Amendment ID: S2203-9-R1

Redraft Amendment 9

Opt-Out Lottery

Ms. L'Italien and Ms. O'Connor Ives move to amend the bill by striking Section 70 and inserting in place thereof the following text:

Subsection (i) of said section 89 of said chapter 71, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

(4) For a district qualifying under paragraph (3) whose charter school tuition payments exceed 18 per cent of the school district’s net school spending, the board shall only approve an application for the establishment or expansion of a commonwealth charter school if the school meets 1 or more of the following criteria:

(i) the school enrolls students using a weighted lottery process that grants admission proportionally to reflect the special education, English language learner, racial and gender diversity of the districts from which the school enrolls students; or

(ii) the school’s primary purpose is to establish alternative education programs  designed to serve at-risk students or students who have dropped out of school; provided that, for  the purposes of this section, the term “at-risk student” shall mean any student enrolled in grades 9 through 12 who is identified as “high-risk” according to the early warning indicator index  system developed by the department to  identify and track students at risk of not graduating on time; and provided, further, that not less  than 75 per cent of students enrolled at the school shall qualify as at-risk students or students  who have dropped out of school.

Existing charter schools that apply for an expansion under clause (i) or (ii) shall demonstrate the ability to meet the criteria set forth in said clauses through a phased-in process established by the board. An existing Horace Mann or commonwealth charter school, which meets the criteria for expansion under clause (i) and is approved for new seats in a higher grade than the school currently serves, may assign students already enrolled in the school to those new seats; provided, however, that the charter school shall fill all other open seats, including seats that open up in lower grades at the beginning of the school year and in any grade during the school year, using an admissions lottery process. 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 (ii) of this paragraph in districts where the net school spending cap has not been reached.

And moves to further amend the bill by deleting the words “opt-out” in lines 839, 844, 846, and 848.