House File 2074 - Introduced



                                       HOUSE FILE       
                                       BY  WILDERDYKE


    Passed House,  Date               Passed Senate, Date             
    Vote:  Ayes        Nays           Vote:  Ayes        Nays         
                 Approved                            

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to the number and geographical distribution of
  2    charter schools approved by the state board of education.
  3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  4 TLSB 5176YH 81
  5 kh/je/5

PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 256F.3, subsection 6, Code 2005, is
  1  2 amended to read as follows:
  1  3    6.  Upon approval of an application for the proposed
  1  4 establishment of a charter school, the school board shall
  1  5 submit an application for approval to establish the charter
  1  6 school to the state board in accordance with section 256F.5.
  1  7 The application shall set forth the manner in which the
  1  8 charter school will provide special instruction, in accordance
  1  9 with section 280.4, to students who are limited English
  1 10 proficient.  The application shall set forth the manner in
  1 11 which the charter school will comply with federal and state
  1 12 laws and regulations relating to the federal National School
  1 13 Lunch Act and the federal Child Nutrition Act of 1966, 42
  1 14 U.S.C. } 1751=1785, and chapter 283A.  The state board shall
  1 15 approve only those applications that meet the requirements
  1 16 specified in section 256F.1, subsection 3, and sections 256F.4
  1 17 and 256F.5.  The state board may deny an application if the
  1 18 state board deems that approval of the application is not in
  1 19 the best interest of the affected students.  The state board
  1 20 shall approve not more than ten twenty charter school
  1 21 applications.  The state board shall approve not more than one
  1 22 charter school application per school district.  However, if
  1 23 the state board receives ten or fewer applications as of June
  1 24 30, 2003, and two or more of the applications received by the
  1 25 state board by that date are submitted by one school district,
  1 26 the state board may approve any or all of the applications
  1 27 submitted by the school district.  To the extent possible, the
  1 28 state board shall approve charter school applications in a
  1 29 manner that balances the establishment of charter schools
  1 30 geographically throughout the state.  The state board shall
  1 31 adopt rules in accordance with chapter 17A for the
  1 32 implementation of this chapter.
  1 33    Sec. 2.  Section 256F.11, Code 2005, is repealed.
  1 34                           EXPLANATION
  1 35    This bill increases the number of charter school
  2  1 applications the state board of education may approve from 10
  2  2 to 20.  The bill also directs the state board to approve the
  2  3 applications, to the extent reasonably possible, in a manner
  2  4 that provides for the establishment of charter schools
  2  5 geographically throughout the state.  The repeal date of July
  2  6 1, 2011, is eliminated.  An obsolete provision is also
  2  7 eliminated.
  2  8 LSB 5176YH 81
  2  9 kh:rj/je/5.1