La. Admin. Code tit. 28 § CXLV-505

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section CXLV-505 - Return of Schools to Local School Board

A. Schools transferred to the jurisdiction of RSD shall remain with the RSD for a period of not less than five years.

1. A school that has been under the jurisdiction of the RSD for a minimum of five years as either a direct-run RSD school or a type 5 charter school may be returned to the jurisdiction of its former local school board based upon the RSD's report and recommendation to BESE. The RSDs report shall include the following:

a. the status of the school, the nature of its faculty and administration, the demographics and size of the student body, its organizational and management structure, whether student academic performance has improved, the amount of any improvement, an explanation of why student academic performance has or has not improved, and to what extent performance targets were achieved;

b. the RSD report shall also include a recommendation as to whether the school should:

i. remain within the RSD in the same operational status;

ii. remain within the RSD in a new operational status;

iii. close, with the reasons why it should close; or

iv. return to the jurisdiction of its former local school board, with proposed stipulations and conditions for the return.

B. Eligible Type 5 Charter Schools

1. An eligible type 5 charter school board may elect to transfer from the RSD and return to the jurisdiction of its former local school board as a type 3b charter school. If the charter school board chooses not to transfer to its former local school board, it will automatically remain within the RSD for an additional school year. The charter school board shall have the opportunity to choose to return to its former local school board every year the charter school continues to meet eligibility criteria, in accordance with the procedures outlined below.

2. A non-failing charter school is eligible for transfer from the jurisdiction of the recovery school district provided it meets all of the following.

a. The charter school will have been under the jurisdiction of the Recovery School District for a minimum of five years. A charter school shall be considered to have been under the jurisdiction of the RSD for five years when five complete school years have passed since the approval of the transfer to the RSD by BESE under R.S. 17:10.5 or 17:10.7, regardless of changing operators or site codes for the charter school since that time. The decision to transfer will be considered at the earliest during the charter school's fifth year under the jurisdiction of the RSD, with the proposed transfer occurring at the conclusion of that same school year.

b. The charter school has earned for the past two consecutive years a school performance score (SPS) of 54.0 or above. If the academically unacceptable school (AUS) bar is raised above 50.0, then the charter school must have earned for the past two consecutive years a school performance score that is at least 4.0 points above the AUS bar as established by BESE pursuant to the statewide school and district accountability system. Should the charter school change operators, an SPS of 54.0 or above under the final year of the former operator and an SPS of 54.0 or above under the new operator the next consecutive year shall still meet this requirement.

i. In order to be eligible to choose to transfer from the jurisdiction of the RSD, charter schools comprised entirely of grades below ninth grade shall have two consecutive school performance scores of 54.0 or above based on test data from students actually attending that charter school, rather than test data from a paired school. For charter schools comprised entirely of grades above eighth grade, both consecutive school performance scores of 54.0 or above shall include ACT data for students actually attending the charter school, and at least one of the school performance scores shall include graduation index and graduation rate data for students actually attending the charter school.

c. In order for a charter school in the final year of its current charter contract term to be eligible to choose to transfer from the jurisdiction of the RSD, the charter school must be renewed for the upcoming school year by BESE pursuant to the charter renewal process in Bulletin 126. The charter school board may still take official board action to seek to return to the local school board prior to being renewed by BESE, but final eligibility to return shall be contingent upon BESE approving a renewal for the charter school.

d. The charter school board elects to seek transfer from the RSD and has notified BESE in writing, no later than the deadline set by the RSD each year preceding the effective date of the proposed transfer.

e. The charter school board shall take official board action based on a vote of its membership, at a charter school board meeting in accordance with its by-laws and state open meetings law to provide BESE with written notification of desire to transfer the charter school from the jurisdiction of the RSD to the jurisdiction of its former local school board as a type 3B charter school. Such notice shall state whether the charter school desires to remain an independent local education agency (LEA) or have the former local school board serve as the charter schools LEA.

3. The transfer of a type 5 charter school from the RSD shall become effective on July 1 of the year following BESE's approval of such transfer.

