Pub. 4 2014-2015 Issue 2

7 Year Appropriation % Incr. FY 2014 3,729,695,300 $ N/A FY 2015 4,014,211,700 $ 7.6% FY 2016 4,370,679,600 $ 8.9% Variable Statewide Impact Ongoing/ One Time % Incr. Notes WPU $ 104,000,000 On going 4% Increase * LRF $ 1,700,000 On going 2% Increase * Maintain Oct. 1 headcount $ 5,700,000 One Time N/A Increase Enrollment growth $ 54,400,000 On going N/A Increase Enrollment growth $ 3,400,000 One Time N/A Increase SB 97 $ 75,000,000 On going N/A Increase phased in between 2016 and 2020 Beverley Taylor Sorenson Program $ 2,000,000 On going Increase Beverley Taylor Sorenson Program $ 2,500,000 One Time Increase K-12 Digital Literacy $ 5,000,000 One Time Increase * SpEd Intensive Services $ 1,000,000 On going Increase * SpEd Intensive Services $ 2,000,000 One Time Increase Teacher supplies and materials $ 6,000,000 One Time Increase Teacher salary supplement program $ 1,500,000 One Time Increase Dual Immersion Growth $ 6,000,000 On going Increase * SB 235 - School Turnaround and Development Act 7,000,000 $ Ongoing N/A New Source: Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst * denotes funding directly attributable to UAPCS efforts. Summary of 2015 Key Charter-Related Funding Changes Public Education Funding Overall Increases in FY 2016 Year Appropriation % Incr. FY 2014 3,729,695,300 $ N/A FY 2015 4,014,211,700 $ 7.6% FY 2016 4,370,679,600 $ 8.9% Variable Statewide Impact Ongoing/ One Time % Incr. Notes WPU $ 104,000,000 On going 4% Increase * LRF $ 1,700,000 On going 2% Increase * Maintain Oct. 1 headcount $ 5,700,000 One Time N/A Increase Enrollment growth $ 54,400,000 On going N/A Increase Enrollment growth $ 3,400,000 One Time N/A Increase SB 97 $ 75,000,000 On going N/A Increase phased in between 2016 and 2020 Beverley Taylor Sorenson Program $ 2,000,000 On going Increase Beverley Taylor Sorenson Program $ 2,500,000 One Time Increase K-12 Digital Literacy $ 5,000,000 One Time Increase * SpEd Intensive Services $ 1,000,000 On going Increase * SpEd Intensive Services $ 2,000,000 One Time Increase Teacher supplies and materials $ 6,000,000 One Time Increase Teacher salary supplement program $ 1,500,000 One Time Increase Dual Immersion Growth $ 6,000,000 On going Increase * SB 235 - School Turnaround a d DevelopmentAct 7,000,000 $ Ongoing N/A New Source: Office of the Legislative FiscalAnalyst * denotes funding directly attributable to UAPCS efforts. Summary of 2015 Key Charter-Related Funding Changes Public Education Funding Overall Increases in FY 2016 Reviewing the Legislative Session BY ROYCE VAN TASSELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UAPCS Number Title Bill Sponsor Description Pos Final Outcome Comments HB 68 Student privacy act J.Anderegg Requires the SBE to develop student privacy recommendations for the 2016 General Session S Governor Signed The State Board's Law and Licensing Committee will be focusing on this issue. HB 81 Local school board meetings requirements C. Hall Requires "local school boards" to hold meetings within the district's boundaries; exempts charter schools from the boundary requirement S Governor Signed Initially this bill included charter schools.After discussing the bill with UAPCS, Rep. Hall removed charter schools from the bill. HB 119 Charter school finance amendments B. Last RequiresALL school districts to pay 25% to the LRF program S Governor Signed This bill only changes who pays into the LRF; it does not change the size of the LRF, or how much each school receives. HB 210 Early college high schools V. Peterson Exempts some charter schools from the 180-day rule - Did not pass the Legislature The State Board of Education can grant a waiver to the 180-day rule, which is likely a more appropriate solution than legislation. HB 444 Charter school funding task force F. Gibson Creates a task force to recommend improvements to the entire charter school funding structure S Governor Signed Membership will include 4 members of the Senate, 4 from the House, 3 from the State Board, 1 from the State Charter School Board, 1 charter representative and 1 district representative SB 29 School planning and zoning process E. Vickers Clarifies communications processes between charter schools, school districts and municipalities S Governor Signed This bill establishes best practices for schools and cities in the development process. Most notably, schools and cities should communicate early and often. SB 204 Parental rights in public education amendments A. Osmond Clarifies that parents may opt out of any state-mandated tests, formative, summative or otherwise O Governor Signed Concerns over parents opting their students out of SAGE tests continue. Whether SAGE tests will remain is an open question, given the opposition to SAGE tests from