2023 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 70. Schools
§70-3-136. Written charter contract requirements — Employment contracts.

A. Beginning July 1, 2024, a written contract entered into between the Statewide Charter School Board and the governing board of a charter school or statewide virtual charter school or a written contract entered into between a sponsor and the governing board of a charter school shall ensure compliance with the following:

1. Except as provided for in the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act, a charter school and virtual charter school shall be exempt from all statutes and rules relating to schools, boards of education, and school districts; provided, however, a charter school or virtual charter school shall comply with all federal regulations and state and local rules and statutes relating to health, safety, civil rights, and insurance. By January 1, 2000, the State Department of Education shall prepare a list of relevant rules and statutes which a charter school and virtual charter school must comply with as required by this paragraph and shall annually provide an update to the list;

2. A charter school shall be nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employment practices, and all other operations. A sponsor may not authorize a charter school or program that is affiliated with a nonpublic sectarian school or religious institution;

3. The charter contract shall provide a description of the educational program to be offered. A charter school or virtual charter school may provide a comprehensive program of instruction for a prekindergarten program, a kindergarten program, or any grade between grades one and twelve. Instruction may be provided to all persons between four (4) and twenty-one (21) years of age. A charter school or virtual charter school may offer a curriculum which emphasizes a specific learning philosophy or style or certain subject areas such as mathematics, science, fine arts, performance arts, or foreign language. The charter of a charter school or virtual charter school which offers grades nine through twelve shall specifically address whether the charter school or virtual charter school will comply with the graduation requirements established in Section 11-103.6 of this title. No charter school shall be chartered for the purpose of offering a curriculum for deaf or blind students that is the same or similar to the curriculum being provided by or for educating deaf or blind students that are being served by the Oklahoma School for the Blind or the Oklahoma School for the Deaf;

4. A charter school or virtual charter school shall participate in the testing as required by the Oklahoma School Testing Program Act and the reporting of test results as is required of a school district. A charter school or virtual charter school shall also provide any necessary data to the Office of Accountability within the State Department of Education;

5. A charter school or virtual charter school shall be subject to the same reporting requirements, financial audits, audit procedures, and audit requirements as a school district. The State Department of Education or State Auditor and Inspector may conduct financial, program, or compliance audits. The Statewide Charter School Board may request that the State Auditor and Inspector conduct a financial, program, or compliance audit for any charter school or virtual charter school it oversees. A charter school or virtual charter school shall use the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System to report financial transactions to the State Department of Education. The charter school or virtual charter school shall be subject to the limitations on spending, including provisions of the Oklahoma Constitution, for any funds received from the state, either through the State Department of Education or other sources;

6. A charter school or virtual charter school shall comply with all federal and state laws relating to the education of children with disabilities in the same manner as a school district;

7. A charter school or virtual charter school shall provide for a governing board for the school which shall be responsible for the policies and operational decisions of the charter school or virtual charter school. All of the charter school or virtual charter school governing board members shall be residents of this state and shall meet no fewer than ten (10) months of the year in a public meeting within the boundaries of the school district in which the charter school is located or within this state if the governing board oversees multiple charter schools in this state or oversees a virtual charter school. The governing board of a charter school or virtual charter school shall be subject to the same conflict of interest requirements as a member of a school district board of education including but not limited to Sections 5-113 and 5-124 of this title. Members appointed to the governing board of a charter school or virtual charter school shall be subject to the same instruction and continuing education requirements as a member of a school district board of education and pursuant to Section 5-110 of this title shall complete twelve (12) hours of instruction within fifteen (15) months of appointment to the governing board and pursuant to Section 5-110.1 of this title shall attend continuing education;

8. A charter school or virtual charter school shall not be used as a method of generating revenue for students who are being home schooled and are not being educated at an organized charter school site or by a virtual charter school;

9. A charter school or virtual charter school shall be as equally free and open to all students as traditional public schools and shall not charge tuition or fees;

10. A charter school or virtual charter school shall provide instruction each year for at least the number of days or hours required in Section 1-109 of this title;

11. A charter school or virtual charter school shall comply with the student suspension requirements provided for in Section 24-101.3 of this title;

12. A charter school or virtual charter school shall be considered a school district for purposes of tort liability under The Governmental Tort Claims Act;

13. Employees of a charter school or virtual charter school may participate as members of the Teachers’ Retirement System of Oklahoma in accordance with applicable statutes and rules if otherwise allowed pursuant to law;

14. A charter school or virtual charter school may participate in all health and related insurance programs available to employees of a public school district;

15. A charter school or virtual charter school and their respective governing boards shall comply with the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act and the Oklahoma Open Records Act;

16. The governing board of a charter school or virtual charter school shall notify the sponsor within ten (10) business days in the instance of any significant adverse actions, material findings of noncompliance, or pending actions, claims, or proceedings in this state relating to the charter school, the virtual charter school, or an educational management organization with which the charter school or virtual charter school has a contract;

