OAR 581-026-0400: Process to Renew Charter

(1) A public charter school governing body must request renewal of the charter (contract) by the sponsor in writing at least 180 days before expiration of the charter. (2) When a sponsor has received a written request from a public charter school governing body, the sponsor must schedule and hold a public hearing on the renewal request within 45 days from the receipt of the request for renewal. (3) Within 30 days after the public hearing, the sponsor must either: (a) Renew the charter; or (b) State in writing the reasons for denying the renewal of the charter. (4)(a) A sponsor must base its decision to renew or not renew a charter on a good faith evaluation of whether the charter school: (A) Is in compliance with state and federal laws; (B) Is in compliance with the terms of the prior charter; (C) Is meeting or working toward meeting the student performance goals and agreements specified in the charter or any other written agreements between the sponsor and the public charter school governing body; (D) Is fiscally stable and evidence that a sound financial management system described in the proposal submitted under ORS 338.045 and incorporated into the written charter was used; and (E) Is in compliance with any renewal criteria specified in the previous charter, if any. (b) As used in this section, "good faith evaluation" means an evaluation of all criteria required by this section resulting in a conclusion that a reasonable person would come to who is informed of the law and the facts before that person. (5) The sponsor must base the evaluation described in subsection (4) of this rule primarily on a review of the public charter school's annual performance reports, annual audit of accounts and annual site visit and review as required by ORS 338.095 and any other information mutually agreed upon by the public charter school governing body and the sponsor. (6)(a) If the sponsor renews the charter, the sponsor and public charter school governing body shall negotiate in good faith a new charter within 90 days after the date on which the sponsor approved the renewal of the charter, unless both parties agree to an extension of time. (b) If the sponsor and the charter school governing body have not executed a new charter agreement within 90 days after the date on which the sponsor approved the renewal of the charter or an alternative date agreed to by both parties, the expiring charter shall remain in effect until a new charter is negotiated. (c) As used in this section, "negotiate in good faith" means to negotiate with an honest exchange of the facts of the matters under consideration with a view to obtaining agreement of each of the parties involved. (7) If the sponsor does not renew the charter, the public charter school governing body may address the reasons for nonrenewal and resubmit its request to the sponsor within 30 days after the date on which the sponsor notified the public charter school governing body of the decision not to renew the charter. If a sponsor receives a revised request under this section, the sponsor shall review the request using the process required by subsections (2) to (6) of this rule. A public charter school governing board may only submit a revised request once under this section unless otherwise specified by the sponsor. (8) Notwithstanding subsections (1) to (7) of this rule, a sponsor and a public charter school governing body may agree in the charter of the school to a timeline for renewing the charter that is different from the timeline required by subsections (1) to (7) of this rule. (9) The State Board of Education delegates to the Director of the Oregon Department of Education or the director's designee all administrative functions necessary or reasonable in order to determine if the charter of a school sponsored by the state board should be renewed. The director or the director's designee shall follow the procedures and timelines required by this rule. This delegation to the director or the director's designee includes, but is not limited to: (a) Determining the form, contents, and timelines of the renewal; (b) Determining the records required for determining the renewal and ordering the production of those records from the public charter school governing body and establishing timelines for the production of those records; (c) Requiring the charter school governing body to respond to written or oral inquiries related to the sponsorship; (d) Delegating the sponsorship function to Department of Education staff or a hearings officer to conduct a hearing and to issue a proposed order; and (e) Issuing a final order. (10) If the sponsor does not renew the charter based on the revised request for renewal submitted under subsection (7) of this rule, the public charter school governing body may: (a) If the sponsor is a school district, appeal the decision of the sponsor to the State Board of Education under OAR 581-026-0405. (b) If the sponsor is the State Board of Education, seek judicial review of the final order under ORS 183.484. (11) A public charter school must submit a copy of the renewed charter to the Oregon Department of Education.