Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 13.

This bill revises and adds various provisions relative to charter schools, as follows: (1) Under present law, in reviewing and evaluating a charter application, an authorizer must, if applicable, take into account the performance, including both student growth and achievement, of any charter school operated by the sponsor. This bill makes this provision discretionary instead of mandatory and adds that the performance of any charter school operated by the governing body or charter management organization may also be taken into consideration. (2) Under present law, the governing body of the public charter school may petition the authorizer to amend the original charter agreement. The public charter school commission must determine the timelines for approval and the appeal process. Present law provides that if the authorizer is the state board of education or the commission, then an appeal cannot be made of the state board of education's or the commission's decision to deny a petition to amend the charter agreement; this bill removes references to the state board of education from this provision. (3) Under this bill, if a local board of education changes the grade bands for "elementary schools," "middle schools," "elementary and secondary," "elementary or secondary" or for junior high schools or senior high schools, then the local board of education must provide notice to all charter schools authorized by the LEA at least 120 days prior to implementation of grade band changes so that the charter schools may seek an amendment to their charter agreement. (4) Present law provides that a public charter school authorized by the commission may enroll students residing outside the geographic boundaries of the LEA in which the public charter school is located pursuant to the out-of-district enrollment policy of the LEA in which the public charter school is located and in compliance with laws regarding tuition, unless the LEA in which the public charter school is located has a policy prohibiting out-of-district enrollment. Also, present law provides that a public charter school authorized by a local board of education may enroll students residing outside the geographic boundaries of the LEA in which the public charter school is located pursuant to the LEA's out-of-district enrollment policy and in compliance with provisions governing tuition. This bill rewrites these provisions to instead provide that a public charter school may enroll students residing outside the geographic boundaries of the LEA in which the public charter school is located if capacity is available after all eligible in-district students have been enrolled. Under this bill, a public charter school's total enrollment of out-of-district students must not exceed 25 percent of the public charter school's total enrollment. This bill provides that state school funds must follow the student into the LEA in which the public charter school is located and must be allocated to the public charter school to which the student is transferring under this bill. Tuition may be charged by the LEA in which the public charter school is located and to which a student transfers as provided in present law. (5) Under present law, if the number of applications exceeds the capacity of a program, class, grade level, or building, the charter school must select students through a lottery. If an enrollment lottery is conducted, a public charter school shall give enrollment preferences in the following order: (A) Students enrolled in a pre-K program operated by the charter school sponsor; (B) Students enrolled in a charter school that has an articulation agreement with the enrolling public charter school; provided, that the articulation agreement has been approved by the authorizer; (C) Siblings of students already enrolled in the public charter school; (D) Students residing within the geographic boundaries of the LEA in which the public charter school is located who were enrolled in another public school during the previous school year; and (E) Students residing outside the geographic boundaries of the LEA in which the public charter school is located. This bill revises the above order of priority to insert in the second slot students who meet the description of "at-risk" students, if such enrollment preference is used by the public charter school. This bill also adds in the preference for siblings that it applies to siblings enrolled or accepted to the school. (6) Under present law, a public charter school may give an enrollment preference to children of a teacher or member of the governing body of the charter school, not to exceed 10 percent of total enrollment or 25 students, whichever is less. This bill extends this provision to apply to children of a public charter school's "employees". (7) This bill requires each authorizer to adopt, by August 1, 2022, a progressive intervention policy that outlines the process for charter school intervention if the authorizer determines that a public charter school meets the criteria for revocation under present law or if the authorizer determines that a public charter school is not complying with the laws governing charter schools or with the charter agreement. If an authorizer determines that a public charter school meets the criteria for revocation or that a public charter school is not complying with the laws governing charter schools or with the charter agreement, then the authorizer must promptly notify the public charter school and provide the public charter school the opportunity to remedy the issue within the timeframe established by the authorizer according to the authorizer's progressive intervention policy. If the public charter school fails to remedy the issue within the timeframe established by the authorizer according to the authorizer's progressive intervention policy, then the authorizer may issue corrective actions short of revocation; provided, that a corrective action shall not include a financial sanction. Corrective actions short of revocation that may be issued by the authorizer must be outlined in the authorizer's progressive intervention policy. If the corrective actions fail to remedy the issue, then the authorizer may seek revocation of the charter agreement. This bill provides that each progressive intervention policy must align with the state board of education's quality public charter school authorizing standards and must be reviewed by the state board of education as part of the authorizer quality evaluation required under present law. (8) Present law provides that a public charter school agreement may be revoked if the authorizer determines that the school: committed a material violation of any conditions, standards, or procedures set forth in the charter agreement; failed to meet or make sufficient progress toward the performance expectations set forth in the charter agreement; or failed to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management. This bill removes the reference to "at any time" and adds a new provision whereby a charter agreement may be revoked in an emergency situation without the authorizer first having to implement the progressive intervention policy. An emergency situation includes, but is not limited to, instances of fraud; misappropriation of funds; flagrant violation of health and safety laws, rules, and regulations; flagrant disregard of the charter agreement; or similar misconduct. ON MARCH 21, 2022, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 2124, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 retains the requirement to consider the performance of any charter school operated by the sponsor, governing body, or charter management, instead of making it discretionary, and specifies that the performance must be considered, if applicable. This amendment also revises this bill provision whereby state school funds must follow the student into the LEA in which the public charter school is located and must be allocated to the public charter school to which the student is transferring under this bill to clarify that the state school funds must follow the student into the LEA in which the public charter school is located and to which the student transfers.