05- 071 C.M.R. ch. 140, § 5

Current through 2024-44, October 30, 2024

Section 071-140-5 - OTHER; GENERAL

1. Petition for conversion of a non-charter public school

A person or entity that intends to seek conversion of a non-charter public school to a public charter school must collect the required number of signatures on petitions to support the conversion, as provided in Title 20-A section 2406, subsection 2, paragraph G. A school administrative unit must provide a reasonable opportunity for the person or entity to communicate with each teacher and parent about the petition, and to seek signatures, without disclosing confidential information about teachers, students or their families. For example, an SAU may allow a person seeking petition signatures to send notice home to parents in the same manner that the school sends information home to parents about other school matters.

A school administrative unit shall determine whether sufficient signatures have been collected on the petition as follows.

A. The number of signatures required to meet the standard for a majority of teachers in the existing non-charter school is determined by the number of teachers employed full-time on the date 45 days before the petition is submitted to the authorizer.

B. To meet the standard for obtaining signatures from a majority of parents of students in the existing non-charter school, the petition must contain signatures from all parents and legal guardians of record of a majority of the students in the school. The number of students in the school is determined as of the date 45 days before the petition is submitted to the authorizer. If a student has more than one parent or legal guardian of record, the petition must be signed by each parent and legal guardian to be considered valid; signatures from more than one parent or guardian of a single student are counted as one signature.

2. Voter approval of conversion

As provided in Title 20-A, section 2406, subsection 2(G), a conversion public charter school that is the only public school option for students in one or more grade levels in the SAU must be approved by referendum. In a SAU that is a municipal school unit, the referendum must be conducted in accordance with Title 30-A, sections 2528 to 2532 or section 2551, as applicable, except as otherwise required by municipal charter. In other SAUs, the referendum must be conducted in accordance with Title 20-A, chapter 103-A, subchapter 5, except that in a community school district with a separate district school committee and board of trustees, the referendum must be called by the district school committee.

05- 071 C.M.R. ch. 140, § 5