Public Act 097-1156
 
HB5825 EnrolledLRB097 19935 RPM 65225 b

    AN ACT concerning education.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
27A-7.5 as follows:
 
    (105 ILCS 5/27A-7.5)
    Sec. 27A-7.5. State Charter School Commission.
    (a) A State Charter School Commission is established as an
independent commission State agency with statewide chartering
jurisdiction and authority. The Commission shall be under the
State Board for administrative purposes only.
    (a-5) The State Board shall provide administrative support
to the Commission as needed.
    (b) The Commission is responsible for authorizing
high-quality charter schools throughout this State,
particularly schools designed to expand opportunities for
at-risk students, consistent with the purposes of this Article.
    (c) The Commission shall consist of 9 members, appointed by
the State Board. The State Board shall make these appointments
from a slate of candidates proposed by the Governor, within 60
days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the
97th General Assembly with respect to the initial Commission
members. In making the appointments, the State Board shall
ensure statewide geographic diversity among Commission
members. The Governor shall propose a slate of candidates to
the State Board within 60 days after the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly and 60 days prior
to the expiration of the term of a member thereafter. If the
Governor fails to timely propose a slate of candidates
according to the provisions of this subsection (c), then the
State Board may appoint the member or members of the
Commission.
    (d) Members appointed to the Commission shall collectively
possess strong experience and expertise in public and nonprofit
governance, management and finance, public school leadership,
higher education, assessments, curriculum and instruction, and
public education law. All members of the Commission shall have
demonstrated understanding of and a commitment to public
education, including without limitation charter schooling. At
least 3 members must have past experience with urban charter
schools.
    (e) To establish staggered terms of office, the initial
term of office for 3 Commission members shall be 4 years and
thereafter shall be 4 years; the initial term of office for
another 3 members shall be 3 years and thereafter shall be 4
years; and the initial term of office for the remaining 3
members shall be 2 years and thereafter shall be 4 years. The
initial appointments must be made no later than October 1,
2011.
    (f) Whenever a vacancy on the Commission exists, the State
Board shall appoint a member for the remaining portion of the
term.
    (g) Subject to the State Officials and Employees Ethics
Act, the Commission is authorized to receive and expend gifts,
grants, and donations of any kind from any public or private
entity to carry out the purposes of this Article, subject to
the terms and conditions under which they are given, provided
that all such terms and conditions are permissible under law.
Funds received under this subsection (g) must be deposited into
the State Charter School Commission Fund.
    The State Charter School Commission Fund is created as a
special fund in the State treasury. All money in the Fund shall
be used, subject to appropriation, by the State Board, acting
on behalf and with the consent of the Commission, Commission
for operational and administrative costs of the Commission.
    Subject to appropriation, any funds appropriated for use by
the State Board, acting on behalf and with the consent of the
Charter School Commission, may be used for the following
purposes, without limitation: personal services, contractual
services, and other operational and administrative costs. The
State Board Charter School Commission is further authorized to
make expenditures with respect to any other amounts deposited
in accordance with law into the State Charter School Commission
Fund.
    (g-5) Funds or spending authority for the operation and
administrative costs of the Commission shall be appropriated to
the State Board in a separate line item. The State
Superintendent of Education may not reduce or modify the budget
of the Commission or use funds appropriated to the Commission
without the approval of the Commission.
    (h) The Commission shall operate with dedicated resources
and staff qualified to execute the day-to-day responsibilities
of charter school authorizing in accordance with this Article.
The Commission may employ and fix the compensation of such
employees and technical assistants as it deems necessary to
carry out its powers and duties under this Article, without
regard to the requirements of any civil service or personnel
statute; and may establish and administer standards of
classification of all such persons with respect to their
compensation, duties, performance, and tenure and enter into
contracts of employment with such persons for such periods and
on such terms as the Commission deems desirable.
    (i) Every 2 years, the Commission shall provide to the
State Board and local school boards a report on best practices
in charter school authorizing, including without limitation
evaluating applications, oversight of charters, and renewal of
charter schools.
    (j) The Commission may charge a charter school that it
authorizes a fee, not to exceed 3% of the revenue provided to
the school, to cover the cost of undertaking the ongoing
administrative responsibilities of the eligible chartering
authority with respect to the school. This fee must be
deposited into the State Charter School Commission Fund.
    (k) Any charter school authorized by the State Board prior
to this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly shall have
its authorization transferred to the Commission upon a vote of
the State Board, which shall then become the school's
authorizer for all purposes under this Article. However, in no
case shall such transfer take place later than July 1, 2012. At
this time, all of the powers, duties, assets, liabilities,
contracts, property, records, and pending business of the State
Board as the school's authorizer must be transferred to the
Commission. Any charter school authorized by a local school
board or boards may seek transfer of authorization to the
Commission during its current term only with the approval of
the local school board or boards. At the end of its charter
term, a charter school authorized by a local school board or
boards must reapply to the board or boards before it may apply
for authorization to the Commission under the terms of this
amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly.
    On the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th
General Assembly, all rules of the State Board applicable to
matters falling within the responsibility of the Commission
shall be applicable to the actions of the Commission. The
Commission shall thereafter have the authority to propose to
the State Board modifications to all rules applicable to
matters falling within the responsibility of the Commission.
The State Board shall retain rulemaking authority for the
Commission, but shall work jointly with the Commission on any
proposed modifications. Upon recommendation of proposed rule
modifications by the Commission and pursuant to the Illinois
Administrative Procedure Act, the State Board shall consider
such changes within the intent of this amendatory Act of the
97th General Assembly and grant any and all changes consistent
with that intent.
    (l) The Commission shall have the responsibility to
consider appeals under this Article immediately upon
appointment of the initial members of the Commission under
subsection (c) of this Section. Appeals pending at the time of
initial appointment shall be determined by the Commission; the
Commission may extend the time for review as necessary for
thorough review, but in no case shall the extension exceed the
time that would have been available had the appeal been
submitted to the Commission on the date of appointment of its
initial members. In any appeal filed with the Commission under
this Article, both the applicant and the school district in
which the charter school plans to locate shall have the right
to request a hearing before the Commission. If more than one
entity requests a hearing, then the Commission may hold only
one hearing, wherein the applicant and the school district
shall have an equal opportunity to present their respective
positions.
(Source: P.A. 97-152, eff. 7-20-11; 97-641, eff. 12-19-11.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.