17. No later than September 1 each year, the governing board of each charter school or virtual charter school formed pursuant to the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act shall prepare a statement of actual income and expenditures for the charter school or virtual charter school for the fiscal year that ended on the preceding June 30, in a manner compliant with Section 5-135 of this title. The statement of expenditures shall include functional categories as defined in rules adopted by the State Board of Education to implement the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System pursuant to Section 5-145 of this title. Charter schools and virtual charter schools shall not be permitted to submit estimates of expenditures or prorated amounts to fulfill the requirements of this paragraph; and

18. A charter school or virtual charter school contract shall include performance provisions based on a performance framework that clearly sets forth the academic and operational performance indicators that shall be used by charter school and virtual charter school sponsors to evaluate their respective schools. The sponsor may develop a separate performance framework to evaluate a charter school or virtual charter school that has been designated by the State Department of Education as implementing an alternative education program throughout the school. The sponsor shall require a charter school or virtual charter school to submit the data required in this subsection 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 or virtual charter school to provide permission to the Department to share all required data with the Board. The performance framework shall serve as the minimum requirement for charter school and virtual charter school performance evaluation and shall include, but not be limited to, the following indicators:

• a.student academic proficiency,
• b.student academic growth,
• c.achievement gaps in both proficiency and growth between major student subgroups,
• d.student attendance,
• e.recurrent enrollment from year to year as determined by the methodology used for public schools in Oklahoma,
• f.in the case of high schools, graduation rates as determined by the methodology used for public schools in Oklahoma,
• g.in the case of high schools, postsecondary readiness,
• h.financial performance and sustainability and compliance with state and Internal Revenue Service financial reporting requirements,
• i.audit findings or deficiencies,
• j.accreditation and timely reporting,
• k.governing board performance and stewardship including compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and terms of the charter contract, and
• l.mobility of student population for the virtual charter school framework.

The sponsor including the Statewide Charter School Board shall annually evaluate its charter schools or virtual charter schools according to the performance framework. The results of the evaluation shall be presented to the governing board of the charter school or virtual charter school and the governing board of the charter school sponsor in an open meeting.

B. An applicant or the governing board of an applicant may hold one or more charter contracts. Each charter school or virtual charter school that is part of a charter contract shall be separate and distinct from any other charter school or virtual charter school. For the purposes of this subsection, “separate and distinct” shall mean that a charter school or virtual charter school governing board with oversight of more than one charter school or virtual charter school shall not combine accounting, budgeting, recordkeeping, admissions, employment, or policies and operational decisions of the charter schools or virtual charter schools it oversees.

C. The charter contract of a charter school or virtual charter school shall include a description of the personnel policies, personnel qualifications, and method of school governance. A charter school or virtual charter school shall not enter into an employment contract with any teacher or other personnel until a contract has been executed with its sponsor. The employment contract shall set forth the personnel policies of the charter school or virtual 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 or virtual charter school shall not be required to comply with the provisions of Sections 509.1 through 509.10 of this title.

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

No charter school or virtual charter school may begin serving students without a contract executed in accordance with the provisions of the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act and approved in an open meeting of the governing board of the sponsor or the Statewide Charter School Board. The governing board of the sponsor or the Statewide Charter School Board may establish reasonable preopening requirements or conditions to monitor the start-up progress of newly approved charter schools or virtual charter schools and ensure that each brick-and-mortar 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.

D. The charter of a charter school or virtual charter school may be amended at the request of the governing board of the charter school or virtual charter school and upon the approval of the sponsor.

E. A charter school or virtual charter school may enter into contracts and sue and be sued.

F. The governing board of a charter school or virtual charter school shall not levy taxes or issue bonds. A school district that proposes a bond shall include any charter school established pursuant to subsection A of Section 3-132 of this title and located within the school district in planning conversations regarding the bond.

G. The charter of a charter school or virtual charter school shall include a provision specifying the method or methods to be employed for disposing of real and personal property acquired by the charter school or virtual charter school upon expiration or termination of the charter or failure of the charter school or virtual charter school to continue operations. Except as otherwise provided, any real or personal property purchased with state or local funds shall be retained by the sponsor. If a charter school that was previously sponsored by the board of education of a school district continues operation within the school district under a new charter sponsored by an entity authorized pursuant to Section 3-132 of this title, the charter school may retain any personal property purchased with state or local funds for use in the operation of the charter school until termination of the new charter or failure of the charter school to continue operations.

Added by Laws 1999, c. 320, § 11, eff. July 1, 1999. Amended by Laws 2000, c. 232, § 7, eff. July 1, 2000; Laws 2008, c. 439, § 1, eff. July 1, 2008; Laws 2014, c. 277, § 1, eff. July 1, 2014; Laws 2023, c. 323, § 7, eff. July 1, 2024.