Charter Schools: Charting a New Course for Indiana Education

House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis), State Rep. Bob Behning (R-Indianapolis), State Rep. Mary Ann Sullivan (D-Indianapolis) and State Rep. Cindy Noe (R-Indianapolis) have co-authored House Bill 1002. This purpose of this bill is to remove many of the obstacles that have prohibited charter schools from flourishing.

This bill passed the state house late Tuesday and is now in the state senate.

Key provisions include:

 ·   Charter School Charters- Adds student academic growth, financial performance and stability, and board performance and stewardship to the list of items to be included in a charter school’s charter.
·   Transparency- To prevent sponsor shopping, organizer is required to list any applications submitted in the last 5 years in their charter proposal.
·   Conversion Charter Employees- Stipulates that a teacher in a conversion charter school may be an employee of just the charter school or of the charter school and the school corporation as determined in a charter school’s charter. 
·   Conversion Charter Schools- Stipulates that a school that has been in the lowest two designations for two or more consecutive years cannot be sponsored by that school’s governing board. 
 ·   Buildings- Allows charter schools to lease or purchase unused school buildings owned by school corporations for which less than 10% of the building is being utilized for direct student instruction and no offer to purchase has been executed.
·   Transportation- A charter school may receive a distribution from the resident corporation transportation fund levy based on the students who are enrolled in the charter school in the same county where they legal settlement in the school corporation’s district. However, the school corporation and the charter may enter into a school transportation plan, whereby the school corporation would transport the charter school students without charge.
·   Grant and Loan Program- Provides that charters will have access to federal funds for the purpose of financing charter school facilities. 
·   Health Insurance- Allows charter schools to opt into the state health insurance plans.

This information was published in Accelerating Indiana's Progress Newsletter, by the Indiana House of Representatives Republican Media Department.