Source: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/2008/cite/124D.10
Timestamp: 2020-08-12 09:34:35
Document Index: 8260241

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 3', 'art 9', 'art 12', 'art 9', 'art 14', 'art 2', 'art 9', 'art 9', 'art 16', 'art 4', 'art 5', 'art 2', 'art 11', 'art 2', 'art 5', 'art 5', 'art 6', 'art 2', 'art 2', 'art 12', 'art 2', 'art 2', 'art 2', 'art 2']

Subd. 2a.Charter School Advisory Council.
(a) A Charter School Advisory Council is established under section 15.059 except that the term for each council member shall be three years. The advisory council is composed of seven members from throughout the state who have demonstrated experience with or interest in charter schools. The members of the council shall be appointed by the commissioner. The advisory council shall bring to the attention of the commissioner any matters related to charter schools that the council deems necessary and shall:
(1) encourage school boards to make full use of charter school opportunities;
Subd. 3.Sponsor.
(a) A school board; intermediate school district school board; education district organized under sections 123A.15 to 123A.19; charitable organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that is a member of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits or the Minnesota Council on Foundations, registered with the attorney general's office, and reports an end-of-year fund balance of at least $2,000,000; Minnesota private college that grants two- or four-year degrees and is registered with the Minnesota Office of Higher Education under chapter 136A; community college, state university, or technical college, governed by the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities; or the University of Minnesota may sponsor one or more charter schools.
(b) A nonprofit corporation subject to chapter 317A, described in section 317A.905, and exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, may sponsor one or more charter schools if the charter school has operated for at least three years under a different sponsor and if the nonprofit corporation has existed for at least 25 years.
(a) A sponsor may authorize one or more licensed teachers under section 122A.18, subdivision 1, to operate a charter school subject to approval by the commissioner. A board must vote on charter school application for sponsorship no later than 90 days after receiving the application. The school must be organized and operated as a cooperative under chapter 308A or nonprofit corporation under chapter 317A and the provisions under the applicable chapter shall apply to the school except as provided in this section. Notwithstanding sections 465.717 and 465.719, a school district may create a corporation for the purpose of creating a charter school.
(a) A member of a charter school board of directors is prohibited from serving as a member of the board of directors or as an employee or agent of or a contractor with a for-profit entity with whom the charter school contracts, directly or indirectly, for professional services, goods, or facilities. A violation of this prohibition renders a contract voidable at the option of the commissioner. A member of a charter school board of directors who violates this prohibition shall be individually liable to the charter school for any damage caused by the violation.
A board may convert one or more of its existing schools to charter schools under this section if 60 percent of the full-time teachers at the school sign a petition seeking conversion. The conversion must occur at the beginning of an academic year.
The sponsor's authorization for a charter school must be in the form of a written contract signed by the sponsor and the board of directors of the charter school. The contract must be completed within 90 days of the commissioner's approval of the sponsor's proposed authorization. The contract for a charter school must be in writing and contain at least the following:
The charter school must submit an audit report to the commissioner by December 31 each year. The charter school, with the assistance of the auditor conducting the audit, must include with the report a copy of all charter school agreements for corporate management services. If the entity that provides the professional services to the charter school is exempt from taxation under section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, that entity must file with the commissioner by February 15 a copy of the annual return required under section 6033 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. If the commissioner receives as part of the audit report a management letter indicating that a material weakness exists in the financial reporting systems of a charter school, the charter school must submit a written report to the commissioner explaining how the material weakness will be resolved. Upon the request of an individual, the charter school must make available in a timely fashion the minutes of meetings of members, the board of directors, and committees having any of the authority of the board of directors, and statements showing the financial result of all operations and transactions affecting income and surplus during the school's last annual accounting period and a balance sheet containing a summary of its assets and liabilities as of the closing date of the accounting period.
A charter school is a public school and is part of the state's system of public education. Except as provided in this section, a charter school is exempt from all statutes and rules applicable to a school, a board, or a district, although it may elect to comply with one or more provisions of statutes or rules.
Subd. 8.State and local requirements.
(a) A charter school shall meet all applicable state and local health and safety requirements.
(2) people who are eligible to participate in the graduation incentives program under section 124D.68; or
(3) residents of a specific geographic area where the percentage of the population of non-Caucasian people of that area is greater than the percentage of the non-Caucasian population in the congressional district in which the geographic area is located, and as long as the school reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of the specific area.
A charter school must design its programs to at least meet the outcomes adopted by the commissioner for public school students. In the absence of the commissioner's requirements, the school must meet the outcomes contained in the contract with the sponsor. The achievement levels of the outcomes contained in the contract may exceed the achievement levels of any outcomes adopted by the commissioner for public school students.
A charter school must employ or contract with necessary teachers, as defined by section 122A.15, subdivision 1, who hold valid licenses to perform the particular service for which they are employed in the school. The charter school's state aid may be reduced under section 127A.42 if the school employs a teacher who is not appropriately licensed or approved by the board of teaching. The school may employ necessary employees who are not required to hold teaching licenses to perform duties other than teaching and may contract for other services. The school may discharge teachers and nonlicensed employees. A person, without holding a valid administrator's license, may perform administrative, supervisory, or instructional leadership duties.
The board of directors also shall decide matters related to the operation of the school, including budgeting, curriculum and operating procedures.
