Section 20-2-154.1 - [Effective Until 7/1/2024] Alternative education programs; alternative charter schools; intent; description; requirements; designation; funding; effectiveness(a) It is the policy of this state that the alternative education program shall provide a learning environment that includes the objectives of the content standards and that the instruction in an alternative education program shall enable students to return to a general or career education program as quickly as possible. Course credit shall be earned in an alternative education program in the same manner as in other education programs. It is the policy of this state that it is preferable to reassign disruptive students to an alternative education program rather than suspending or expelling such students from school.(b) Alternative education programs are intended to meet the education needs of a student who is suspended from his or her regular classroom and also of a student who is eligible to remain in his or her regular classroom but is more likely to succeed in a nontraditional setting such as that provided in an alternative education program.(c) As part of the process of assigning a student to an alternative education program for academic or nondisciplinary reasons, the school shall assess, through policies and procedures promulgated by the local board of education, the needs of the student and consider options for addressing those needs.(d) Each local school system shall provide an alternative education program that: (1) Is provided in a setting other than a student's regular classroom;(2) Is located on or off of a regular school campus and may include in-school suspension that provides continued progress on regular classroom assignments;(3) Provides for disruptive students who are assigned to the alternative education program to be separated from nondisruptive students who are assigned to the program;(4) Focuses on English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and self-discipline;(5) Provides for students' educational and behavioral needs; and(6) Provides supervision and counseling.(e) An alternative education program may provide for a student's transfer to a different campus, a school-community guidance center, or a community based alternative school.(f) A local school system may provide an alternative education program jointly with one or more other systems.(g) Each local school system shall cooperate with government agencies and community organizations that provide services in the school district to students placed in an alternative education program.(h) The amount of state funds appropriated and allocated for the alternative education program provided for in this Code section shall be based on the actual count of students served during the preceding year, except that the count of students served shall not exceed 2.5 percent of the sum of the full-time equivalent program count of the middle school program, the high school general education program (grades nine through 12), and the career, technical, and agricultural education laboratory program (grades nine through 12). Funds earned may be expended in kindergarten and in grades one through 12.(i) A local school system shall allocate to an alternative education program the same expenditure for each student attending the alternative education program, including federal, state, and local funds, that would be allocated to the student's school if the student were attending the student's regularly assigned education program, including a special education program, except as otherwise provided in this Code section.(j) Upon the request of a local school system, a regional educational service agency may provide to the system information on developing an alternative education program that takes into consideration the system's size, wealth, and existing facilities in determining the program best suited to the system.(k) If a student placed in an alternative education program enrolls in another local school system before the expiration of the period of placement, the local board of education requiring the placement shall provide to the local school system in which the student enrolls, at the same time other records of the student are provided, a copy of the placement order. The local school system in which the student enrolls may continue the alternative education program placement under the terms of the order or may allow the student to attend regular classes without completing the period of placement.(l)(1) As used in this subsection, the term:(A) "Alternative charter school" means a local charter school authorized by one or more local school systems, as provided for in Article 31 of this chapter, which provides an alternative education program, as provided for in this Code section, and which provides programs and services focused on dropout recovery or high school credit recovery.(B) "Charter petitioner" means one or more private individuals, private organizations, state or local public entities, or adult learning providers, or any group of these working in cooperation, that submits or initiates a petition to establish an alternative charter school as a local charter school pursuant to Article 31 of this chapter.(C) "System-collaborative state charter school" means a charter school previously authorized by the State Charter Schools Commission that, until or before June 30, 2021, provided programs and services for dropout recovery or high school credit recovery and was governed by a board of directors which may have included personnel of the local board or boards of education from the geographic region which the charter school served.(2)(A) The State Board of Education and the Department of Education, in consultation with authorizing local school system or systems, shall establish a process to designate alternative charter schools. Any designation process established pursuant to this subparagraph shall, in addition to meeting the requirements provided for in Code Section 20-2-2063, require the charter petitioner to demonstrate how the proposed alternative charter school will increase graduation opportunities for traditional high school students, decrease dropout rates in local school systems, and provide high school credit recovery opportunities.(B)(i) Each system-collaborative charter school that did not transition to become an alternative charter school by July 1, 2021, shall operate as a state chartered special school, as defined in Code Section 20-2-2062, authorized directly by the State Board of Education, subject to the provisions of divisions (ii) through (v) of this subparagraph.