SPONSOR:	Rep. K. Williams & Sen. Sokola
	Reps. Baumbach, Bolden, Keeley, Kowalko, Potter; Sen. Henry

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

148th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HOUSE BILL NO. 154

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO OVERSIGHT OF CHARTER SCHOOLS.

Section 1. Amend § 513(a), Title 14 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:

§ 513 Reporting and oversight.

(a) On or before December 1, each charter school shall produce an annual report for the school year ending the previous June, which shall:

(1) Discuss the school's progress in meeting overall student performance goals and standards;

(2) Discuss the innovation occurring at the charter school, including but not limited to the areas of curriculum development, instruction, student culture and discipline, community and parental involvement, teacher and staff development, school operations and management, and extracurricular and after-school programming; and

(3) Contain a financial statement setting forth by appropriate categories the school's revenues and expenditures and assets and liabilities.

(4) In the case of a single gender school, the report shall include the efforts made by the charter school to further advance its students' education and a quantitative analysis of its efforts and results in recruiting and retaining economically-disadvantaged students, regardless of race.

Each charter school seeking renewal of its charter shall produce the annual report as outlined above on or before September 30. The approving authority may, in its discretion and for good cause shown, elect to accept an annual report submitted subsequent to this deadline. To ensure that such reports provide parents and approving authorities with clear and comparable information about the performance of charter schools, the Department of Education shall prescribe a uniform format for such reports, which may be supplemented by requirements set by the approving authority for schools it has chartered. Each charter school shall be subject to and pay for a postaudit conducted by the Auditor of Accounts pursuant to § 2906, Title 29 of the Delaware Code. ~~The charter school shall contract to have an audit of the business and financial transactions, records, and accounts after July 1 for the prior fiscal year.~~ The results of the ~~audit~~ postaudit shall be shared with the Department of Education by October 1. A charter school shall display on its website the annual report including financial statement and ~~audit~~ postaudit required by this subsection. A charter school shall also display on its website all standardized financial report forms for the current fiscal year and the final monthly standardized financial report forms for each previous fiscal year of operation. Charter schools that are required to file Internal Revenue Service Form 990 shall post the current and prior year Form 990 on the website as well.

Section 2. This Act shall take effect with the Auditor of Accounts conducting the first postaudit hereafter for the audit periods starting on or after July 1, 2015.

Section 3. This Act shall take effect only if House Bill No. 53 of the 148^th General Assembly is enacted. If House Bill No. 53 is not enacted, this Act shall be deemed null and void.