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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6616
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 4881
Referred to Committee on EDUCATION
Introduced by:
(ED)
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E PROCESS FOR FUNDIN G A NEW
CHARTER SCHOOL.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) There is established an 1
account to be known as the charter school approval grant account which 2
shall be a separate, nonlapsing account within the General Fund. The 3
account shall contain any moneys required by law to be deposited in the 4
account. Moneys in the account shall be expended by the Commissioner 5
of Education for the purpose of providing grants under section 10-66ee 6
of the general statutes, as amended by this act, to a local or state charter 7
school that has been granted an initial certificate for approval for a 8
charter pursuant to section 10-66bb of the general statutes, as amended 9
by this act, in the fiscal year immediately following the fiscal year in 10
which such initial certificate for approval for a charter was granted. 11
Sec. 2. Section 10-66ee of the general statutes is amended by adding 12
subsection (o) as follows (Effective July 1, 2021): 13
(NEW) (o) Any unexpended funds appropriated for purposes of this 14
section shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal year but shall be deposited 15 Raised Bill No. 6616
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in the charter school approval grant account, established pursuant to 16
section 1 of this act, and shall be available for expenditure during the 17
next fiscal year in accordance with the provisions of said section. 18
Sec. 3. Subsection (a) of section 10-66bb of the general statutes is 19
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 20
2021): 21
(a) (1) On and after July 1, 1997, and prior to July 1, 2015, the State 22
Board of Education may grant charters for local and state charter schools 23
in accordance with this section. On and after July 1, 2015, such state 24
board may grant initial certificates of approval for charters for local and 25
state charter schools in accordance with this section. Upon granting an 26
initial certificate of approval for a charter, such state board shall submit 27
a copy of the initial certificate of approval for the charter and a summary 28
of the comments made at a public hearing conducted pursuant to 29
subdivision (2) of subsection (e) of this section or subparagraph (B)(ii) 30
of subdivision (1) of subsection (f) of this section, in accordance with 31
section 11-4a, to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly 32
having cognizance of matters relating to education and appropriations 33
and the budgets of state agencies. 34
(2) [The General Assembly may appropriate funds to the Department 35
of Education for the purposes of providing grants to local and state 36
charter schools, pursuant to section 10-66ee. If such funds are 37
appropriated, an initial certificate of approval for a charter for a local or 38
state charter school shall be effective and deemed a charter as of July 39
first of the first fiscal year for which such funds are appropriated.] The 40
General Assembly may appropriate funds to the charter school 41
approval grant account, pursuant to section 1 of this act, for the 42
purposes of providing grants, pursuant to section 10-66ee, as amended 43
by this act, to local and state charter schools that have been granted an 44
initial certificate of approval for a charter. The Commissioner of 45
Education shall expend such funds in the fiscal year immediately 46
following the fiscal year in which such initial certificate for approval for 47
a charter was granted, and such initial certificate of approval for a 48 Raised Bill No. 6616
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charter shall be effective and deemed a charter as of July first of the fiscal 49
year for which such funds are expended. 50
(3) A charter or initial certificate of approval for a charter granted 51
under this section shall not be considered a license, as defined in section 52
4-166, for the purposes of chapter 54. 53
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2021 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2021 10-66ee
Sec. 3 July 1, 2021 10-66bb(a)
Statement of Purpose:
To establish a charter school approval grant account for the purpose of
funding new charter schools.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]