Copper Dome Chronicle: 2023 Session Week 21
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Copper Dome Chronicle, sponsored by Advocatus. We strive for substantive writing with brevity, inspired by the book Smart Brevity; one of the best books about communications and writing we’ve read in years.
This week’s edition, covering May 29 - June 2 is 1,597 words or about a 6 minute read. There are an unknown number of days remaining in the special session. Thanks for reading and sharing; we welcome your feedback and commentary!
1. Still No Budget Yet
The budget conference committee members did not meet for the second consecutive week. However, on May 31 a conference committee meeting notice was posted for June 5 at 2pm (livestream available). The House announced on June 2 it would convene on June 7 at 12pm; the calendar lists only three bills eligible for debate. Should a conference report be agreed to and signed, it is possible the House could debate it on June 7. The Senate has made no announcement regarding its next session date.
2. Southeast States Public Charter School Bills
Advocatus has experience in a variety of public policy subjects, but education is one of our strong suits. Today we’ll examine what legislation neighboring Southeast states passed that changed their public charter school laws. The bills listed below primarily affected public charter schools. Bills encompassing all public education schools or budget bills are not included below, though those bills are important and impact public charter schools.
Alabama
HB363 - This is a comprehensive bill but three important changes in policy were made. First, new public charter schools will be funded based upon their anticipated enrollment as contained in an approved charter school application. Alabama’s education funding system uses prior year enrollment data, which for growing schools like most public charter schools causes cash flow challenges. This is a huge win for public charter schools. Second, the bill requires local school districts that choose to authorize public charter schools to reapply to the Alabama State Department of Education every five years to continue as an authorizer. This adds a layer of accountability for authorizers in the pursuit of quality authorizing. Lastly, the membership of the Alabama Public Charter School Commission was changed from 11 members to 13 members, as well as providing for the House and Senate Minority Leaders to each select one member of the commission.
HB443 - This bill was originally filed as an authorizer accountability bill but through the legislative process some other, unrelated policies were added to it as a legislative vehicle. Some of the authorizer requirements remained in the enrolled bill, such as requiring authorizers to provide training to all public charter schools it authorizes on systems (i.e. software) it requires them to use. Additionally, authorizers must conduct timely review and reimburse federal grant funds, and if all required documentation is provided, provide charter school those federal funds within 60 days. Lastly, the bill permits a public charter school to give enrollment preference to students who are the children of a safe-school officer at the school.
HB1259 - This bill revises the capital outlay calculation for eligible public charter schools beginning this fiscal year with full implementation in FY 2027-2028. While some public charter schools have received state funds for capital expenses, it has been an unequal and cumbersome process. This bill is a significant victory for public charter schools because facilities are often one of the most significant barriers for public charter schools to overcome.
SB190 - The bill permits a public charter school student to develop an agreement with a private school to participate in interscholastic extracurricular activities at the private school; however, a charter school student may not participate in private school activities if such activities are offered at the public charter school the student attends. Florida has some of the most expansive interscholastic athletics participation laws for public, public charter, private, and home education students.
HB87 - Entitled the “Nontraditional Special Schools Act,”, this legislation resolves a funding formula issue for a group of public charter schools who educate students who have dropped out of high school. Originally opened in 1993 as a collaborative between three school districts, the schools affiliated with Mountain Education network, Foothills Education network, and Coastal Plains network eventually transitioned as public charter schools due to the flexibility offered under Georgia law. Due to the passage of SB153 in 2021, which drastically changed the funding formula for these unique schools, the leaders of the schools stated without a different framework the schools would close in June 2023. This would have left thousands of students without a school that was dedicated to dropout recovery and prevention. The bill transitions these schools to a new framework using the term “completion special school,” provides sustainable funding, accountability mechanisms, and operations flexibility similar to that in the public charter school model.
