Section 194-B:11 Chartered Public Schools; Funding.
Chartered public schools shall be funded as follows:
I. (a) There shall be no tuition charge for any pupil attending a charter conversion school located in that pupil's resident district. Funding limitations in this chapter shall not be applicable to charter conversion schools located in a pupil's resident district. For a chartered public school authorized by the school district, the pupil's resident district shall pay to such school an amount equal to not less than 80 percent of that district's average cost per pupil as determined by the department of education using the most recent available data as reported by the district to the department.
(b) For any chartered public school authorized by the state board of education pursuant to RSA 194-B:3-a, the state shall pay tuition pursuant to RSA 198:40-a and RSA 198:40-c directly to the chartered public school for each pupil who is a resident of this state in attendance at such chartered public school.
(c) Notwithstanding RSA 198:42, the commissioner of the department of education shall calculate and distribute chartered public school tuition payments as set forth herein. The first payment shall be 30 percent of the per pupil amount multiplied by the number of eligible pupils present on the first day of the current school year. Such payment shall be made no later than 15 days after the department of education receives the attendance report. The December 1 payment shall be 30 percent of the per pupil amount multiplied by the membership on November 1, and the March 1 payment shall be 30 percent of the per pupil amount multiplied by the membership on February 1. To calculate the final payment, the commissioner of the department of education shall multiply the per pupil amount by the average daily membership in attendance for the full school year, and subtract the total amount of the first 3 payments made. The remaining balance shall be the final payment. Eligible chartered public schools shall report membership in accordance with RSA 189:1-d. In this subparagraph, ""membership'' shall be as defined in RSA 189:1-d, II. Tuition amounts shall be prorated on a per diem basis for pupils attending a school for less than a full school year.
(d) The source of funds for payments under this section shall be moneys from the education trust fund established in RSA 198:39.
II. A school district lacking a meaningful basis to determine average expenditure per pupil may use statewide average figures as determined by the department of education for the purposes of this chapter.
III. In accordance with current department of education standards, the funding and educational decision-making process for children with disabilities attending a chartered public school shall be the responsibility of the school district and shall retain all current options available to the parent and to the school district.
IV. Any federal or other funding available in any year to a sending district shall, to the extent and in a manner acceptable to the funding source, be directed to a chartered public school in a receiving district on an eligible per pupil basis. This funding shall include, but not be limited to, funding under federal Chapters I and II of Title II, and Drug-Free Schools, in whatever form the funding is available in any year.
IV-a. The commissioner of the department of education shall apply for all federal funding available to chartered public schools under the No Child Left Behind Act, Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or other federal source of funds. The commissioner shall expend any such funds received in a manner acceptable to the funding source.
V. (a) A sending district may provide funds, services, equipment, materials or personnel to a chartered public school, in addition to the amounts specified in this section in accordance with the policies of the sending school district.
(b) A chartered public school may accept pupils at tuition rates at less than the amounts established by this chapter.
(c) A chartered public school, other than a charter conversion school, shall accept an otherwise eligible out-of-district pupil regardless of that pupil's sending district's tuition amount.
VI. A chartered public school may receive financial aid, private gifts, grants, or revenue as if it were a school district. A chartered public school shall not be compelled to accept funding from any source.
VII. No school building aid under RSA 198:15-a through 15-h shall be awarded to a chartered public school for the purpose of acquiring land or buildings, or for constructing, reconstructing, or improving the chartered public school, unless the building is owned by the school district, under lease to the chartered public school, and such lease does not include an option to purchase the building. A charter conversion school shall be eligible for school building aid.
VIII. [Repealed.]
IX. [Repealed.]
X. There shall be an appropriation in the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2003 for the establishment of chartered public schools under this section. Chartered public schools which are eligible for grants under this program shall match funds provided by the state through private contributions in order to receive funding that exceeds the state's average per pupil cost for the grade level weight of the pupil. State funds shall be provided in addition to any other sums provided by the state. Grants under this section shall be administered and determined by the state board of education which shall have the authority to develop a grant application, written procedures and criteria used to determine eligibility for grants, and procedures for the administration of grants by recipients, including reporting requirements. The total grants provided under this program shall not exceed the amount of money appropriated in the budget, or transferred, or provided by gift or grant to the state for this purpose.
XI. Any money appropriated in the budget for matching chartered public school grants that remains unused after the department of education issues matching grants to eligible recipients under paragraph X shall be used to provide a one-year transitional grant to public school districts that have lost pupils as a result of the establishment of a chartered public school, and have paid tuition to the chartered public school in cash pursuant to subparagraph IX(a). For the first year in which a public school pupil leaves the public school and enrolls in a chartered public school, the school district that loses the pupil shall be eligible for a chartered public school transitional grant beginning July 1, 2004 and every fiscal year thereafter, in an amount per pupil equal to the amount determined in RSA 198:41. Such transitional grants shall be administered by the state board of education which shall have the authority to determine eligibility and the amount of money to be awarded to school districts under this section, subject to the amount appropriated in the budget.
Source. 1995, 260:6. 1997, 334:15. 1998, 268:4. 1999, 17:58, VI. 2003, 273:2, 3. 2005, 257:15, 17, 18. 2006, 301:1, 4, 7, eff. June 19, 2006. 2008, 173:12, eff. July 1, 2009; 274:27, eff. July 1, 2008; 274:36, eff. Sept. 5, 2008; 354:1, 4, eff. Sept. 5, 2008. 2009, 241:7, eff. Sept. 14, 2009.