Pub. 9 2019-2020 Issue 1

17 Legislative Update A lthough it’s only early fall, plans for the Legislature’s 2020 General Session are proceeding apace. Unsurprisingly, our top priority this year will be to finish closing the two-year lag in LRF funding that we started last year. Other priorities will include recommendations from the State Board’s charter school task force, and some recommendations on new charters from the State Charter School Board. Closing the two-year lag As you may recall, closing the two- year lag means the Legislature will use estimated enrollments and property values for the current school year, rather than relying on two-year old data. For the past several months, staff with the State Board and the Legislative Fiscal Analyst have been working through options, and we expect to see specific recommendations in the next few weeks. If all goes as planned, these changes should net charter schools an additional $50 to $100 per student. Charter school task force In the wake of AISU’s difficult closure, the State Board of Education and the State Charter School Board recognized that Utah’s charter law still leaves ques- tions about who bears responsibility for various oversight functions. To further clarify those responsibilities and to make sure regulators don’t stymie the creativity and innovation endemic in charter land, the State Board is convening a task force on charter schools. Much like the school fees task force last year, SBE chair Mark Huntsman prefers to have this task force work outside the klieg lights. The private nature of their deliberations will allow task force members to explore options that might look silly or problematic at first, but which may be refined into useful improvements. The task force will include significant charter school representatives and invited attendees. Not only will this task force explore governance issues, but it will also examine technical LEA accounting issues described elsewhere in this issue of Charterology. An off ramp allows more innovation Most charter school observers have seen the pace of authorizing slow in Utah the past few years. Partly that is the natural result of slower growth in Utah’s school age population. It is also a natural swing of the pendulum after several charter schools have closed. Understandably, authorizers have felt the need to be stricter about approving new charter school. They don’t want a marginal proposal to become a closed school several years later. To overcome that problem, the State Charter School Board has proposed to make new charter approvals provisional for the first three years. If the school demonstrates that it is succeeding at that point, then its charter will become evergreen, just like Utah’s other charters have been. By inserting an “off ramp” into the authorizing process, the board wants to give authorizers more room to explore innovative ideas, without worry- ing that closing a failed experiment will be unnecessarily messy. In many ways, this change means Utah’s charter law will better match national charter school norms. Perhaps even more importantly, it can spur further emphasis on academic achieve- ment, which needs to be at the core of everything charter schools do. UAPCS will continue to work closely with policy makers at every level to ensure that Utah’s charter school com- munity continues to thrive. Some vari- ables – most notably economic condi- tions – are beyond our control. The Legislature will continue to increase public education funding if the economy continues to grow. Elected officials and staff require our constant attention, which is why we spend so much time on Capitol Hill participating in these important discussions. It’s a great time to be in charter land. The opportunities are boundless. We just need the courage and creativity to seize the opportunities before us. Good luck and keep up the great work!