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AN ACT
RELATING TO CHARTER SCHOOL REQUIREMENTS; AMENDING SECTION
22-8B-6 NMSA 1978 (BEING LAWS 1999, CHAPTER 281, SECTION 6,
AS AMENDED) TO CLARIFY ENROLLMENT LIMITS; DECLARING AN
EMERGENCY.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 22-8B-6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1999,
Chapter 281, Section 6, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-8B-6. CHARTER SCHOOL REQUIREMENTS--APPLICATION
PROCESS--AUTHORIZATION--BOARD OF FINANCE DESIGNATION
REQUIRED.--
A. A local school board has the authority to
approve the establishment of a charter school within the
school district in which it is located.
B. At least one hundred eighty days prior to
initial application, the organizers of a proposed charter
school shall provide written notification to the commission
and the school district in which the charter school is
proposed to be located of intent to establish a charter
school. Failure to notify may result in an application not
being accepted.
C. A charter school applicant shall apply to
either a local school board or the commission for a charter.
If an application is submitted to a chartering authority, it
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must process the application. Applications for initial
charters shall be submitted by July 1 to be eligible for
consideration for the following fiscal year; provided that
the July 1 deadline may be waived upon agreement of the
applicant and the chartering authority.
D. An application shall include the total number
of grades the charter school proposes to provide, either
immediately or phased. A charter school may decrease the
number of grades it eventually offers, but it shall not
increase the number of grades or the total number of students
proposed to be served in each grade.
E. An application shall include a detailed
description of the charter school's projected capital outlay
needs, including projected requests for capital outlay
assistance.
F. An application for a start-up school may be
made by one or more teachers, parents or community members or
by a public post-secondary educational institution or
nonprofit organization. Municipalities, counties, private
post-secondary educational institutions and for-profit
business entities are not eligible to apply for or receive a
charter.
G. An initial application for a charter school
shall not be made after June 30, 2007 if the proposed charter
school's proposed enrollment for all grades or the proposed
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charter school's proposed enrollment for all grades in
combination with any other charter school's enrollment for
all grades would equal or exceed ten percent of the total MEM
of the school district in which the charter school will be
geographically located and that school district has a total
enrollment of not more than one thousand three hundred
students.
H. A state-chartered charter school shall not be
approved for operation unless its governing body has
qualified to be a board of finance.
I. The chartering authority shall receive and
review all applications for charter schools submitted to it.
The chartering authority shall not charge application fees.
J. The chartering authority shall hold at least
one public meeting in the school district in which the
charter school is proposed to be located to obtain
information and community input to assist it in its decision
whether to grant a charter school application. Community
input may include written or oral comments in favor of or in
opposition to the application from the applicant, the local
community and, for state-chartered charter schools, the local
school board and school district in whose geographical
boundaries the charter school is proposed to be located. The
chartering authority shall rule on the application for a
charter school in a public meeting within sixty days after
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receiving the application. If not ruled upon within sixty
days, the charter application shall be automatically reviewed
by the secretary in accordance with the provisions of Section
22-8B-7 NMSA 1978. The charter school applicant and the
chartering authority may, however, jointly waive the
deadlines set forth in this section.
K. A chartering authority may approve, approve
with conditions or deny an application. A chartering
authority may deny an application if:
(1) the application is incomplete or
inadequate;
(2) the application does not propose to
offer an educational program consistent with the requirements
and purposes of the Charter Schools Act;
(3) the proposed head administrator or other
administrative or fiscal staff was involved with another
charter school whose charter was denied or revoked for fiscal
mismanagement or the proposed head administrator or other
administrative or fiscal staff was discharged from a public
school for fiscal mismanagement;
(4) for a proposed state-chartered charter
school, it does not request to have the governing body of the
charter school designated as a board of finance or the
governing body does not qualify as a board of finance; or
(5) the application is otherwise contrary to
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the best interests of the charter school's projected
students, the local community or the school district in whose
geographic boundaries the charter school applies to operate.
L. If the chartering authority denies a charter
school application or approves the application with
conditions, it shall state its reasons for the denial or
conditions in writing within fourteen days of the meeting.
If the chartering authority grants a charter, the approved
charter shall be provided to the applicant together with any
imposed conditions.
M. A charter school that has received a notice
from the chartering authority denying approval of the charter
shall have a right to a hearing by the secretary as provided
in Section 22-8B-7 NMSA 1978."
Section 2. TEMPORARY PROVISION--TRANSITION.--
Notwithstanding the effective date of the Charter Schools Act
of July 1, 2007, no school district shall approve an
application for a new charter school in a district with a
total student membership of one thousand three hundred
students or less until the effective date of the Charter
Schools Act.
Section 3. EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public
peace, health and safety that this act take effect
immediately.