AN ACT Relating to promoting the effective and efficient administration of the Washington state charter school commission; amending RCW 28A.710.050, 28A.710.070, 28A.710.250, and 28A.710.160; and repealing RCW 28A.710.900.

(1) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, a charter school may not limit admission on any basis other than age group, grade level, or enrollment capacity. A charter school is open to any student regardless of his or her location of residence.

(3) If capacity is insufficient to enroll all students who apply to a charter school, the charter school must grant an enrollment preference to siblings of enrolled students, with any remaining enrollments allocated through a lottery. A charter school may offer, pursuant to an admissions policy approved by the ((commission))authorizer, a weighted enrollment preference for at-risk students or to children of full-time employees of the school if the employees' children reside within the state.

(4) The enrollment capacity of a charter school must be determined annually by the charter school board in consultation with the ((charter)) authorizer and with consideration of the charter school's ability to facilitate the academic success of its students, achieve the objectives specified in the charter contract, and assure that its student enrollment does not exceed the capacity of its facility. An authorizer may not restrict the number of students a charter school may enroll.

(5) Nothing in this section prevents formation of a charter school whose mission is to offer a specialized learning environment and services for particular groups of students, such as at-risk students, students with disabilities, or students who pose such severe disciplinary problems that they warrant a specific educational program. Nothing in this section prevents formation of a charter school organized around a special emphasis, theme, or concept as stated in the school's application and charter contract.

(1) The Washington state charter school commission is established as an independent state agency whose mission is to authorize high quality charter public schools throughout the state, especially schools that are designed to expand opportunities for at-risk students, and to ensure the highest standards of accountability and oversight for these schools.

(2) The commission shall, through its management, supervision, and enforcement of the charter contracts and pursuant to applicable law, administer the charter schools it authorizes in the same manner as a school district board of directors administers other schools.

(b) Appointments to the commission shall be as follows: Three members shall be appointed by the governor; three members shall be appointed by the senate, with two members appointed by the leader of the largest caucus of the senate and one member appointed by the leader of the minority caucus of the senate; and three members shall be appointed by the house of representatives, with two members appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives and one member appointed by the leader of the minority caucus of the house of representatives. The appointing authorities shall assure diversity among commission members, including representation from various geographic areas of the state and shall assure that at least one member is the parent of a Washington public school student.

(4) Members appointed to the commission shall collectively possess strong experience and expertise in public and nonprofit governance; management and finance; public school leadership, assessment, curriculum, and instruction; and public education law. All appointed members shall have demonstrated an understanding of and commitment to charter schooling as a strategy for strengthening public education.

(5) Appointed members shall serve four-year, staggered terms. The initial appointments from each of the appointing authorities must consist of one member appointed to a one-year term, one member appointed to a two-year term, and one member appointed to a three-year term, all of whom thereafter may be reappointed for a four-year term. No appointed member may serve more than two consecutive terms. Initial appointments must be made by July 1, 2016.

(8) The commission may hire an executive director and may employ staff as necessary to carry out its duties under this chapter. The commission may delegate to the executive director the duties as necessary to effectively and efficiently execute the business of the commission, including the authority to employ necessary staff. In accordance with RCW 41.06.070, the executive director and the executive director's confidential secretary are exempt from the provisions of chapter 41.06 RCW.

(1) By ((December))March 1st of each year beginning in the first year after there have been charter schools operating for a full school year, the state board of education, in collaboration with the commission, must issue a report on the performance of the state's charter schools during the preceding school year to the governor, the legislature, and the public at large.

(2) The annual report must be based on the reports submitted by each authorizer as well as any additional relevant data compiled by the state board of education. The report must include a comparison of the performance of charter school students with the performance of academically, ethnically, and economically comparable groups of students in other public schools. In addition, the annual report must include the state board of education's assessment of the successes, challenges, and areas for improvement in meeting the purposes of this chapter, including the board's assessment of the sufficiency of funding for charter schools, the efficacy of the formula for authorizer funding, and any suggested changes in state law or policy necessary to strengthen the state's charter schools.

(3) Together with the issuance of the annual report following the fifth year after there have been charter schools operating for a full school year, the state board of education, in collaboration with the commission, shall submit a recommendation regarding whether or not the legislature should authorize the establishment of additional charter public schools.

(1) The purposes of the charter application submitted under RCW 28A.710.130 are to present the proposed charter school's academic and operational vision and plans, and to demonstrate and provide the authorizer with a clear basis for evaluating the applicant's capacities to execute the proposed vision and plans. An approved charter application does not serve as the school's charter contract.

(2) Within ninety days of approval of a charter application, the authorizer and the governing board of the approved charter school must execute a charter contract. The contract must establish the terms by which the charter school agrees to provide educational services that, at a minimum, meet basic education standards, in return for a distribution of public funds that will be used for the purposes established in the contract and in this and other applicable statutes. The charter contract must clearly set forth the academic and operational performance expectations and measures by which the charter school will be evaluated and the administrative relationship between the authorizer and charter school, including each party's rights and duties. The performance expectations and measures set forth in the charter contract must include, but need not be limited to, applicable federal and state accountability requirements. The performance provisions may be refined or amended by mutual agreement after the charter school is operating and has collected baseline achievement data for its enrolled students.

(3) If the charter school is authorized by a school district board of directors, the charter contract must be signed by the president of the applicable school district board of directors and the president of the charter school board. If the charter school is authorized by the commission, the charter contract must be signed by the chair of the commission and the president of the charter school board. Within ten days of executing a charter contract, the authorizer must submit to the state board of education written notification of the charter contract execution, including a copy of the executed charter contract and any attachments.

(4) A charter contract may govern one or more charter schools to the extent approved by the authorizer. A single charter school board may hold one or more charter contracts. However, each charter school that is part of a charter contract must be separate and distinct from any others and, for purposes of calculating the maximum number of charter schools that may be established under this chapter, each charter school must be considered a single charter school regardless of how many charter schools are governed under a particular charter contract.

(5) An initial charter contract must be granted for a term of five operating years. The contract term must commence on the charter school's first day of operation. An approved charter school may delay its opening for one school year in order to plan and prepare for the school's opening. If the school requires an opening delay of more than one school year, the school must request an extension from its authorizer. The authorizer may grant or deny the contract extension depending on the school's circumstances.

(6) Authorizers shall establish reasonable preopening requirements or conditions to monitor the start-up progress of newly approved charter schools, ensure that they are prepared to open smoothly on the date agreed, and ensure that each school meets all building, health, safety, insurance, and other legal requirements for school opening.

(a) The state board of education must take reasonable and necessary steps to provide parties to contracts entered into under or in accordance with chapter 2, Laws of 2013 that were in effect or that had been executed on or before December 1, 2015, with an opportunity to execute new contracts with the same terms and duration or substantially the same terms and duration as were in effect on December 1, 2015; and

(b) Each authorizer must take reasonable and necessary steps to provide parties to contracts entered into under or in accordance with chapter 2, Laws of 2013 that were in effect or that had been executed on or before December 1, 2015, with an opportunity to execute new contracts with the same terms and duration or substantially the same terms and duration as were in effect on December 1, 2015.