Senate Education Committee advances charter school accountability measure

The Senate Education Committee on an unspecified date voted to adopt a subcommittee amendment to S 4 54, a bill described in committee as addressing charter school accountability by updating terminology, strengthening authorizer duties and increasing public financial transparency.

The measure would require charter schools to post annual audits, budgets and any executed or amended management-organization contracts on their websites, and would require authorizers to post authorizer budgets showing revenues, expenditures and fees. The Department of Education would annually review authorizer policies and procedures for compliance with state and federal law, issue notices of concern with timelines for corrections, and — in some cases — terminate an authorizer’s registration.

Katie Grinstead, legislative staff who presented the bill, told the committee: “Section 2 of the bill deals with the charter school responsibilities. It updates terminology and would require that a charter school post their annual audit on their website and notify and…