I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1639 
To amend the charter school programs under the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 25, 2015 
Mr. TAKANO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the charter school programs under the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act of 1965. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Charter School Trans-
parency, Accountability, and Quality Act’’. 
SEC. 2. REFERENCES. 
Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in 
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 
of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi-
sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a 
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section or other provision of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.). 
SEC. 3. STATE PLANS. 
Section 1111(c) (20 U.S.C. 6311(c)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (13), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
(2) in paragraph (14) by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(15) any State educational agency with a 
charter school law will support high-quality public 
charter schools that receive funds under this title 
by— 
‘‘(A) ensuring the quality of the authorized 
public chartering agencies in the State by es-
tablishing— 
‘‘(i) a system of periodic evaluation 
and certification of public chartering agen-
cies using nationally recognized profes-
sional standards; or 
‘‘(ii) a statewide, independent char-
tering agency that meets nationally recog-
nized professional standards; and 
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‘‘(B) including in the procedure established 
pursuant to subparagraph (A) requirements 
for— 
‘‘(i) the annual filing and public re-
porting of independently audited financial 
statements including disclosure of amount 
and duration of any nonpublic financial 
and in-kind contributions of support, by 
each public chartering agency, for each 
school authorized by such agency, and by 
each local educational agency and the 
State; 
‘‘(ii) the adoption and enforcement of 
employee compensation and conflict of in-
terest guidelines for all schools authorized, 
which shall include disclosure of executive 
pay and affiliated parties with a financial 
interest in the management, operations, or 
contractual obligations of a charter school; 
and 
‘‘(iii) a legally binding charter or per-
formance contract between each charter 
school and the school’s authorized public 
chartering agency that— 
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‘‘(I) describes the rights, duties, 
and remedies of the school and the 
public chartering agency; and 
‘‘(II) for each student subgroup 
described in subsection (b)(2)(C)(v), 
bases charter renewal and revocation 
decisions on an accountability plan 
based on the statewide State account-
ability system described in section 
1111(b)(2).’’. 
SEC. 4. PURPOSE. 
Section 5201 (20 U.S.C. 7221) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 
(3); 
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (4) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at end the following: 
‘‘(5) carrying out national activities to sup-
port— 
‘‘(A) stronger charter school authorizing; 
and 
‘‘(B) the dissemination of best practices of 
charter schools for all schools.’’. 
SEC. 5. APPLICATIONS. 
Section 5203 (20 U.S.C. 7221b) is amended— 
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(1) in subsection (b)(2)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-
paragraph (B); 
(B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-
paragraph (C); 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(D) will ensure that each charter school 
in the State makes publicly available informa-
tion on student support services, and annual 
performance and enrollment data disaggregated 
by the categories of students identified in sec-
tion 
1111(b)(2)(C)(v), 
except 
that 
such 
disaggregation shall not be required in a case in 
which the number of students in a category is 
insufficient to yield statistically reliable infor-
mation or the results would reveal personally 
identifiable information about an individual stu-
dent; 
‘‘(E) will ensure that each charter school 
board in the State has the right to provide fis-
cal oversight of the education management or-
ganization that it contracts with; 
‘‘(F) will work with charter schools in the 
State on efforts to recruit students who may 
otherwise have limited opportunities to partici-
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pate in charter schools and eliminate barriers to 
enrollment, including for educationally dis-
advantaged students, foster youth, and unac-
companied homeless youth; 
‘‘(G) will ensure that each charter school 
receiving funds under the State educational 
agency’s charter school grant program meet the 
educational needs of its students, including stu-
dents with disabilities and English learners; 
‘‘(H) will provide technical assistance to 
each charter school to recruit, enroll, and retain 
traditionally underserved students, including 
students with disabilities and English learners, 
at rates similar to traditional public schools; 
and 
‘‘(I) will share best and promising prac-
tices between charter schools and other public 
schools, including, where appropriate, instruc-
tion and professional development in core aca-
demic subjects, and science, technology, engi-
neering, and math education; and’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sub-
part shall prohibit the Secretary from awarding grants to 
State educational agencies under this part that use a 
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weighted lottery to give slightly better chances for admis-
sion to all, or a subset of, educationally disadvantaged stu-
dents if— 
‘‘(1) the use of weighted lotteries in favor of 
such students is not prohibited by State law, and 
such State law is consistent with laws described in 
section 5210(1)(G); and 
‘‘(2) such weighted lotteries are not used for 
the purpose of creating schools exclusively to serve 
a particular subset of students.’’. 
SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATION. 
Section 5204(f)(6)(A) (20 U.S.C. 7221c(f)(6)(A)) is 
amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (ii); 
(2) by striking the period at the end of clause 
(iii); and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(iv) community involvement during 
the development and operation of the 
school; 
‘‘(v) has had 3 successful consecutive 
annual audits that have not indicated fiscal 
difficulties as defined by typical accounting 
standards; and 
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‘‘(vi) has maintained a student popu-
lation demographically similar to the local 
educational agency that is closest geo-
graphically to the charter school or in 
which the charter school is located.’’. 
SEC. 7. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES. 
Section 5205(a)(2) (20 U.S.C. 7221d(a)(2))— 
(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 
by inserting ‘‘and the local educational agency that 
is closest geographically to the charter school or in 
which the charter school is located’’ before ‘‘, includ-
ing information regarding’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara-
graph (A); 
(3) by striking the period at the end of sub-
paragraph (B) and inserting a semicolon; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) the impact of charter schools on the 
finances of local educational agencies; 
‘‘(D) demographic trends in enrollment in 
both the traditional public school and charter 
school sectors; 
‘‘(E) increasing or easing segregation of 
students within the two sectors; and 
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‘‘(F) the representation of students with 
special needs in either sector.’’. 
Æ 
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