2024 -- H 7354

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LC004102

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2024

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO EDUCATION -- COOPERATIVE SERVICE AMONG SCHOOL DISTRICTS

-- CHARTER SCHOOL REFORM

     Introduced By: Representatives Place, Roberts, Nardone, Quattrocchi, and Rea

     Date Introduced: January 31, 2024

     Referred To: House Education

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Chapter 16-3.1 of the General Laws entitled "Cooperative Service Among

School Districts [See Title 16 Chapter 97 — The Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" is hereby

amended by adding thereto the following section:

     16-3.1-22. Nontraditional approaches to learning.

     (a) Any charter school may offer nontraditional approaches to learning or methods

differing from traditional education approaches from mainstream education. Each charter school

shall offer progressive, student-centric and task-based approaches to learning, and shall not focus

on learning by memorization or a reading approach to learning.

     (b) The Rhode Island department of education shall review all applications for charter

schools providing nontraditional approaches to learning to ensure the nontraditional criteria is a

sufficient substitute for a traditional education.

     SECTION 2. Section 16-77-3.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-77 entitled

"Establishment of Charter Public Schools [See Title 16 Chapter 97 — The Rhode Island Board of

Education Act]" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     16-77-3.1. Legislative purpose.

     (a) The purpose of this chapter is to provide an alternative within the public education

system by offering opportunities for entities identified in § 16-77-2.1 to establish and maintain a

high performing public school program according to the terms of a charter. The key appeal of the

charter school concept is its promise of increased accountability for student achievement in

exchange for increased school autonomy.

     (b) Charter public schools are intended to be vanguards, laboratories, and an expression of

the on-going and vital state interest in the improvement of education. Notwithstanding the

provisions of this section or any law to the contrary, a charter school shall be deemed to be a public

school acting under state law and subject to the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, 42 U.S.C. § 6101,

et seq., title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d, et seq., title IX of the educational

amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq., § 794 of title 29, and part B of the Individuals With

Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1411, et seq. All students and prospective students of a

charter school shall be deemed to be public school students, having all the same rights under federal

and Rhode Island law as students and prospective students at a non-chartered public school. These

charter public schools shall be vehicles for research and development in areas such as curriculum,

pedagogy, administration, materials, facilities, governance, parent relations and involvement,

social development, instructor’s and administrator’s responsibilities, working conditions, student

performance and fiscal accountability. It is the intent of the general assembly to create within the

public school system vehicles for innovative learning opportunities to be utilized and evaluated in

pilot projects. The provisions of this chapter are to be interpreted liberally to support the purposes

set forth in this chapter and to advance a renewed commitment by the state to the mission, goals,

and diversity of public education.

     (c) It is the intent of the general assembly to provide opportunities for teachers, parents,

pupils, and community members to establish and maintain public schools that operate

independently as a method to accomplish all of the following:

     (1) Improve pupil learning by creating schools with rigorous academic standards in all

basic areas of instruction for high pupil performance;

     (2) Increase learning opportunities for all pupils, with special emphasis on expanded

learning experiences for pupils who are identified as educationally disadvantaged and at-risk;

     (3) Encourage the use of innovative teaching methods;

     (4) Create opportunities for teachers, including the opportunity to be responsible for the

learning program at the school site;

     (5) Provide parents and pupils with expanded choices in the types of educational

opportunities that are available within the public school system;

     (6) Hold the schools established under this chapter accountable for meeting publicly

promulgated, measurable, state and charter-based pupil academic results, and provide the schools

with a method to implement performance-based and/or other student-based accountability systems,

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while providing a means to restrict the expansion of ineffective charter public schools; and

     (7) Encourage parental and community involvement with public schools.

     (d) No private or parochial schools shall be eligible for charter public school status, nor

shall a charter public school be affiliated in any way with a sectarian school or religious institution.

Any charter public school authorized by this chapter shall be nonsectarian and nonreligious in its

programs, admissions policies, employment practices, and all other operations. The board of

regents shall not approve a charter to a school whose overall operation or education program is

managed by a for profit entity.

     (e) The commissioner is empowered to promulgate rules and regulations consistent with

this chapter, in conformance with chapter 35 of title 42, for the creation and operation of charter

public schools. These rules and regulations shall set forth the process for rescission of state approval

of a charter public school, including appropriate protections to ensure the continued provision of

education services to the students of the charter public school whose charter is rescinded.

     (f) All charter public schools shall adhere to financial record keeping, reporting, auditing

requirements, and procedures as required by the Rhode Island department of education and in

accordance with federal and state laws and regulations.

     (g) No more than thirty-five (35) charters shall be granted. At least one-half (½) of the total

number of charter public schools in the state shall be reserved for charter school applications which

are designed to increase the educational opportunities for at-risk pupils.

     (h) Any charter school, whose charter has not been renewed, shall have their formerly

allotted seats, reallocated to a school that is authorized to offer nontraditional approaches to

learning or methods, pursuant to §16-3.1-22.

     SECTION 3. Chapter 16-77 of the General Laws entitled "Establishment of Charter Public

Schools [See Title 16 Chapter 97 — The Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" is hereby amended

by adding thereto the following section:

     16-77-13. Local communities permitted to adopt all-charter public school model for

public education.

     (a) Each city and town of this state may adopt, as an alternative to traditional public schools,

an all-charter public school model, to provide public education. This process may utilize the

establishment of all new charter public schools, a conversion of traditional public schools to charter

public schools, or a combination thereof. A municipality seeking to convert to an all-charter public

school model shall submit a plan detailing the provision of education under the plan (the “plan”),

as well as how the municipality shall transition into the plan.

      (b) The plan referred to in subsection (a) of this section shall be presented to both the

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municipality’s council, board, or other governing body, and to the school committee or board of

the municipality. If both the governing body and the school committee of the municipality vote in

favor of the plan, the plan shall be presented and submitted to the voters of the municipality as a

referendum at either a special or general election. Upon an affirmative vote of those voting in the

election in favor of and approving the plan, the plan shall be deemed approved. In such event, the

municipality may undertake such measures as set forth in the plan and as are otherwise necessary

to implement the all-charter public school model within the municipality.

     SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO EDUCATION -- COOPERATIVE SERVICE AMONG SCHOOL DISTRICTS

-- CHARTER SCHOOL REFORM

***

     This act would allow charter schools to engage in nontraditional approaches to learning,

which must be approved by the department of education, and would also require that seats allocated

to a charter school, whose charter has not been renewed, be reallocated to a school which offers

nontraditional approaches and methods to learning. Additionally. This act would permit local

communities to adopt an all-charter school public school model for public education. This act

would provide that adoption of this model would require an affirmative vote of the local

municipality’s council and school committee, followed by an affirmative vote on a referendum on

the adoption, at a special or general election in the municipality.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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