Amended in Senate August 19, 2016

Amended in Senate June 6, 2016

Amended in Assembly January 4, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1084

Introduced by Assembly Member Bonilla

February 27, 2015

An act to begin delete add Section 47604.2 to end delete begin insert amend Section 47604 of end insert the Education Code, relating to charter schools.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1084, as amended, Bonilla. Charter schools: begin delete for-profit entities. end delete begin insert operation. end insert

Existing law, the Charter Schools Act of 1992, authorizes a charter school to elect to operate as, or be operated by, a nonprofit public benefit corporation, as specified.

This bill, commencing begin delete with the 2017-18 school year and each school year thereafter, would do both of the following: (1) prohibit a virtual or online charter school, as defined, from being owned or operated by, or operated as, a for-profit entity; and (2) prohibit a nonprofit online charter school, nonprofit charter virtual academy, and a nonprofit entity that operates an online or virtual charter school from contracting with a for-profit entity for the provision of instructional services. end delete begin insert on July 1, 2017, would instead require that a charter school only operate as, or be operated by, a nonprofit public benefit corporation, a school district, a county office of education, or the University of California. end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 47604 of the end insert begin insert Education Code end insert begin insert is amended
to read: end insert

47604.  

(a)  begin delete Charter schools may elect to operate end delete begin insert On and after
July 1, 2017, a charter school shall only operate end insert as, or be operated
by, a nonprofit public benefit corporation, formed and organized
pursuant to the Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law (Part 2
(commencing with Section 5110) of Division 2 of Title begin delete 1) end delete begin insert 1 end insert of the
Corporations begin delete Code). end delete begin insert Code), a school district, a county office of
education, or the University of California. end insert

(b) The governing board of a school district that grants a charter
for the establishment of a charter school formed and organized begin insert as
a nonprofit public benefit corporation end insert pursuant to this section shall
be entitled to a single representative on the board of directors of
the nonprofit public benefit corporation.

(c) An authority that grants a charter to a charter school to be
operated by, or as, a nonprofit public benefit corporation is not
liable for the debts or obligations of the charter school, or for
claims arising from the performance of acts, errors, or omissions
by the charter school, if the authority has complied with all
oversight responsibilities required by law, including, but not
begin insert necessarily end insert limited to, those required by Section 47604.32 and
subdivision (m) of Section 47605.

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 47604.2 is added to the Education Code,
to read:

47604.2.  

Notwithstanding any other law, commencing with
the 2017-18 school year, and each school year thereafter:

(a) A virtual or online charter school shall not be owned or
operated by, or operated as, a for-profit entity. For purposes of this
section, “virtual or online charter school” means a charter school
in which at least 80 percent of teaching and pupil interaction occurs
via the Internet.

(b) A nonprofit online charter school, nonprofit charter virtual
academy, or a nonprofit entity that operates an online or virtual
charter school shall not contract with a for-profit entity for the
provision of instructional services.

end delete