AB 1224: Charter schools: chartering authorities: foundational principles.

Existing law, the Charter Schools Act of 1992, provides for the establishment and operation of charter schools and authorizes the governing board of a school district, a county board of education, and the State Board of Education to approve a petition for the establishment of a charter school and to act as a chartering authority.

This bill would establish the Chartering Authority Pilot Program under which the state board would be authorized to select up to 3 county boards of education with demonstrated authorizing and oversight capacity to authorize and oversee up to 5 additional charter schools each. The bill would authorize a nonprofit public benefit corporation that operates more than one charter school in the state to petition a county board of education participating in the pilot program to consolidate some or all of its existing and future charter schools under the jurisdiction of a single chartering authority, subject to approval by the state board. The bill would require the state board to annually evaluate and report to the Legislature on the performance of participating chartering authorities and each charter school approved pursuant to the pilot program. The bill would require the state board to submit a final report to the Legislature on or before June 30, 2024, as provided. The bill would authorize the state board to extend the chartering authority of the participating chartering authorities, as provided. The bill would also authorize the state board or a participating chartering authority to solicit and receive grants from private nonprofit foundations and organizations to fund the startup and the administration of, or the research and reporting on, the pilot program. require a chartering authority to look to specified foundational principles in implementing the act, including, among others, that charter schools are to be governed with transparency and according to the highest ethical standards. To the extent the bill would impose additional requirements on certain local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also make a nonsubstantive change by updating a cross reference.