Senate Bill 576 - Charter Schools Summary

• Creates the Missouri Charter Public School Commission as an independent entity authorized to sponsor charter schools throughout the state, consisting of nine governor-appointed members with specified expertise in education governance, management, and finance.

• Expands charter school eligibility to operate in unaccredited school districts and provisionally accredited districts meeting specific performance criteria, in addition to existing metropolitan and urban district requirements.

• Establishes comprehensive sponsorship requirements including annual compliance reviews, performance evaluation frameworks, and corrective action procedures; sponsors must comply with standards on charter application approval, performance monitoring, and renewal/revocation decisions.

• Requires charter schools to establish baseline student performance data during the first year, participate in statewide assessments, and meet specific graduation rate and academic performance standards; allows alternative performance measures for high-risk and alternative schools.

• Sets sponsor funding at 1.5% of state and local funding allocated to charter schools (capped at $125,000 adjusted for inflation) and requires annual sponsor reports demonstrating 90% expenditure on direct charter school support.