June 27, 2003 Legislative Highlights (34k )

The House Rules Committee last week approved amendments to a measure that would allow for the creation of charter schools with less than 25 students in school districts that have fewer than 250 students.

SB 272 was also amended to set up a grant program for public and private partnerships for professional-technical programs for students. This concept was originally in HB 2600 and is envisioned to mirror the Center for Advanced Learning, a charter school program created by the Gresham-Barlow, Centennial, Reynolds and Corbett school districts and Mt. Hood Community College.

SB 272 will now head to the House for consideration. If approved, the bill must go back to the Senate for approval of the House amendments.

Under current law charter schools must maintain a minimum enrollment of 25 students. "Some of our small, rural school districts are being unfairly precluded from creating a charter school. They may have 10 or 12 students that could be better served in a charter school, but the current law does not allow the district to even consider a charter school for these students," Rep. Tom Butler (R-Ontario) told the committee. "There is a significant amount of federal charter school funds available for these districts if they want to create their own charter school and I want them to have the same access to these funds as any other school district."