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House approves HB36 to align charter-school construction standards with district schools
Summary
The House adopted a substituted version of HB36 to require charter-school construction to follow the same inspection and building standards as local school districts and to improve city–school coordination; the bill and a safety/coordination amendment passed the House and will go to the Senate.
The Utah House on Jan. 24 passed a substituted version of House Bill 36, which would require charter-school construction to conform to the same building standards and inspection processes applied to local school districts and strengthen coordination with municipalities and local planning officials.
Representative Farrin, sponsor of the substitute, said the change is intended to give charter schools parity with district schools for building review and inspections and to facilitate the timely construction of as many as 10 charter schools planned to open within the next academic year. He said the substitute clarifies jurisdiction (the State Office of Education and certified inspectors will be used) and would allow inspections by city inspectors or other certified personnel.
Representative Harper offered Amendment No. 2 to require earlier and clearer coordination between charter developers, local jurisdictions and emergency responders, and to encourage local building officials and fire departments to perform joint walk-through inspections; Farrin described the amendment as "friendly" and the House adopted it.
Supporters, including Representatives Morley and Hughes, said the measure levels the playing field and prevents delays that would otherwise make on-schedule construction impossible. Critics warned of potential problems with automatic exemptions from local land-use controls and urged careful preservation of local planning authority; Representative Christiansen urged caution about treating charter schools identically to traditional public-school construction because of funding and long-term viability differences.
After debate the House adopted the substitute as amended. The transcript records a final vote in favor with 65 yes votes and 5 no votes recorded (the verbatim transcript includes inconsistent wording about the no-vote count; the bill was reported as passing and referred to the Senate).
