Bill Text: IL HB4840 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Charter Schools Law of the School Code. Provides that an initial charter shall be granted for a period of no more than 3 school years (instead of for a period of 5 school years). Provides that a charter may be renewed in incremental periods not to exceed 3 (instead of 10) school years. Makes conforming changes. Amends the Chicago School District Article of the School Code. Specifies that nothing in the provisions concerning a moratorium on school closings, consolidations, and phase-outs affects the Chicago Board of Education's ability to not renew its authorization of a charter or contract school.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Failed) 2025-01-07 - Session Sine Die [HB4840 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB4840-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 HB4840 Introduced , by Rep. Kelly M. Cassidy SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
105 ILCS 5/27A-9
105 ILCS 5/34-18.69
Amends the Charter Schools Law of the School Code. Provides that an initial charter shall be granted for a period of no more than 3 school years (instead of for a period of 5 school years). Provides that a charter may be renewed in incremental periods not to exceed 3 (instead of 10) school years. Makes conforming changes. Amends the Chicago School District Article of the School Code. Specifies that nothing in the provisions concerning a moratorium on school closings, consolidations, and phase-outs affects the Chicago Board of Education's ability to not renew its authorization of a charter or contract school.
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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 changing Sections
27A-9 and 34-18.69 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/27A-9)
Sec. 27A-9. Term of charter; renewal.
(a) An initial charter granted before the effective date
of this amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly shall be
granted for a period of 5 school years. An initial charter
granted on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act
of the 103rd General Assembly shall be granted for a period of
no more than 3 school years. A charter may be renewed before
the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 103rd General
Assembly in incremental periods not to exceed 10 school years.
A charter may be renewed on or after the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly in incremental
periods not to exceed 3 school years. Authorizers shall ensure
that every charter granted on or after January 1, 2017
includes standards and goals for academic, organizational, and
financial performance. A charter must meet all standards and
goals for academic, organizational, and financial performance
set forth by the authorizer in order to be renewed for a term

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in excess of 5 years but not more than 10 years for a charter
renewed before the effective date of this amendatory Act of
the 103rd General Assembly or for a full 3-year term for a
charter renewed on or after the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly. If an authorizer
fails to establish standards and goals, a charter shall not be
renewed for a term in excess of 5 years for a charter renewed
before the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 103rd
General Assembly or in excess of one year for a charter renewed
on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the
103rd General Assembly. Nothing contained in this Section
shall require an authorizer to grant a full 10-year renewal
term to any particular charter school, but, for a charter
renewed before the effective date of this amendatory Act of
the 103rd General Assembly, an authorizer may award a full
10-year renewal term to charter schools that have a
demonstrated track record of improving student performance.
(b) A charter school renewal proposal submitted to the
local school board or the State Board, as the chartering
entity, shall contain:
(1) a report on the progress of the charter school in
achieving the goals, objectives, pupil performance
standards, content standards, and other terms of the
initial approved charter proposal; and
(2) a financial statement that discloses the costs of
administration, instruction, and other spending categories

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for the charter school that is understandable to the
general public and that will allow comparison of those
costs to other schools or other comparable organizations,
in a format required by the State Board.
(c) A charter may be revoked or not renewed if the local
school board or the State Board, as the chartering entity,
clearly demonstrates that the charter school did any of the
following, or otherwise failed to comply with the requirements
of this law:
(1) Committed a material violation of any of the
conditions, standards, or procedures set forth in the
charter.
(2) Failed to meet or make reasonable progress toward
achievement of the content standards or pupil performance
standards identified in the charter.
(3) Failed to meet generally accepted standards of
fiscal management.
(4) Violated any provision of law from which the
charter school was not exempted.
In the case of revocation, the local school board or the
State Board, as the chartering entity, shall notify the
charter school in writing of the reason why the charter is
subject to revocation. The charter school shall submit a
written plan to the local school board or the State Board,
whichever is applicable, to rectify the problem. The plan
shall include a timeline for implementation, which shall not