Mississippi
HB1173 - This bill permits the Mississippi State Department of Education to provide Educational Enhancement Funds (EEF) classroom supply procurement cards or credentials for a digital solution to public charter school teachers. These funds can be used to purchase classroom supplies, instructional materials, and equipment, such as computers and computer software.
HB36 - This bill revises the requirement for automatic revocation of a public charter school such that a school’s inclusion on either the 2022 and 2023 priority school list is not considered as one of the priority school cycles required for automatic revocation of a public charter school agreement. This one-time change is due to the significant impact of COVID-19 learning loss.
SB64 - This bill extends the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission to June 30, 2026. The Commission is a statewide authorizer, but is unique because the schools operating under it were authorized on appeal by the schools after being denied by a local school district.
SB577 - This bill removes the annual training course requirement for a public charter school governing body to be certified by the Tennessee Charter School Center and instead the training must be approved by the Tennessee State Board of Education.
SB980 - This comprehensive bill amended several sections of the Tennessee public charter school law. The main theme of the amendments was to standardize specific policies because most public charter schools are authorized by local school districts, with the overwhelming number located in the Memphis and Nashville metropolitan areas, and the processes put in place by the authorizers is unique to each district. One victory for public charter schools was to standardize the enrollment process of out-of-district students, which was capped at 25% of a school’s total enrollment. Another significant win was clarifying enrollment preferences for public charter schools, which allows schools to prioritize the enrollment of students in poverty, homeless, or in foster care. Finally, before a charter school’s agreement could be revoked, an authorizer must adopt a progressive intervention policy prior to revocation. This policy would specify the school’s deficiencies and timeline to cure them, as well as allow corrective actions to be issued by the authorizer.
North Carolina
While the North Carolina General Assembly will not adjourn sine die until sometime this fall, there are three bills that have passed at least one chamber that impact public charter schools.
HB149 - This bill creates a school model called a remote charter academy. North Carolina has two virtual charter schools that have operated since the 2015-2016 school year under a pilot program. This bill would end the pilot program and allow the existing virtual charter schools to renew their charter licenses as remote charter academies, as well as the approval of new remote charter academies.
HB219 - This is a comprehensive bill containing some major changes in policy. Nicknamed the public charter school omnibus, it amends several policies in the application process, enrollment processes, student eligibility, and funding for public charter schools. First, the State Board of Education - currently the only authorizer in North Carolina - could not consider any “alleged impacts” to local school districts, such as their enrollment levels, by a proposed public charter school application. In other states, an authorizer is required to consider these impacts and it has often been used to stop the expansion of public charter schools. Second, the bill allows public charter schools to add an enrollment preference for students who have at least one parent on active duty in the United States military, as well as a second enrollment preference for students who attended a prekindergarten program that has an articulation agreement with the school.
Third, and this is very unique, the bill would allow North Carolina public charter schools to enroll out-of-state students, though the students would be charged a tuition rate defined in the bill. If this became law it could create an interesting dynamic to those South Carolina school districts, especially those in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The tuition rate would vary, but some families living in the South Carolina side of Charlotte could enroll in public charter school on the North Carolina side for an annual tuition rate potentially as low as $4600. This is close to a modest tuition rate for a private or independent school. Lastly, the bill would require funding to be based upon actual enrollments and allow public charter schools to receive local funds they are currently not receiving, though they are providing similar supports and services to their students.
HB618 - This main purpose of this bill is an extremely significant change in the public charter school landscape in North Carolina. Currently, the only authorizing entity is the North Carolina State Board of Education. The North Carolina Charter Schools Advisory Board vets public charter school applications and makes recommendations to the State Board of Education, which has the final approval decision. This bill would turn the Advisory Board into the North Carolina Charter Schools Review Board, where final approval decisions would rest with it.
There would remain just one authorizer in North Carolina, a 12-member board where 8 members are appointed by the General Assembly, 2 members appointed by the State Board who are “charter school advocates,” the State Superintendent of Public instruction or their designee, and the Lt. Governor or their designee.
