Bill Text: IL SB0238 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Charter Schools Law of the School Code. Establishes the Illinois Charter Public School Commission as an independent, State-level, charter school authorizing entity working in collaboration with the State Board of Education. Includes provisions concerning membership, funding, staff, powers and duties, Commission charter school applications, Commission immunity, an annual report to the General Assembly and the State Board, oversight fees, and total pupil enrollment. Provides that every 2 years (instead of annually), the State Board shall compile evaluations of charter schools received from school boards. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-03-13 - Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments [SB0238 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2009-SB0238-Introduced.html

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96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2009 and 2010 SB0238 Introduced 2/4/2009, by Sen. Heather Steans SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
105 ILCS 5/27A-5.5 new
105 ILCS 5/27A-12
Amends the Charter Schools Law of the School Code. Establishes the Illinois Charter Public School Commission as an independent, State-level, charter school authorizing entity working in collaboration with the State Board of Education. Includes provisions concerning membership, funding, staff, powers and duties, Commission charter school applications, Commission immunity, an annual report to the General Assembly and the State Board, oversight fees, and total pupil enrollment. Provides that every 2 years (instead of annually), the State Board shall compile evaluations of charter schools received from school boards. Effective immediately.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning education.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section
27A-5.5 and by changing Section 27A-12 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/27A-5.5 new)
Sec. 27A-5.5. Illinois Charter Public School Commission.
(a) The Illinois Charter Public School Commission is
established as an independent, State-level, charter school
authorizing entity working in collaboration with the State
Board. Startup funds necessary to establish and operate the
Commission may be received through private contributions and
federal and other institutional grants. The State Board shall
assist in securing federal and other institutional grant funds
to establish the Commission.
(b) The Commission members shall be appointed by the State
Board and shall be composed of one appointee recommended by the
Governor, one appointee each recommended by the President and
Minority Leader of the Senate, one appointee each recommended
by the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of
Representatives, and 2 appointees recommended by the chief
executive officer of a school district in the City of Chicago.
The President and Minority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker

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and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, and the
chief executive officer of a school district in the City of
Chicago shall each recommend a list of no fewer than 2 nominees
for each appointment to the Commission. The appointments shall
be made as soon as feasible, but no later than September 1,
2009. Each member appointed shall serve a term of 3 years;
however, for the purpose of providing staggered terms, of the
initial appointments, members recommended by the Governor and
the chief executive officer of a school district in the City of
Chicago shall be appointed to 3-year terms, members recommended
by the President and Minority Leader of the Senate shall be
appointed to 2-year terms, and members appointed by the Speaker
and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives shall be
appointed to one-year terms. Thereafter, each appointee shall
serve a 3-year term. If a vacancy occurs on the Commission, the
State Board shall appoint a person who has been recommended by
the authority making the original recommendation to fill the
remainder of the term. The members shall on the first meeting
of each calendar year elect a chairperson who shall serve
during that calendar year.
The Commission is encouraged to convene its initial meeting
no later than October 1, 2009 and, thereafter, shall meet at
least quarterly at the call of the chairperson or upon the
request of 4 members of the Commission. Four members of the
Commission shall constitute a quorum.
Subject to appropriation, the Commission may employ such

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staff as is necessary to perform the administrative duties and
responsibilities of the Commission. The members of the
Commission must not be compensated for their services on the
Commission, but may be reimbursed for per diem and travel
expenses.
(c) The Commission shall have all of the following powers:
(1) To authorize and act as a sponsor of Commission
charter schools, including the approval or denial of
Commission charter school applications and the nonrenewal
or termination of Commission charter schools.
(2) To authorize 2 or more school districts to combine
administrative functions and responsibilities and operate
under the provisions of this Section.
(3) To approve or deny Commission charter school
applications and renew or terminate charters of Commission
charter schools.
(4) To conduct facility and curriculum reviews of
charter schools approved by the Commission.
(d) The Commission shall have all of the following duties:
(1) To review Commission charter school applications
and assist in the establishment of Commission charter
schools throughout the State. A Commission charter school
shall exist as a public school within this State as a
component of the delivery of public education within this
State's kindergarten through grade 12 educational system.
(2) To develop, promote, and require high standards of

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accountability for any school that applies for and is
granted a charter pursuant to this Section.
(3) To monitor and annually review and evaluate the
academic and financial performance of Commission charter
schools and hold the schools accountable for their
performance.
(4) To report the student enrollment in each Commission
charter school to the local school board where the school
is located.
(5) To monitor the financial management of each
Commission charter school.
(6) To actively seek, with the assistance of the State
Board, supplemental revenue from federal grant funds,
institutional grant funds, and philanthropic
organizations.
(7) To collaborate with municipalities, State
universities, public community colleges, and regional
educational consortia as partners in the development of
Commission charter schools for the purpose of providing the
highest level of public education to low-income,
low-performing, gifted, or underserved student
populations. Such collaborations shall do all of the
following:
(A) Allow State universities and public community
colleges that partner in the development of Commission
charter schools to enable students attending a

