Senate Finance OKs revamped charter school bill

Thursday, May 27, 1999 | 10:18 a.m.

The Senate Finance Committee recommended the measure Wednesday on a 5-1 vote.

The original version of AB348 dealt primarily with compensation for charter school employees. Its supporters included Agassi, who said he wants to build a charter school next to a 25,000-square-foot Boys & Girls Club funded by his foundation. He was seeking a third of the cost - $750,000 - from the state.

The version of the bill approved Wednesday includes a $500,000 appropriation, as well as $117,000 to pay for a three-member charter school subcommittee.

The plan for the subcommittee was originally part of another measure, SB258. The subcommittee, to comprise three members of the State Board of Education, would replace a five-member commission appointed by the governor.

The subcommittee will hear appeals from applicants whose requests to found charter schools are rejected by local school boards.

Concerns about whether some existing public schools can be converted into charter schools were abated with provisions permitting vocational and technical high schools to become charter schools.

The bill doesn't change the number of charter schools that would be allowed - for now. Each county is allowed one, with additional schools allowed for each 75,000 to 100,000 students, a clause that only affects Washoe and Clark counties. The committee decided to review that issue in 2001.