HB 5918 Summary

• Changes superintendent of public instruction authority from discretionary ("may") to mandatory ("shall") when suspending an authorizing body's power to issue new contracts for public school academies, urban high school academies, schools of excellence, and strict discipline academies due to inadequate oversight.

• Requires authorizing bodies to provide annual accounting to school boards showing how fees collected from charter schools are spent, with itemized lists of use and purpose.

• Removes the December 31, 2012 limit on public school academy contracts issued by state universities; increases the limit to 500 through December 31, 2014, then eliminates all caps on university-issued contracts after that date.

• Revises cyber school contract limits: removes the prior 5-contract limit through December 31, 2013, allows up to 10 contracts through December 31, 2014, then 15 contracts thereafter, with automatic enrollment caps based on statewide membership percentages.

• Adds new requirements for authorizing bodies to compile and submit annual compliance reports to the superintendent of public instruction and state board, with authority to order fee refunds to the school aid fund if charter schools are not in compliance.