4. Upon receiving notice from an eligible type 5 charter school board of its desire to seek to transfer the charter school to its former local school board by a deadline set each year by the RSD, BESE shall consider the transfer request for approval. BESE may require additional transfer conditions to be completed by the charter school prior to approval of the transfer at a later BESE meeting preceding the proposed transfer.

5. BESE shall only approve a charter school board request to transfer to the charter school to the jurisdiction to of the local school board if the following requirements are met:

a. the local school board provides BESE with written notice, in accordance with the deadlines established by the RSD, that official board action has been taken to accept jurisdiction of the charter school as a type 3B charter school, pending approval of the transfer by BESE; and

b. the charter school board submits a copy of the type 3B charter contract signed by the local school board and the charter operator to BESE prior to approval of the transfer. In order for BESE to grant approval of the transfer, new charter contract, to be effective on the date of transfer (July 1), and any subsequent renewal charter contracts must:

i. be consistent with all state and federal laws governing charter school authorization;

ii. contain academic performance standards for the initial and first renewal term lengths that are equal to or greater than type 5 charter school performance standards as enumerated in BESE Bulletin 126, §519;

iii. comply with any transfer conditions previously specified by BESE;

iv. permit the charter school to remain in its facility or designate an alternative facility for use by the charter school;

v. prohibit the charter school from establishing admissions requirements; and

vi. require any charter school that participated as a type 5 charter school in unified processes common to other public schools located in the same parish or school district boundaries that are critical to providing equity and access to students and families to continue to participate in such processes. At a minimum, the contract shall require the charter school to:

(a). continue to participate in any unified enrollment system and expulsion process established by the RSD for the parish or region where the charter school is located. The charter school shall follow all policies and procedures applicable to type 5 charter schools participating in the enrollment system and expulsion process; and

(b). continue to provide transportation services for students who reside more than one mile from the school.

C. Unification of Schools Pursuant to R.S. 17:10.7.1

1. No sooner than July 1, 2018, and no later than July 1, 2019, type 5 charter schools located in Orleans Parish shall be transferred to the jurisdiction of the Orleans Parish School Board pursuant to the timelines and procedures detailed in R.S. 17:10.7.1.

2. The transfer of charter schools from the RSD to the Orleans Parish School Board pursuant to R.S. 17:10.7.1 shall occur on July 1, 2018, unless such transfer is postponed by a majority vote of the full membership of the Orleans Parish School Board or the full membership of BESE.

3. BESE or the Orleans Parish School Board may approve such postponement only if one or more of the following apply.

a. The Orleans Parish School Board is not financially stable.

b. The Orleans Parish School Board lacks a comprehensive expulsion and reentry program for students.

c. The Orleans Parish School Board cannot assure the stability of employee retirement benefits.

d. The Orleans Parish School Board cannot ensure or provide sufficient insurance coverage.

e. The superintendent for the Orleans Parish School Board and the superintendent of the RSD provide written certification that it is not feasible to meet the time lines, tasks, and benchmarks established in the plan to effect the return of schools from the Recovery School District to the jurisdiction of the Orleans Parish School Board as provided in R.S. 17:10.7.1.

f. The advisory committee created pursuant to R.S. 17:10.7.1, by a majority vote of its full membership, officially requests the Orleans Parish School Board or BESE consider such postponement.

4. Any action taken by the Orleans Parish School Board or BESE to postpone the final transfer of schools from the RSD to the Orleans Parish School Board must occur no later than January 31, 2018, and in no instance shall such postponement extend the final transfer date beyond July 1, 2019.

La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § CXLV-505

Promulgated by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, LR 37:878 (March 2011), amended LR 38:354 (February 2012), LR 38:1396 (June 2012), LR 39:82 (January 2013), LR 39:1022 (April 2013), LR 39:3255 (December 2013), Amended LR 42551 (4/1/2016), Amended LR 421869 (11/1/2016).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 17:6(A)(10), R.S. 17:10.5(A)(1), R.S. 17:10.7(A)(1), R.S. 17:1990(A)(2), R.S. 17:10.5(C), and R.S. 17:10.7(C).