This bill increases the holdbacks for services (with no accounting) for Charter Schools and disallows several current avenues for waivers and appeals.
This bill includes NONE of the suggestions for improvement by the third party study done.

The Maryland General Assembly passed the Charter School Act in 2003 “…to establish an alternative means within the existing public school system in order to provide innovative learning opportunities and creative educational approaches to improve the education of students.”

Charter Schools have been operating for less than 2 years under the law, and now there is an effort to decrease flexibility by putting additional restrictions on waivers and from district policies (that support creative and innovative approaches), and codify a funding formula that makes charter schools unsustainable.

The original law states that charter schools should receive commensurate (equal) funding, and the State Board has made a decision about funding for Maryland charter schools. While that decision is being challenged in the Court of Appeals, until the case is decided there is no reason to legislate.

SB669 is not the right charter school bill because it does not lead to strong, successful, accountable, innovative charter schools. In fact many charter schools will have to close with the loss of funds that will result from the passage of this bill.

SB669 does not contain one provision based on the recommendations of the 3rd party evaluation conducted by the University of Maryland.

SB669 lacks specificity regarding grant reimbursements, doesn’t include a provision that requires the LEA to provide an audited statement for services that they provide in-kind, and includes language that would kill a charter school’s ability to create innovative approaches to education by limiting waiver requests and eliminating the ability for the charter school to appeal to the State Board of Education.

SB669 takes away due process rights from charter schools if they negotiate a budget with the LEA. There is no right of appeal the only recourse a charter school would have is to file a petition in court – which would be expensive for both the LEA and the charter school and therefore a waste of resources.

Charter Schools in Maryland cannot survive on the funding formula proposed! Urge your Senators to vote no on SB 669.

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