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exceed 2 years or the date of the charter's expiration,
whichever is earlier. If the local school board or the State
Board, as the chartering entity, finds that the charter school
has failed to implement the plan of remediation and adhere to
the timeline, then the chartering entity shall revoke the
charter. Except in situations of an emergency where the
health, safety, or education of the charter school's students
is at risk, the revocation shall take place at the end of a
school year. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to
prohibit an implementation timetable that is less than 2 years
in duration. No local school board may arbitrarily or
capriciously revoke or not renew a charter. Except for
extenuating circumstances outlined in this Section, if a local
school board revokes or does not renew a charter, it must
ensure that all students currently enrolled in the charter
school are placed in schools that are higher performing than
that charter school, as defined in the State's federal Every
Student Succeeds Act accountability plan. In determining
whether extenuating circumstances exist, a local school board
must detail, by clear and convincing evidence, that factors
unrelated to the charter school's accountability designation
outweigh the charter school's academic performance.
(d) (Blank).
(e) Notice of a local school board's decision to deny,
revoke, or not renew a charter shall be provided to the State
Board.

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The State Board may reverse a local board's decision to
revoke or not renew a charter if the State Board finds that the
charter school or charter school proposal (i) is in compliance
with this Article and (ii) is in the best interests of the
students it is designed to serve. The State Board may
condition the granting of an appeal on the acceptance by the
charter school of funding in an amount less than that
requested in the proposal submitted to the local school board.
The State Board must appoint and utilize a hearing officer for
any appeals conducted under this subsection. Final decisions
of the State Board are subject to judicial review under the
Administrative Review Law.
(f) Notwithstanding other provisions of this Article, if
the State Board on appeal reverses a local board's decision or
if a charter school is approved by referendum, the State Board
shall act as the authorized chartering entity for the charter
school and shall perform all functions under this Article
otherwise performed by the local school board. The State Board
shall report the aggregate number of charter school pupils
resident in a school district to that district and shall
notify the district of the amount of funding to be paid by the
State Board to the charter school enrolling such students. The
charter school shall maintain accurate records of daily
attendance and student enrollment and shall enter data on the
students served, their characteristics, their particular
needs, the programs in which they participate, and their

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academic achievement into the statewide student information
system established by the State Board. The State Board shall
withhold from funds otherwise due the district the funds
authorized by this Article to be paid to the charter school and
shall pay such amounts to the charter school in quarterly
installments, calculated as follows:
(1) The amount of the first quarterly payment shall be
based on the projected number of students who will be
enrolled in the charter school in the upcoming school
year, multiplied by one-fourth of the resident district's
per capita tuition amount. Each charter school shall
submit its projected enrollment by no later than August 1
of each year on a form provided by the State Board for this
purpose.
(2) The amount of the second quarterly payment shall
be calculated such that the aggregate amount of the first
and second quarterly installments is equal to the number
of students reported as enrolled at the charter school on
October 1 in the State Board's student information system,
multiplied by one-half of the resident district's per
capita tuition amount.
(3) The amount of the third quarterly payment shall be
based on the number of students enrolled in the charter
school on January 1, multiplied by one-fourth of the
resident district's per capita tuition amount. Each
charter school shall submit its January 1 enrollment by no

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later than January 5 of each year on a form provided by the
State Board for this purpose.
(4) The amount of the fourth quarterly payment shall
be calculated such that the aggregate amount of the third
and fourth installments is equal to the number of students
reported as enrolled at the charter school on March 1 in
the State Board's student information system, multiplied
by one-half of the resident district's per capita tuition
amount.
(g) (Blank).
(h) The State Board shall pay directly to a charter school
it authorizes any federal or State funding attributable to a
student with a disability attending the school.
(Source: P.A. 103-175, eff. 6-30-23.)