2016 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 70. Schools
§70-3-135. Sponsor to contract with governing board – Contents of contract.

A. The sponsor of a charter school shall enter into a written contract with the governing body of the charter school. The contract shall incorporate the provisions of the charter of the charter school and contain, but shall not be limited to, the following provisions:

1. A description of the program to be offered by the school which complies with the purposes outlined in Section 3-136 of this title;

2. Admission policies and procedures;

3. Management and administration of the charter school, including that a majority of the charter governing board members are residents of the State of Oklahoma and meet no less than quarterly in a public meeting within the boundaries of the school district in which the charter school is located or within the State of Oklahoma in the instance of multiple charter school locations by the same sponsor;

4. Requirements and procedures for program and financial audits;

5. A description of how the charter school will comply with the charter requirements set forth in the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act;

6. Assumption of liability by the charter school;

7. The term of the contract;

8. A description of the high standards of expectation and rigor for charter school plans and assurance that charter school plans adopted meet at least those standards;

9. Policies that require that the charter school be as equally free and open to all students as traditional public schools;

10. Procedures that require students enrolled in the charter school to be selected by lottery to ensure fairness if more students apply than a school has the capacity to accommodate;

11. Policies that require the charter school to be subject to the same academic standards and expectations as existing public schools; and

12. A description of the requirements and procedures for the charter school to receive funding in accordance with statutory requirements and guidelines for existing public schools.

B. A charter school shall not enter into an employment contract with any teacher or other personnel until the charter school has a contract with a sponsoring school district. The employment contract shall set forth the personnel policies of the charter school, including, but not limited to, policies related to certification, professional development evaluation, suspension, dismissal and nonreemployment, sick leave, personal business leave, emergency leave, and family and medical leave. The contract shall also specifically set forth the salary, hours, fringe benefits, and work conditions. The contract may provide for employer-employee bargaining, but the charter school shall not be required to comply with the provisions of Sections 509.1 through 509.10 of this title. The contract shall conform to all applicable provisions set forth in Section 3-136 of this title.

Upon contracting with any teacher or other personnel, the governing body of the charter school shall, in writing, disclose employment rights of the employees in the event the charter school closes or the charter is not renewed.

No charter school may begin serving students without a charter contract executed in accordance with the provisions of the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act and approved in an open meeting of the sponsor. The sponsor may establish reasonable preopening requirements or conditions to monitor the start-up progress of newly approved charter schools and ensure that each school is prepared to open smoothly on the date agreed and to ensure that each school meets all building, health, safety, insurance and other legal requirements for the opening of a school.

C. The performance provisions within the charter contract shall be based on a performance framework that clearly sets forth the academic and operational performance indicators, measures and metrics that will guide the evaluations of the charter school by the sponsor. The sponsor shall require a charter school to submit the data required in this section in the identical format that is required by the State Department of Education of all public schools in order to avoid duplicative administrative efforts or allow a charter school to provide permission to the Department to share all required data with the sponsor of the charter school. The performance framework shall include indicators, measures and metrics for, at a minimum:

1. Student academic proficiency;

2. Student academic growth;

3. Achievement gaps in both proficiency and growth between major student subgroups;

4. Student attendance;

5. Recurrent enrollment from year to year as determined by the methodology used for public schools in Oklahoma;

6. In the case of high schools, graduation rates as determined by the methodology used for public schools in Oklahoma;

7. In the case of high schools, postsecondary readiness;

8. Financial performance and sustainability; and

9. Governing board performance and stewardship, including compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and terms of the charter contract.

D. The sponsor shall not request any metric or data from a charter school that it does not produce or publish for all school sites in the district or under its sponsorship, unless the metric or data is unique to a charter school.

E. A charter contract may provide for one or more schools by an applicant to the extent approved by the sponsor and consistent with applicable law. An applicant or the governing board of an applicant may hold one or more charter contracts. Each charter school that is part of a charter contract shall be separate and distinct from any other charter school under the same charter contract.

Added by Laws 1999, c. 320, § 10, eff. July 1, 1999. Amended by Laws 2015, c. 170, § 3.