Bill Allowing Charter Schools Crafted For Legislature Panel’s Proposal Limits Number To 60, 12 In Each Of Next 5 Years

A legislative committee is putting the final touches on a recommendation to the next Legislature to allow up to a dozen charter schools in Idaho next year.

After 10 meetings and two days of negotiations at the Statehouse ending Wednesday afternoon, the panel produced a bill that’s certain to generate controversy in the next legislative session.

When the measure is in final draft form, it will go before the Legislature’s Education committees when the session convenes in January.

The proposed legislation sets up a process whereby at least 30 patrons of a school or district can petition the local school board for permission to create a charter school. Charter schools operate without all the restrictions imposed on the regular school system, which is supposed to free administrators for innovation.

The proposal approved Wednesday allows up to 12 charter schools per year in each of the next five years, no more than 60 in all. There will be an attempt at geographic balance.

Public funds will be used to finance any charter schools, based on the same student attendance factors used to allocate public funds to regular schools.

An earlier proposal would have allowed parents or other groups to petition local school boards or the state superintendent of public instruction to create a public school.

The legislative panel, headed by Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, and Rep. Fred Tilman, R-Boise, voted Tuesday to eliminate the state superintendent from the process and allow only local school boards to approve charter schools.

Appeals will be heard first by a hearing officer and eventually by the state Board of Education.

The legislation says a charter school application must be signed by 60 percent of the teachers and 60 percent of the parents of pupils in a public school that may be converted to a charter school. If a new school is to be created, petitions must be signed by at least 30 people.

Charter schools will have to use certificated teachers, or apply for a waiver from the rule requiring them in public schools.