Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 603 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION › Title 603 CMR 1.00 - Charter Schools › Section 1.07 - Funding

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Horace Mann Charter
			 Schools
. Horace Mann charter schools shall be funded through the
			 local school district under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding. A
			 Horace Mann charter school shall submit a budget request to the local school
			 district annually, in accordance with the budget schedule of the local school
			 district and no later than April 1st. Such budget
			 request shall be submitted to the superintendent and school committee of the
			 district in which the charter school is located. The school committee shall act
			 on the charter school budget request in conjunction with its approval of the
			 district's overall budget. The board of trustees of the Horace Mann charter
			 school may expend such allocation as it sees fit without any further approval
			 by the superintendent or school committee. A Horace Mann charter school's
			 budget allocation shall be consistent with the allocation of other public
			 schools in the district. In the case of budget reductions in the school
			 district, a Horace Mann charter school's budget may not be reduced
			 disproportionately to other schools in the district. The Horace Mann charter
			 school board of trustees shall follow the dispute resolution procedures
			 outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding. The board of trustees may appeal a
			 disproportionate budget allocation to the Commissioner. The Commissioner then
			 shall determine an equitable funding level for the charter school and, if
			 appropriate, shall require the school committee to provide such
			 funding.
(2)
Commonwealth Charter Schools
. Every operating
			 Commonwealth charter school shall receive tuition payments from each school
			 district whose students attend the charter school. Such tuition payments shall
			 be equal to the appropriate charter school tuition rate, as determined in
			 accordance with 603 CMR 1.07(2)(a), multiplied by the number of students
			 attending the charter school from the sending district in the current year. If
			 any students attend the charter school for less than the full school year, the
			 tuition payment shall be reduced based on the number of days of enrollment.
			 Such tuition payments shall be paid in accordance with 603 CMR 1.07(2)(d).
(a)
Foundation Budget and
			 Commonwealth Charter Schools
. For each sending district, a
			 separate foundation budget dollar amount and charter school tuition rate shall
			 be calculated as follows for each charter school to which the district sends
			 students.
1. The foundation budget dollar
			 amount shall be calculated, based on the foundation budget factors used for the
			 distribution of Chapter 70 aid in the current year, provided that the
			 out-of-district special education tuition component of the foundation budget
			 shall be excluded from the calculation. The student data for this calculation
			 shall be the foundation enrollment information reported by the charter school
			 as of October 1st of the prior school year. The
			 tuition rate shall equal the foundation budget dollar amount divided by the
			 number of students. If no students attended a particular charter school from a
			 particular sending district in the prior year, then the sending district's
			 average foundation budget per pupil will be used as the tuition rate.
2. Each tuition rate shall be increased by
			 the ratio of the sending district's current year budgeted net school spending,
			 as reported on schedule 19 of the Department's end of year pupil and financial
			 returns, to the sending district's total current year foundation budget.
			 Amounts reported on schedule 19 for out-of-district special education tuition
			 and retired teachers' health insurance shall be excluded from this
			 calculation.
3. Each tuition rate
			 shall be increased by a per pupil capital needs component calculated in
			 accordance with M.G.L. c. 71, § 89(ff), and each year's general
			 appropriations act.