some outspoken citizens and some Legislators. SB 227 Charter school revisions D. Henderson Creates a statutory mechanism for a charter school to merge with a high performing charter. S Governor signed This is is an entirely voluntary process.Aschool wanting to enter this process may; no one can require a school to use this mechanism. SB 235 School turnaround and leadership development act W. Niederhauser Provides principal training and turnaround assistance for lowest 3% of Utah schools, based on performance S Governor Signed By providing additional resources to the lowest performing schools to fix themselves, SB 235 is the natural follow up to school grading. Various Proposals to select the State Board of Education Various legislators The Legislature considered three options for electing the State Board of Education: partisan elections, non partisan elections and having the Governor appoint the Board S partisan or Gov. appoint; O non partisan Did not pass the Legislature The House and Senate could not agree on how to elect members of the State Board of Education.Assuming the lawsuit over the current recruiting and nominating committee continues, the 2016 Legislature will likely need to agree on a solution. O S Key UAPCS opposed this bill UAPCS supported this bill Summary of 2015 Key Charter-Related Legislation Legislative Appropriations for Utah Charter Schools UAPCS prioritized two legislative foci for our efforts with the 2015 Legislature. First, we wanted to protect the October 1 headcount for one more year. Second, we wanted to prevent the Legislature from adopting non-partisan direct elections for the State School Board. As the nearby charts indicate, we succeeded on both counts. Fortunately, our efforts yielded even more fruit. The Legislature increased total appropriations from all sources to Utah public schools by 8.9 percent. Narrowing the focus just to state money (as opposed to federal or local money), the Legislature increased public education appropriations by more 7.1 percent. The “Local Replacement Fund” (LRF) received a two percent increase, while the special education intensive services fund saw a $2 million increase in one-time funding, and a $1 million increase in ongoing funding. The Legislature was generous with public education. Rep. Gibson’s HB 444, charter school funding task force, will be a boon for Utah charter schools. As Rep. Gibson has said many times, the time for debating the merits of charter schools has past. Now we need to resolve the question of how best to fund charter schools. Among other things, the Task Force will evaluate the October 1/ ADM plus growth model of accounting for students, the merits of allowing charter schools to overenroll and the structure of the LRF. We look forward to working with that Task Force, and anticipate meaningful recommendations for the 2016 Legislature to consider. Legislative Policy for Utah Charter Schools On the policy side of the equation, Utah charter schools fared equally well. The debates over how to elect the State Board of Education consumed much time and energy throughout the General Session. The Senate supported partisan elections or having the Governor appoint the State Board. The House supported non-partisan elections. And when the Session ended, the House and Senate could not agree on a single method. The 2016 Legislature will have the opportunity to enact new policy, if that is necessary. We will work with the Interim Education Committee as they study the issue over the next 9 months. Regardless, we will continue protecting the interests of Utah’s charter schools, all of which are so reliant on the decisions of the State School Board. Rep. Jake Anderegg worked closely with UAPCS in considering the many student data privacy and data security issues in his HB 68, and we look forward to working with the State Board of Education as they develop specific recommendations for the 2016 Legislature. In addition, UAPCS worked with part- ners throughout Utah in developing SB 29, School planning and zoning process. SB 29 identifies sound communications principles and processes for cities and schools to follow to avoid the contention that has sometimes emerged in building new schools. As described elsewhere in this edition of “charterology,” perhaps themost important take-away charter schools can learn is the importance of communicating early and often with the city in which they are building. Education generally, and charter schools specifically, will continue to inspire new legislative proposals. Sometimes those proposals will focus on the policy side, sometimes on the funding side. Throughout it all, UAPCS’ merry band of charter cheerleaders will advise and inform policymakers about the implications for Utah charter schools.