A charter school must report at least annually to its sponsor and the commissioner the information required by the sponsor or the commissioner. The reports are public data under chapter 13.
(a) The department must review and comment on the evaluation, by the sponsor, of the performance of a charter school before the charter school's contract is renewed for another contract term. The sponsor must submit to the commissioner timely information for the review and comment.
A charter school may lease space from a board eligible to be a sponsor or other public or private nonprofit nonsectarian organization. If a charter school is unable to lease appropriate space from an eligible board or other public or private nonprofit nonsectarian organization, the school may lease space from another nonsectarian organization if the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Administration, approves the lease. If the school is unable to lease appropriate space from public or private nonsectarian organizations, the school may lease space from a sectarian organization if the leased space is constructed as a school facility and the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Administration, approves the lease.
Subd. 18.Authority to raise initial working capital.
A sponsor may authorize a charter school before the applicant has secured its space, equipment, facilities, and personnel if the applicant indicates the authority is necessary for it to raise working capital. A sponsor may not authorize a school before the commissioner has approved the authorization.
The sponsor, the operators, and the Department of Education must disseminate information to the public on how to form and operate a charter school and how to utilize the offerings of a charter school. Particular groups to be targeted include low-income families and communities, and students of color.
If a teacher employed by a district makes a written request for an extended leave of absence to teach at a charter school, the district must grant the leave. The district must grant a leave not to exceed a total of five years. Any request to extend the leave shall be granted only at the discretion of the school board. The district may require that the request for a leave or extension of leave be made up to 90 days before the teacher would otherwise have to report for duty. Except as otherwise provided in this subdivision and except for section 122A.46, subdivision 7, the leave is governed by section 122A.46, including, but not limited to, reinstatement, notice of intention to return, seniority, salary, and insurance.
During a leave, the teacher may continue to aggregate benefits and credits in the Teachers' Retirement Association account by paying both the employer and employee contributions based upon the annual salary of the teacher for the last full pay period before the leave began. The retirement association may impose reasonable requirements to efficiently administer this subdivision.
Employees of the board of directors of a charter school may, if otherwise eligible, organize under chapter 179A and comply with its provisions. The board of directors of a charter school is a public employer, for the purposes of chapter 179A, upon formation of one or more bargaining units at the school. Bargaining units at the school must be separate from any other units within the sponsoring district, except that bargaining units may remain part of the appropriate unit within the sponsoring district, if the employees of the school, the board of directors of the school, the exclusive representative of the appropriate unit in the sponsoring district, and the board of the sponsoring district agree to include the employees in the appropriate unit of the sponsoring district.
(a) The duration of the contract with a sponsor must be for the term contained in the contract according to subdivision 6. The sponsor may or may not renew a contract at the end of the term for any ground listed in paragraph (b). A sponsor may unilaterally terminate a contract during the term of the contract for any ground listed in paragraph (b). At least 60 days before not renewing or terminating a contract, the sponsor shall notify the board of directors of the charter school of the proposed action in writing. The notice shall state the grounds for the proposed action in reasonable detail and that the charter school's board of directors may request in writing an informal hearing before the sponsor within 14 days of receiving notice of nonrenewal or termination of the contract. Failure by the board of directors to make a written request for a hearing within the 14-day period shall be treated as acquiescence to the proposed action. Upon receiving a timely written request for a hearing, the sponsor shall give reasonable notice to the charter school's board of directors of the hearing date. The sponsor shall conduct an informal hearing before taking final action. The sponsor shall take final action to renew or not renew a contract by the last day of classes in the school year. If the sponsor is a local board, the school's board of directors may appeal the sponsor's decision to the commissioner.
(a) A charter school is prohibited from entering a lease of real property with a related party as defined in subdivision 26, unless the lessor is a nonprofit corporation under chapter 317A or a cooperative under chapter 308A, and the lease cost is reasonable under section 124D.11, subdivision 4, clause (1).
(b) A lease of real property to be used for a charter school, not excluded in paragraph (a), must contain the following statement: "This lease is subject to Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.10, subdivision 23a."
(c) If a charter school enters into as lessee a lease with a related party and the charter school subsequently closes, the commissioner has the right to recover from the lessor any lease payments in excess of those that are reasonable under section 124D.11, subdivision 4, clause (1).
Subd. 26.Definitions.
For purposes of this section and section 124D.11:
1991 c 265 art 3 s 38; art 9 s 3; 1992 c 499 art 12 s 1; 1993 c 224 art 9 s 2-12; art 14 s 16; 1994 c 465 art 2 s 1; 1994 c 647 art 9 s 1,2; 1Sp1995 c 3 art 9 s 2; art 16 s 13; 1996 c 412 art 4 s 2; 1Sp1997 c 4 art 5 s 5-9; 1998 c 397 art 2 s 2-21,164; art 11 s 3; 1998 c 398 art 2 s 4; art 5 s 3,55; 1999 c 241 art 5 s 7-11; 2000 c 489 art 6 s 18-23; 1Sp2001 c 6 art 2 s 20-26,66; 2002 c 352 s 10; 2003 c 120 s 3; 2003 c 130 s 12; 1Sp2003 c 9 art 2 s 21-25; art 12 s 10,11; 2005 c 107 art 2 s 60; 1Sp2005 c 5 art 2 s 59-62; 2006 c 263 art 2 s 15; 2007 c 146 art 2 s 23-25,47