(a) Prior to any public charter school closure decision, an authorizer shall have developed a public charter school closure protocol to ensure timely notification to parents, orderly transition of students and student records to new schools, and proper disposition of school funds, property, and assets in accordance with the requirements of this chapter. The protocol shall specify tasks, timelines, and responsible parties, including delineating the respective duties of the school and the authorizer. In the event of a public charter school closure for any reason, the authorizer shall oversee and work with the closing school to ensure a smooth and orderly closure and transition for students and parents, as guided by the closure protocol.
Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-19
Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
Authorizer: means an entity established under this chapter with chartering authority to review charter applications, decide whether to approve or deny charter applications, enter into charter contracts with applicants, oversee public charter schools, and decide whether to authorize, renew, deny renewal of, or revoke charter contracts. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
charter: means a fixed-term, bilateral, renewable contract between a public charter school and an authorizer that outlines the roles, powers, responsibilities, and performance expectations for each party to the contract. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
public charter school: refers to those public schools and their respective governing boards, as defined in this section, that are holding current charter contracts to operate as charter schools under this chapter, including start-up and conversion charter schools, and that have the flexibility and independent authority to implement alternative frameworks with regard to curriculum, facilities management, instructional approach, virtual education, length of the school day, week, or year, and personnel management. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
(b) In the event of a public charter school closure for any reason, the assets of the school, excluding facilities, shall be distributed first to satisfy outstanding payroll obligations for employees of the school, then to creditors of the school, and then to the state treasury to the credit of the general fund. If the assets of the school are insufficient to pay all parties to whom the school owes compensation, the prioritization of the distribution of assets may be determined by decree of a court of law.(c) In the event of a public charter school closure for any reason, if the public charter school received an appropriation for capital improvements to its facilities, the charter school or its authorizer shall negotiate with the expending agency for a lump sum or installment repayment to the State of the amounts appropriated. This restriction shall be registered, recorded, and indexed in the bureau of conveyances or with the assistant registrar of the land court as an encumbrance on the property. Amounts received from the repayment under this subsection shall be deposited into the general fund.(d) In the event of a public charter school closure for any reason, other public charter schools shall have the right of first refusal for the closed public charter school’s facilities, if the facilities are owned by the State. If no other public charter school exercises the right of first refusal, the facilities shall revert back to the department and the State.
