial and forward a copy tothe state board of education within five business days following thedenial;
(3) If a proposed charter is denied by a sponsor, the proposedcharter may be submitted to the state board of education, along with thesponsor's written reasons for its denial. If the state board determinesthat the applicant meets the requirements of this section, that theapplicant is sufficiently qualified to operate the charter school, and thatgranting a charter to the applicant would be likely to provide educationalbenefit to the children of the district, the state board may grant acharter and act as sponsor of the charter school. The state board shallreview the proposed charter and make a determination of whether to deny orgrant the proposed charter within sixty days of receipt of the proposedcharter, provided that any charter to be considered by the state board ofeducation under this subdivision shall be submitted no later than Marchfirst prior to the school year in which the charter school intends to beginoperations. The state board of education shall notify the applicant inwriting as the reasons for its denial, if applicable; and
(4) The sponsor of a charter school shall give priority to charterschool applicants that propose a school oriented to high-risk students andto the reentry of dropouts into the school system. If a sponsor grantsthree or more charters, at least one-third of the charters granted by thesponsor shall be to schools that actively recruit dropouts or high-riskstudents as their student body and address the needs of dropouts orhigh-risk students through their proposed mission, curriculum, teachingmethods, and services. For purposes of this subsection, a "high-risk"student is one who is at least one year behind in satisfactory completionof course work or obtaining credits for graduation, pregnant or a parent,homeless or has been homeless sometime within the preceding six months, haslimited English proficiency, has been suspended from school three or moretimes, is eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch, or has beenreferred by the school district for enrollment in an alternative program."Dropout" shall be defined through the guidelines of the school core datareport. The provisions of this subsection do not apply to charterssponsored by the state board of education.
3. If a charter is approved by a sponsor, the charter applicationshall be submitted to the state board of education, along with a statementof finding that the application meets the requirements of sections 160.400to 160.420 and section 167.439, RSMo, and a monitoring plan under which thecharter sponsor will evaluate the academic performance of students enrolledin the charter school. The state board of education may, within sixtydays, disapprove the granting of the charter. The state board of educationmay disapprove a charter on grounds that the application fails to meet therequirements of sections 160.400 to 160.420 and section 167.349, RSMo, orthat a charter sponsor previously failed to meet the statutoryresponsibilities of a charter sponsor.
4. Any disapproval of a charter pursuant to subsection 3 of thissection shall be subject to judicial review pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo.
5. A charter school shall, as provided in its charter:
(1) Be nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employmentpractices, and all other operations;
(2) Comply with laws and regulations of the state, county, or cityrelating to health, safety, and state minimum educational standards, asspecified by the state board of education, including the requirementsrelating to student discipline under sections 160.261, 167.161, 167.164,and 167.171, RSMo, notification of criminal conduct to law enforcementauthorities under sections 167.115 to 167.117, RSMo, academic assessmentunder section 160.518, transmittal of school records under section 167.020,RSMo, and the minimum number of school days and hours required undersection 160.041;
(3) Except as provided in sections 160.400 to 160.420, be exempt fromall laws and rules relating to schools, governing boards and schooldistricts;
(4) Be financially accountable, use practices consistent with theMissouri financial accounting manual, provide for an annual audit by acertified public accountant, publish audit reports and annual financialreports as provided in chapter 165, RSMo, provided that the annualfinancial report may be published on the department of elementary andsecondary education's Internet web site in addition to other publishingrequirements, and provide liability insurance to indemnify the school, itsboard, staff and teachers against tort claims. A charter school thatreceives local educational agency status under subsection 6 of this sectionshall meet the requirements imposed by the Elementary and SecondaryEducation Act for audits of such agencies. For purposes of an audit bypetition under section 29.230, RSMo, a charter school shall be treated as apolitical subdivision on the same terms and conditions as the schooldistrict in which it is located. For the purposes of securing suchinsurance, a charter school shall be eligible for the Missouri publicentity risk management fund pursuant to section 537.700, RSMo. A charterschool that incurs debt must include a repayment plan in its financialplan;
(5) Provide a comprehensive program of instruction for at least onegrade or age group from kindergarten through grade twelve, which mayinclude early childhood education if funding for such programs isestablished by statute, as specified in its charter;
(6) (a) Design a method to measure pupil progress toward the pupilacademic standards adopted by the state board of education pursuant tosection 160.514, collect baseline data during at least the first threeyears for determining how the charter school is performing and to theextent applicable, participate in the statewide system of assessments,comprised of the essential skills tests and the nationally standardizednorm-referenced achievement tests, as designated by the state boardpursuant to section 160.518, complete and distribute an annual report cardas prescribed in section 160.522, which shall also include a statement thatbackground checks have been completed on the charter school's boardmembers, report to its sponsor, the local school district, and the stateboard of education as to its teaching methods and any educationalinnovations and the results thereof, and provide data required for thestudy of charter schools pursuant to subsection 4 of section 160.410. Nocharter school will be considered in the Missouri school improvementprogram review of the district in which it is located for the resource orprocess standards of the program.
