2010 Rhode Island Code
Title 16 Education
CHAPTER 16-77.3 Independent Charter Schools
§ 16-77.3-5 Budgets and funding.

§ 16-77.3-5 Budgets and funding. – (a) It is the intent of the general assembly that funding pursuant to this chapter shall be neither a financial incentive nor a financial disincentive to the establishment of an independent charter school. Funding for each independent charter school shall consist of state revenue and municipal or district revenue in the same proportions that funding is provided for other schools within the sending school district(s).

(b) The amount of funding which shall be allocated to the independent charter school by the sending school district(s) shall be equal to a percentage of the total budgeted expenses of the sending school district(s) which is determined by dividing the number of students enrolled in the district charter school by the total resident average daily number of students in the sending school district(s).

(c) Funding additional to that authorized from the sending school district(s) by subsection (b) may be allocated to the independent charter school from the sending school district(s) to the extent that the combined percentage of students eligible for free or reduced cost lunch, students with limited English proficiency, and students requiring special education exceed the combined percentage of those students in the sending school district(s) as a whole. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations consistent with this section regarding the allocation of funds from sending school districts to independent charter schools.

(d) An independent charter school shall be eligible to receive other aids, grants, Medicaid revenue, and other revenue according to Rhode Island law, as though it were a school district. Federal aid received by the state shall be used to benefit students in the independent charter school, if the school qualifies for the aid, as though it were a school district.

(e) An independent charter school may negotiate and contract directly with third parties for the purchase of books, instructional materials, and any other goods and services which are not being provided by the sending school district(s) pursuant to the charter.

(f) Any career/technical charter public school enrolling special education students from outside school districts with verifiable individual education program (IEP) designations shall receive from the sending school district(s) the average per pupil special education cost of the sending district, in accordance with standards established by the Rhode Island department of elementary and secondary education.
History of Section.
(P.L. 2010, ch. 84, § 5; P.L. 2010, ch. 107, § 5.)