HB 17-1182

HB 17-1182, a Colorado bill that's now signed into law, deals with how money follows students when they switch between charter schools and traditional public schools within the same district or move to another district. If a student leaves a charter school mid-year for a regular public school, the charter school must give back some of its funding to the original school district based on how long the student was at the charter school. This law aims to ensure that school districts receive fair compensation when students transfer out of charter schools and into other public schools during the same budget year. It affects both charter schools and traditional public schools, ensuring funds are distributed accurately according to where students actually attend school.

Official Summary

The bill requires a charter school to reimburse the chartering school district or another school district, whichever is applicable, for excess student revenue attributable to a student who was enrolled in the charter school on the pupil enrollment count day and who subsequently enrolled in a non-charter school of the chartering school district or of another school district in the same budget year. The bill defines student revenue. Excess student revenue is the amount of student revenue proportionate to the time the student remained in the school before changing schools. To determine the amount of the reimbursement, the bill requires the chartering school district to prepare an accounting for each charter school of the school district at the end of the budget year. The accounting identifies students who transferred between a charter school and a non-charter school of the school district after the pupil enrollment count day, and students who transferred from a charter school to a non-charter school of a different school district after the pupil enrollment count day. Based on the accounting, the bill requires each charter school of the school district to reimburse the chartering school district for excess student revenue for students who transferred from the charter school to a non-charter school in the chartering school district in the same budget year. The amount of the charter school's reimbursement to the chartering school district is reduced by the total amount of excess student revenue attributable to students who started in a non-charter school of the school district and transferred to the charter school in the same budget year; except that the chartering school district is not required to reimburse the charter school if the calculation results in a negative number. Further, each charter school of the school district is required to reimburse the chartering school district for excess student revenue for a student who transferred from the charter school to a non-charter school of a different school district in the same budget year. The chartering school district shall pay the excess student revenue received from the charter school to the school district in which the student subsequently enrolled. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

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