Committee backs bill to let local boards authorize districtwide conversion charter schools

The Senate Education Policy Committee voted to report SB336 favorably after a public hearing that included superintendents and charter advocates. The bill distinguishes between charter startups and conversions and would allow a local school board to serve as the authorizer for conversion public charter schools, a change sponsors say is intended to give low-funded districts greater flexibility.

Senator Chambliss, sponsor of SB336, said the bill was developed after discussions with local superintendents from lower-funded systems who want more options to use limited resources. “Flexibility is paramount,” he said, explaining that some requirements appropriate for startup charter schools are unnecessary for conversions. The measure also confirms current practice in some districts that a local school board may serve as the authorizer and conversion board.

Proponents at the public hearing included Richard Dennis, superintendent of Elmore County, who said Elmore ranks near the bottom in state per-pupil funding and described the proposal as a way for small districts to gain curriculum and operational flexibility. Emily Schultz, executive director of Alabama Families for Great Schools, supported the bill’s purpose but urged clarifications: she recommended maintaining a clear distinction between an authorizer and a school operator, noted that Montgomery’s three conversion public charter schools operate under a single governing board, and warned that forcing conversions to purchase services from a specific vendor would undermine operational autonomy.

Wyman Woodfin, a county superintendent, said the bill would avoid the impractical requirement that each school in a district have a separate charter board; he described the proposal as allowing the local board to vote to become a charter district and oversee conversions without creating many separate boards. Committee members asked questions about how the authorizer/operator relationship would affect accountability; Emily Schultz and others emphasized that accountability mechanisms work when the authorizer and operator are distinct entities and pointed to the Montgomery Education Foundation model, where a nonprofit runs conversion schools and the county board holds the operator accountable.

Committee members voted the bill out of committee with a favorable recommendation; the chair called for a favorable motion, members responded “Aye,” and the transcript records the chair’s announcement that the bill was given a favorable report. Sponsor Chambliss and proponents said they would continue working to finalize technical language, particularly around the authorizer/operator distinction.

SB336 will now move to the Senate calendar for further consideration.