SB 1275 Summary

• Expands charter school sponsorship authority to include universities under the Arizona Board of Regents, community college districts with enrollment over 15,000 full-time equivalent students, and groups of community college districts meeting the combined enrollment threshold.

• Establishes application caps for new sponsors: universities and community college districts may approve no more than 2 charter applications in fiscal year 2010-2011, increasing to 3 applications in 2011-2012 and 4 applications in 2012-2013.

• Prohibits universities and community college districts from including charter school students in their own student count for state funding purposes to prevent double-funding.

• Maintains existing charter sponsorship and oversight responsibilities while clarifying that entities sponsoring charter schools have no authority over charters sponsored by different entities.

• Makes technical amendments to sections 15-183, 15-185, and 15-203 of the Arizona Revised Statutes to accommodate the new sponsorship entities and modify related fingerprinting and employment notification requirements.