Malloy signs charter school "transparency" bill - News - West Hartford News

Malloy signs charter school transparency bill - News - West Hartford News:

Malloy signs charter school transparency bill

HARTFORD >> Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a bill Tuesday that requires charter schools and their management organizations to provide more information to the state about their finances.

The so-called “charter transparency” bill will require the state education commissioner to monitor and audit one charter school each year. It also requires each charter governing council to adopt anti-nepotism and conflict of interest policies and requires all employees who have contact with students to undergo a background check.

Those provisions of the bill are related to an investigation into the now-defunct charter management organization that ran Jumoke Academy in Hartford. The investigation found rampant nepotism and lacking background checks.

The new law, which was approved the last night of the regular legislative session, also requires charter schools to provide the state with an audited statement of revenues from public and private sources.

The law also changes how new charter schools are to be approved going forward, removing some of that authority from the state Department of Education and placing it in the hands of the legislature.

Under the measure, rather than the state Department of Education granting charters, the department will be empowered to grant applicants an “initial certificate,” but the charter will not be granted until the legislature approves its funding in a budget bill and the governor signs the bill.

“The number of charters that will happen in the state will now be clearly governed and limited by the amount of funding that the state of Connecticut and this General Assembly deems appropriate for said purposes,” state Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, said during the House debate.

Malloy had insisted on including $4.6 million in the state budget for two new charter schools, in Stamford and Bridgeport. Opponents of the new charter schools insisted on making sure the Malloy signs charter school transparency bill - News - West Hartford News: