[complete report]

LAW

Year Passed

1998; last amended in 2008.

Rank

17th weakest of the nation's 40 charter laws.

Grade

C

GENERAL DATA

• Low cap has stunted growth

• Independent authorizer allowed to approve only certain types of schools

• Highly regulatory environment

MULTIPLE AUTHORIZERS - YES (2)

Approval

School boards may approve both new charters and conversion schools. The Public Charter School Commission (PCSC), a quasi-independent chartering agency, may only approve previously rejected applications and virtual schools.

Appeal

Yes. Applications denied by a school board or the PCSC may be appealed to the State Board of Education. The state board's recommendation is non-binding and subject to judicial review. If the state board decides to authorize the charter, the PCSC becomes its sponsor.

NUMBER OF SCHOOLS ALLOWED

Cap

Yes. Only 6 new charters per year statewide may be approved, with only 1 per school district each year not including virtual schools.

OPERATIONAL AUTONOMY

State

Limited. All rules for charters come directly from the State Board of Education. Virtual schools are allowed. Management contracts with ESPs are not restricted.

Local

Limited. Charters are exempt from most local rules and regulations. Fiscal autonomy depends the school board.

Teacher Freedom

Yes. Teachers are not covered by district collective bargaining agreement, but are considered a separate unit. Retirement benefits specified in the charter.

EQUITY

Student Funding

• Similar to other public schools

• Charters are treated differently if they suffer a large enrollment drop - public schools may receive 99 percent of the previous year's funds; charters do not and suffer large revenue losses.

• Funds pass through the district.

"Per student support. Computation of support units for each public charter school shall be calculated as if it were a separate school according to the schedules in section 33-1002(4), Idaho Code, except that public charter schools with fewer than one hundred (100) secondary ADA shall use a divisor of twelve (12) and the minimum units shall not apply, and no public charter school shall receive an increase in support units that exceeds the support units it received in the prior year by more than thirty (30). Funding from the state educational support program shall be equal to the total distribution factor, plus the salary-based apportionment provided in chapter 10, title 33, Idaho Code. Provided however, any public charter school that is formed by the conversion of an existing traditional public school shall be assigned divisors, pursuant to section 33-1002, Idaho Code, that are no lower than the divisors of the school district in which the traditional public school is located, for each category of pupils listed." [Idaho Code § 33-5208]

Facilities Funding

None.