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Commission charter school to take college courses and
receive high school and college credit for such
courses.
(B) Be used to determine the feasibility of opening
charter schools for students with disabilities,
including, but not limited to, charter schools for
children with autism that work with and utilize the
specialized expertise of the Centers for Autism and
Related Disabilities.
(8) To support municipalities when the mayor or chief
executive, through resolution passed by the governing body
of the municipality, expresses an intent to partner in the
development of Commission charter schools within municipal
boundaries.
(9) To assist Commission charter schools in
negotiating and contracting with local school boards that
choose to provide certain administrative or transportation
services to the charter schools on a contractual basis.
(e) Charter school applications submitted to the
Commission pursuant to this Section are subject to the same
requirements as other charter school applications under this
Article.
(f) No application may be submitted pursuant to this
Section by an existing charter school approved by a local
school board; however, this is not a limitation on a charter
operator submitting an application for an addition charter to

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the Commission, subject to the provisions of this Article. A
local school board may agree to rescind or waive the
obligations of a current charter contract to allow an
application to be submitted by an existing charter school
pursuant to this Section. A charter school that changes
sponsors pursuant to this subsection (f) must be allowed to
continue the use of all facilities, equipment, and other assets
it owned or leased prior to the expiration or rescission of its
contract with a local school board sponsor.
An application to the Commission by a conversion charter
school may be submitted only upon consent of the local school
board. In such instance, the local school board may retain the
facilities, equipment, and other assets of the conversion
charter school for its own use or agree to reasonable terms for
their continued use by the conversion charter school.
(g) Each year, the chairperson of the Commission shall
submit a report to the General Assembly and the State Board
regarding the academic performance and fiscal responsibility
of all Commission charter schools.
(h) The Commission has the following duties with respect to
Commission charter schools:
(1) The Commission shall monitor and review the charter
school in its progress toward the goals established in the
charter.
(2) The Commission shall monitor the revenues and
expenditures of the charter school.

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(3) The Commission may approve a charter for a charter
school before the applicant has secured space, equipment,
or personnel if the applicant indicates approval is
necessary for it to raise working capital.
(4) The Commission's internal policies shall not apply
to the charter school.
(5) The Commission shall ensure that the charter is
innovative and consistent with State educational goals.
(6) The Commission shall ensure that the charter school
participates in the State's educational accountability
system. If a charter school falls short of performance
measures included in the approved charter, the Commission
shall report such shortcomings to the State Board.
(i) The Commission is not liable for civil damages under
State law for personal injury, property damage, or death
resulting from an act or omission of an officer, employee,
agent, or governing body of a Commission charter school. The
Commission is not liable for civil damages under State law for
any employment actions taken by an officer, employee, agent, or
governing body of a Commission charter school. The Commission's
duties to monitor a Commission charter school shall not
constitute the basis for a private cause of action.
Immunity for the Commission under this subsection (i)
applies only with respect to acts or omissions not under the
Commission's direct authority as described in this Section.
Nothing contained in this subsection (i) shall be considered a

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waiver of sovereign immunity by a local school board.
(j) The Commission is authorized to retain an oversight fee
to cover its costs in overseeing Commission charter schools.
The oversight fee shall not exceed 2% of the per pupil tuition
funding applicable to each Commission charter school. The
Commission shall use funding collected from charter school
oversight fees exclusively for the purpose of fulfilling
authorizing and oversight obligations. The Commission shall
annually provide to the State Board an audited accounting of
its expenditures funded by the oversight fees.
(k) In a school district in the City of Chicago, the
Commission may not authorize Commission charter schools to
enroll more than 2% of the total pupil enrollment of the school
district. The provisions of this subsection (k) other than this
sentence, are inoperative after June 30, 2016.
(l) A school district with a Commission charter school
operating within its boundaries is eligible to receive payment
from the State Board under Section 27A-11.5 of this Code.
(105 ILCS 5/27A-12)
Sec. 27A-12. Evaluation; annual report. The State Board
shall compile, every 2 years, annual evaluations of charter
schools received from local school boards and shall prepare an
annual report on charter schools.
On or before the second Wednesday of January, 1998, and on
or before the second Wednesday of January of each subsequent

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calendar year, the State Board shall issue a report to the
General Assembly and the Governor on its findings for the
school year ending in the preceding calendar year.
In the annual report required by this Section, the State
Board (i) shall compare the performance of charter school
pupils with the performance of ethnically and economically
comparable groups of pupils in other public schools who are
enrolled in academically comparable courses, (ii) shall review
information regarding the regulations and policies from which
charter schools were released to determine if the exemptions
assisted or impeded the charter schools in meeting their stated
goals and objectives, and (iii) shall include suggested changes
in State law necessary to strengthen charter schools.
In addition, the State Board shall undertake and report on
periodic evaluations of charter schools that include
evaluations of student academic achievement, the extent to
which charter schools are accomplishing their missions and
goals, the sufficiency of funding for charter schools, and the
need for changes in the approval process for charter schools.
(Source: P.A. 91-407, eff. 8-3-99.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.