Amendment ID: S2262-21

Amendment 21

Charter School Attrition

Mr. Petruccelli moves to amend the bill by striking Section 51 and replacing it with the following:-

"Section 51. Said section 89 (dd) of said chapter 71, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the words “students,” in line 598, the following words :- ; provided that the board shall give preference to applications for expansions under clause (i) or clause (ii) of this paragraph for existing charter schools that have an average 3-year student attrition rate that is equal to or less than the average 3-year student attrition rate of the schools within the sending district to be determined by the department or for existing charter schools that have successfully established collaborative relationships with their sending districts on the sharing of best practices. If an existing charter school applying for an expansion under clause (i) or clause (ii) of this paragraph has an average 3-year student attrition rate that is greater than the average 3-year student attrition rate of the schools within the sending district, such charter school shall include in its application for expansion a plan to reduce its attrition rates. Existing charter schools that apply for an expansion under clause (i) or clause (ii) of this paragraph shall be required to meet the criteria set forth in said clauses through a phased-in process established by the board. Existing Horace Mann or commonwealth charter schools that apply for an expansion under clause (i) and are approved for new seats in higher grades than they currently serve may assign students already enrolled in the school to those new seats. Nothing in this section shall prevent the board from approving other Horace Mann or commonwealth charter school applications that meet the criteria in clause (i) or clause (ii) of this paragraph in districts where the net school spending cap has not been reached.”