HB 10-1343, Standards for Charter School Boards

Rep. Terrence Carroll, Speaker of the House and long-time charter advocate, introduced HB 1343, Effective Governance of Charter Schools. The bill appears to be in response to the Cesar Chavez Network situation of last summer and fall.

The bill requires the State Board of Education to adopt standards for good charter school governance. It defines these standards as, at a minimum, addressing excess benefits, executive compensation, nepotism, and conflicts of interest in governance.

Recently, the Schools of Choice Unit within the CO Dept of Education released its administrator survey results. Eighty-four percent of charter school administrators responded. The majority of top charter school administrators make either in the $90,000's or $70,000's. The second charter school administrator makes in the $60,000's. These salaries are less than administrator peers in noncharter, district schools.

HB 1343 also suggests that charter school governing boards won't have complete authority over their budgets if they fail to meet or exceed standards adopted by the State Board. The bill doesn't clarify who will decide if they don't meet the standards, but it does say that the governing board will have authority to set their budget "so long as its operations are consistent with applicable operations, finance, and governance standards.

The bill has been assigned to the House Education committee.