(b) For proposed high risk or alternative charter schools, sponsorsshall approve performance measures based on mission, curriculum, teachingmethods, and services. Sponsors shall also approve comprehensive academicand behavioral measures to determine whether students are meetingperformance standards on a different time frame as specified in thatschool's charter. Student performance shall be assessed comprehensively todetermine whether a high risk or alternative charter school has documentedadequate student progress. Student performance shall be based onsponsor-approved comprehensive measures as well as standardized publicschool measures. Annual presentation of charter school report card data tothe department of elementary and secondary education, the state board, andthe public shall include comprehensive measures of student progress.
(c) Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as permitting acharter school to be held to lower performance standards than other publicschools within a district; however, the charter of a charter school maypermit students to meet performance standards on a different time frame asspecified in its charter;
(7) Assure that the needs of special education children are met incompliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations;
(8) Provide along with any request for review by the state board ofeducation the following:
(a) Documentation that the applicant has provided a copy of theapplication to the school board of the district in which the charter schoolis to be located, except in those circumstances where the school districtis the sponsor of the charter school; and
(b) A statement outlining the reasons for approval or disapproval bythe sponsor, specifically addressing the requirements of sections 160.400to 160.420 and 167.349, RSMo.
6. The charter of a charter school may be amended at the request ofthe governing body of the charter school and on the approval of thesponsor. The sponsor and the governing board and staff of the charterschool shall jointly review the school's performance, management andoperations at least once every two years or at any point where theoperation or management of the charter school is changed or transferred toanother entity, either public or private. The governing board of a charterschool may amend the charter, if the sponsor approves such amendment, orthe sponsor and the governing board may reach an agreement in writing toreflect the charter school's decision to become a local educational agencyfor the sole purpose of seeking direct access to federal grants. In suchcase the sponsor shall give the department of elementary and secondaryeducation written notice no later than March first of any year, with theagreement to become effective July first. The department may waive theMarch first notice date in its discretion. The department shall identifyand furnish a list of its regulations that pertain to local educationalagencies to such schools within thirty days of receiving such notice.
7. (1) A sponsor shall revoke a charter or take other appropriateremedial action, which may include placing the charter school onprobationary status, at any time if the charter school commits a seriousbreach of one or more provisions of its charter or on any of the followinggrounds: failure to meet academic performance standards as set forth inits charter, failure to meet generally accepted standards of fiscalmanagement, failure to provide information necessary to confirm compliancewith all provisions of the charter and sections 160.400 to 160.420 and167.349, RSMo, within forty-five days following receipt of written noticerequesting such information, or violation of law.
(2) The sponsor may place the charter school on probationary statusto allow the implementation of a remedial plan, which may require a changeof methodology, a change in leadership, or both, after which, if such planis unsuccessful, the charter may be revoked.
(3) At least sixty days before acting to revoke a charter, thesponsor shall notify the governing board of the charter school of theproposed action in writing. The notice shall state the grounds for theproposed action. The school's governing board may request in writing ahearing before the sponsor within two weeks of receiving the notice.
(4) The sponsor of a charter school shall establish procedures toconduct administrative hearings upon determination by the sponsor thatgrounds exist to revoke a charter. Final decisions of a sponsor fromhearings conducted pursuant to this subsection are subject to judicialreview pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo.
(5) A termination shall be effective only at the conclusion of theschool year, unless the sponsor determines that continued operation of theschool presents a clear and immediate threat to the health and safety ofthe children.
(6) A charter sponsor shall make available the school accountabilityreport card information as provided under section 160.522 and the resultsof the academic monitoring required under subsection 3 of this section.
8. A sponsor shall take all reasonable steps necessary to confirmthat each charter school sponsored by such sponsor is in materialcompliance and remains in material compliance with all material provisionsof the charter and sections 160.400 to 160.420 and 167.349, RSMo. Everycharter school shall provide all information necessary to confirm ongoingcompliance with all provisions of its charter and sections 160.400 to160.420 and 167.349, RSMo, in a timely manner to its sponsor.
9. A school district may enter into a lease with a charter school forphysical facilities.
10. A governing board or a school district employee who has controlover personnel actions shall not take unlawful reprisal against anotheremployee at the school district because the employee is directly orindirectly involved in an application to establish a charter school. Agoverning board or a school district employee shall not take unlawfulreprisal against an educational program of the school or the schooldistrict because an application to establish a charter school proposes theconversion of all or a portion of the educational program to a charterschool. As used in this subsection, "unlawful reprisal" means an actionthat is taken by a governing board or a school district employee as adirect result of a lawful application to establish a charter school andthat is adverse to another employee or an educational program.
11. Charter school board members shall be subject to the sameliability for acts while in office as if they were regularly and dulyelected members of school boards in any other public school district inthis state. The governing board of a charter school may participate, tothe same extent as a school board, in the Missouri public entity riskmanagement fund in the manner provided under sections 537.700 to 537.756,RSMo.
12. Any entity, either public or private, operating, administering,or otherwise managing a charter school shall be considered a quasi-publicgovernmental body and subject to the provisions of sections 610.010 to610.035, RSMo.
13. The chief financial officer of a charter school shall maintain:
(1) A surety bond in an amount determined by the sponsor to beadequate based on the cash flow of the school; or
(2) An insurance policy issued by an insurance company licensed to dobusiness in Missouri on all employees in the amount of five hundredthousand dollars or more that provides coverage in the event of employeetheft.
