Assembly Bill A9024

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  9024

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                            January 19, 2016
                               ___________

Introduced by M. of A. THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee
  on Education

AN  ACT  to  amend  the education law, in relation to payments by school
  districts to charter schools relating to the expense per pupil of  the
  school district

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the  "New  York
Charter Schools Financial Renewal Act".
  S  2.  Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 2856 of the education
law, as amended by section 3 of part BB of chapter 56  of  the  laws  of
2014, is amended to read as follows:
  (a)  The  enrollment  of  students  attending charter schools shall be
included in the enrollment, attendance, membership and,  if  applicable,
count  of students with disabilities of the school district in which the
pupil resides. The charter school shall report  all  such  data  to  the
school  districts  of residence in a timely manner. Each school district
shall report such enrollment, attendance  and  count  of  students  with
disabilities  to  the department. The school district of residence shall
pay directly to the charter school for  each  student  enrolled  in  the
charter  school  who  resides  in the school district the charter school
basic tuition, which shall be:
  (i) for school years prior to the two thousand nine--two thousand  ten
school year and for school years following the two thousand sixteen--two
thousand  seventeen  school year, an amount equal to one hundred percent
of the amount calculated pursuant to paragraph f of subdivision  one  of
section  thirty-six  hundred two of this chapter for the school district
for the year prior to the base year increased by the  percentage  change
in  the  state  total  approved operating expense calculated pursuant to
paragraph t of subdivision one of section thirty-six hundred two of this
chapter from two years prior to the base year  to  the  base  year;  THE
AMOUNT  OF  THE  APPROVED  OPERATING EXPENSE USED IN THE CREATION OF ALL
SUCH CALCULATIONS SHALL  BE  EQUAL  TO  THE  ACTUAL  APPROVED  OPERATING
EXPENSE OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF RESIDENCE FOR EACH PUPIL DETERMINED IN

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                           LBD10672-02-6

A. 9024                             2

ACCORDANCE  WITH THE GRADE LEVEL (OR OTHER EDUCATIONAL LEVEL CLASSIFICA-
TION USED BY THE DEPARTMENT AND APPROVED BY  THE  COMMISSIONER)  OF  THE
PUPIL  INSOFAR  AS  THE  DEPARTMENT  CONSIDERS THE GRADE LEVEL (OR OTHER
EDUCATIONAL  LEVEL CLASSIFICATION USED BY THE DEPARTMENT AND APPROVED BY
THE COMMISSIONER) OF THE PUPIL IN THE DETERMINATION OF APPROVED  OPERAT-
ING EXPENSE;
  (ii)  for  the  two  thousand  nine--two thousand ten school year, the
charter school basic  tuition  shall  be  the  amount  payable  by  such
district as charter school basic tuition for the two thousand eight--two
thousand nine school year;
  (iii)  for the two thousand ten--two thousand eleven through two thou-
sand thirteen--two thousand fourteen school years,  the  charter  school
basic  tuition  shall be the basic tuition computed for the two thousand
ten--two thousand eleven school  year  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of
subparagraph (i) of this paragraph;
  (iv) for the two thousand fourteen--two thousand fifteen, two thousand
fifteen--two  thousand  sixteen  and  two thousand sixteen--two thousand
seventeen school years, the charter school basic tuition  shall  be  the
sum  of  the lesser of the charter school basic tuition computed for the
two thousand ten--two  thousand  eleven  school  year  pursuant  to  the
provisions  of  subparagraph (i) of this paragraph or the charter school
basic tuition computed for the current year pursuant to  the  provisions
of  subparagraph  (i)  of  this  paragraph  plus  the supplemental basic
tuition.
  S 3. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of section 2854 of  the  education
law, as amended by section 3 of subpart A of part B of chapter 20 of the
laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:
  (b) Any child who is qualified under the laws of this state for admis-
sion  to a public school is qualified for admission to a charter school.
Applications for admission to a charter school shall be submitted  on  a
uniform  application  form  created  by the department and shall be made
available by a charter school in languages predominately spoken  in  the
community  in  which  such  charter  school is located. The school shall
enroll each eligible student who submits a  timely  application  by  the
first  day of April each year, unless the number of applications exceeds
the capacity of the grade level or building.  In  such  cases,  students
shall  be  accepted from among applicants by a random selection process,
provided, however, that an enrollment preference shall  be  provided  to
pupils  returning  to the charter school in the second or any subsequent
year of operation and pupils residing in the school  district  in  which
the  charter  school is located, and siblings of pupils already enrolled
in the charter school.   A CHARTER SCHOOL MAY  ESTABLISH  AN  ENROLLMENT
PREFERENCE  FOR  PUPILS  RESIDING  IN SCHOOL DISTRICTS CONTIGUOUS TO THE
SCHOOL DISTRICT IN WHICH THE CHARTER SCHOOL IS LOCATED, BUT SUCH PREFER-
ENCE SHALL NOT EXCEED THAT ESTABLISHED  FOR  STUDENTS  RESIDING  IN  THE
DISTRICT  IN  WHICH  THE  CHARTER  SCHOOL  IS  LOCATED. A CHARTER SCHOOL
LOCATED IN A SCHOOL DISTRICT WITH A POPULATION OF ONE  MILLION  OR  MORE
ALSO  MAY  ESTABLISH AN ENROLLMENT PREFERENCE FOR PUPILS RESIDING IN THE
COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, AS REFERENCED IN SUBDIVISION TWO  OF  SECTION
TWENTY-FIVE  HUNDRED NINETY-A OF THIS TITLE, OR FOR THE BOROUGH IN WHICH
THE CHARTER SCHOOL IS LOCATED, OR BOTH. Preference may also be  provided
to  children  of  employees  of the charter school or charter management
organization, provided that such children of employees may constitute no
more than fifteen percent of the charter school's total enrollment.  The
commissioner  shall  establish  regulations  to  require that the random
selection process conducted pursuant to this paragraph be performed in a

A. 9024                             3

transparent and equitable manner and to require that the time and  place
of  the  random  selection  process be publicized in a manner consistent
with the requirements of section one hundred four of the public officers
law  and  be  open to the public. For the purposes of this paragraph and
paragraph (a) of this subdivision, the  school  district  in  which  the
charter  school  is  located shall mean, for the city school district of
the city of New York, the community district in which the charter school
is located.
  S 4. This act shall take effect on the first of July  next  succeeding
the  date  on which it shall have become a law; provided that the amend-
ments to paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 2856 of the education
law made by section two of this act shall not affect the  expiration  of
such subdivision and shall be deemed to expire therewith.