The ballot question that would provide the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education with the ability to approve up 12 additional Commonwealth Charter Schools each year will appear as Question 2 in the November election, the Secretary of State’s Office said Tuesday.
The question, titled “An Act To Allow Fair Access To Public Charter Schools,” would allow the board to approve up to 12 new charter schools, expand enrollment at existing schools, or a combination of the two each year as long as total enrollment does not exceed 1 percent of the total statewide public school enrollment for that year.
The law would give preference to charter applicants seeking to open or expand schools in districts that fall within the bottom 25 percent for performance on statewide standardized tests, where demand is greatest.
The new charter schools would be required to develop a recruitment and retention plan to ensure a proportion of special education students, English language learners, low-income students and students at-risk of dropping out of schools are enrolled that is comparable to the sending districts. They’d also be subject to annual performance reviews.
The law would be effective Jan. 1, 2017.