(ii) For the duration of its current charter with the State Board of Education, each school that transitioned from operating as a system-collaborative state charter school to operating as a state chartered special school as provided for in division (i) of this subparagraph shall be permitted to continue operating as a state chartered special school until the expiration of its current charter with the State Board of Education; provided, however, that each such school shall operate subject to the provisions of Article 31 of this chapter and other applicable laws. For the duration of its current charter with the State Board of Education, each such school shall be eligible to receive funding directly from the State Board of Education in an amount equal to the amount such school would have received pursuant to Code Section 20-2-2089 had such school continued to operate as a system-collaborative state charter school, except as provided for in division (i) of subparagraph (C) of this paragraph; provided, however, that such funding eligibility shall be calculated pro rata based upon when such school commenced operating as a state chartered special school as determined by the State Board of Education. Such funding shall not increase in subsequent fiscal years.(iii) On or before July 1, 2023, each school that transitioned from operating as a system-collaborative state charter school to operating as a state chartered special school as provided for in division (i) of this subparagraph shall elect either to be established as a completion special school as provided for in Article 31C of this chapter or to cease operating as a state chartered special school upon the expiration of its current charter with the State Board of Education. Upon being established as a completion special school as provided for in Article 31C of this chapter, a school that transitioned from operating as a system-collaborative state charter school to operating as a state chartered special school as provided for in division (i) of this subparagraph shall no longer operate as state chartered special school or receive funding as provided for in this subsection.(iv) The State Board of Education shall not approve any expansion of the current attendance zone for each state chartered special school provided for in this subparagraph.(v) The Department of Education shall provide administrative and technical support and shall be authorized to allocate funds, including state funds, federal funds, proceeds of general obligation debt, or any other available funds, for any school that transitions from operating as a system-collaborative state charter school to operating as a state chartered special school, as provided for in division (i) of this subparagraph, for purposes directly related to such transition to and operation as a state chartered special school for the duration of such school's current charter contract; provided, however, that such funding shall not continue after the expiration of each such school's charter with the State Board of Education. The Department of Education may withhold up to 2 percent of the amount of funding provided pursuant to division (ii) of this subparagraph for each school that transitions from operating as a system-collaborative state charter school to operating as a state chartered special school, as provided for in division (i) of this subparagraph, for use in administering the duties required pursuant to this subsection; provided, however, that any amount withheld pursuant to this subdivision shall be spent solely on expenses incurred by the Department of Education in performing the duties required by this subsection.(C)(i) The State Board of Education shall not provide for the expansion, extension, renewal, or replication of former system-collaborative state charter schools as state chartered special schools; provided, however, that any school site opened after July 1, 2021, shall be located within or contiguous to the same regional educational service agency service area where the former system-collaborative state charter school's headquarters were located on January 1, 2021. School sites opened by a former system-collaborative state charter school after July 1, 2021, pursuant to this division shall not be included in the calculation of such former system-collaborative state charter school's funding provided for in division (ii) of subparagraph (B) of this paragraph; provided, however, that such school sites shall be eligible to receive QBE formula earnings, as that term is defined in Code Section 20-2-2062.(ii) Notwithstanding any provision of the law to the contrary, no system-collaborative state charter school shall be eligible for the extension or renewal of its charter with the State Charter Schools Commission, and no state chartered special school established pursuant to subparagraph (B) of this paragraph shall be eligible for the extension or renewal of its current charter with the State Board of Education.(3) The Department of Education, in collaboration with the Office of Student Achievement, shall be responsible for collecting and analyzing appropriate data from and about alternative charter schools on matters consisting of, but not limited to, alternative charter school effectiveness.(4) Pursuant to an intragovernmental agreement between a student's resident local school system and the local school system or systems which authorized the alternative charter school, alternative charter schools shall be authorized to enroll students from local school systems other than the local school system or systems which authorized the alternative charter school; provided, however, that students who reside in the authorizing local school system or systems of the alternative charter school shall be prioritized over students who reside outside of such system or systems.(5) This subsection shall stand repealed on June 30, 2024.(m) The State Board of Education shall adopt rules necessary to administer the provisions of this Code section. Academically, the mission of alternative education programs shall be to enable students to perform at grade level. Annually, the Office of Student Achievement shall define for alternative education programs acceptable performance and performance indicating a need for peer review, based principally on standards defined by the Office of Student Achievement that measure the academic progress of students toward performing at grade level while attending an alternative education program.Amended by 2023 Ga. Laws 353,§ 7, eff. 7/1/2023.Amended by 2023 Ga. Laws 342,§ 1, eff. 5/4/2023.Amended by 2021 Ga. Laws 156,§ 2, eff. 7/1/2021.Amended by 2015 Ga. Laws 241,§ 8, eff. 7/1/2015.Amended by 2013 Ga. Laws 335,§ 7, eff. 7/1/2013.Amended by 2009 Ga. Laws 8,§ 20, eff. 4/14/2009.Amended by 2004 Ga. Laws 449, § 22, eff. 5/4/2004.Amended by 2001 Ga. Laws 29, § 3, eff. 4/9/2001.This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.