Utah

In Utah, the budget bill provides the total authorized enrollment in charter schools for the coming school year. There is room between the authorized enrollment and the actual enrollment for ample charter school growth in the state.

Utah law allows new start-ups and public school conversions.

Utah law permits local school boards, the state charter school board, and designated higher education institutions to authorize charter schools, subject to state board of education approval.

Utah law includes a small number of the model law's provisions for authorizer and overall program accountability. While the law does not require the legislature and governor to regularly review the performance of the state charter school board and designated higher education institutions as authorizers, they can do so at any time. In addition, the ability of the state charter school board and designated higher education institutions to continue authorizing can be removed by the legislature and governor (the entities that gave them that authority).

Utah funds its state charter board through an annual legislative appropriation each year. The amount varies but is generally considered adequate for the board’s basic work. The law does not provide for funding for local school board authorizers, but permits higher education institutions to charge up to 3% of the revenue the charter school receives from the state in the current fiscal year in the first two years that a charter school is in operation as an annual oversight fee. Beginning with the third year that a charter school is in operation, an annual oversight fee may not exceed the product of 1% of the revenue a charter school receives from the state in the current fiscal year.
Utah law requires all state agencies, including the state charter board, higher education institutions, and school districts, to publicly report their expenditures.

Utah law specifies that the state charter board may provide services to its charter schools at the discretion of the charter school and that a district-authorized school may contract with the district for services, but the law does not address higher education authorizers and does not clearly prohibit authorizers from requiring schools to purchase services from them.

Utah law sets forth application elements for all schools. The law states application requirements specific to conversion schools.
Regulations allow existing charter schools authorized by the state charter board to apply for up to three satellite campuses and set forth additional application requirements for such campuses. These provisions aren’t applicable to charter schools authorized by local school boards or higher educational institutions.

Utah law requires authorizers to establish and make the following items public before accepting a charter school application: application requirements in accordance with state law; application process, including timelines, in accordance with state law; and, minimum academic, financial, and enrollment standards.

Utah law requires the state charter school board to request individuals, groups of individuals, or not-for-profit legal entities to submit an application to the state charter school board to establish a charter school that employs new and creative methods to meet the unique learning styles and needs of students, such as a military charter school, a charter school whose mission is to enhance learning opportunities for students at risk of academic failure, a charter school whose focus is career and technical education, a single gender charter school, or a charter school with an international focus that provides opportunities for the exchange of students or teachers. In addition to these types of schools, the law provides that the state charter school board shall request applications for other types of charter schools that meet the unique learning styles and needs of students. These provisions aren’t applicable to charter schools authorized by local school boards or higher educational institutions.

In approving an increase in charter school enrollment capacity for new charter schools and expanding charter schools, the state board of education shall give high priority to approving a new charter school or a charter school expansion in a high growth area (i.e., an area of the state where school enrollment is significantly increasing or projected to significantly increase) and low priority to approving a new charter school or a charter school expansion in an area where student enrollment is stable or declining.

Utah law requires authorizers to make charter approval and denial decisions in a public meeting and state reasons for denial in writing. It allows denied applicants to appeal to the state board of education.

While the law does not require authorizers to thoroughly evaluate each application including an in-person interview and a public meeting, the state charter school board implements these measures in practice (and it is the primary authorizer in the state).

Utah law requires a charter agreement to be executed following the approval of a charter application. The law requires the agreement to describe the rights and responsibilities of the school and the authorizer.
The law requires the agreement to include minimum financial standards for operating the charter school and minimum standards for student achievement, but it doesn’t require the agreement to define academic and operational performance expectations by which the school will be judged based on a performance framework.

The law does not limit the duration of charter terms. As such, charters do not expire in Utah but they may be revoked.

Utah law requires each authorizer to visit its charter schools at least once during their first and fifth years of operation, provide a written report to each school after each visit, and establish a process for reviewing every charter school once every five years. It also requires local school board and higher education institution authorizers to annually review and evaluate the performance of charter schools and hold them accountable for performance.
The law requires charter school governing boards to establish an audit committee and requires the school’s audit committee. For state-chartered schools, regulations require an accountability review process including the creation of charter school accountability plans, annual review of student achievement, quarterly review of financial data, annual site visits or random audits, and other forms of regular ongoing oversight.

The law does not require authorizers to produce and publish annual school performance reports. However, Utah law requires charter schools to file the same annual reports required of other public schools in the state, including an annual financial audit report filed with the state auditor. These reports are public.

The law requires an authorizer to notify a charter school’s governing board in writing of any noncompliance deficiencies and provide reasonable opportunity to remedy the deficiency. If the school does not remedy the deficiency within the established timeline, the law permits the authorizer to remove a school director or finance officer, remove governing board members, appoint an interim director or mentor to work with the charter school, or terminate the charter. The state regulations also specify sanctions short of revocation that the state charter board may exercise.

Utah law includes a small number of the model law’s provisions regarding clear processes for renewal, nonrenewal, and revocation decisions.
Charter contracts in Utah do not expire or require renewal; they perpetuate indefinitely unless revoked. Therefore, the law does not set forth requirements, criteria, processes, or other guidance for renewal or non-renewal. The law sets forth general grounds for revocation of a charter.

Utah law requires an authorizer planning to revoke a charter to notify the school’s governing body and, if the charter school is a qualifying charter school with outstanding bonds issued in accordance with the state’s Charter School Credit Enhancement Program, the Utah Charter School Finance Authority in writing of the planned termination and the reasons for it. It also requires the authorizer to give the school an informal hearing, with timely notice, if requested. If the authorizer proposes to terminate the charter of a qualifying charter school with outstanding bonds issued in accordance with the state’s Charter School Credit Enhancement Program, the law requires the authorizer to conduct a hearing. The law provides that an authorizer may not terminate the charter of a qualifying charter school with outstanding bonds issued in accordance with the state’s Charter School Credit Enhancement Program without mutual agreement of the Utah Charter School Finance Authority and the authorizer.
The law requires revocation decisions to be made in a public meeting, with reasons for revocation stated in writing. It allows charter schools to appeal termination decisions to the state board of education.

The law sets forth essential steps for charter schools to follow in the event of closure. The law does not explicitly state the authorizer’s role and responsibility in overseeing school closure to ensure the protocol is followed, but it does require the authorizer to ensure the completion of a closing school’s final audit.
The law establishes the Charter School Closure Reserve account only for repayment of funds from a closed charter school. The legislature seeded the fund with $1 million. For the next several years, each charter school will pay $2 per student to the fund, when the account should reach $2 million.

The law permits charter schools to contract with all types of educational service providers. However, there are no statutory provisions guiding any charter application requirements for educational service providers, performance contracts between the school and service provider, authorizer approval of contracts, and school governing boards operating completely independent of any educational service provider.
Although the law does not directly address potential conflicts of interest between a charter school board and service provider, it does prohibit a charter school officer or relative of a charter school officer from having a financial interest in a contract or other transaction involving the charter school, except for a reasonable contract of employment. This prohibition addresses some but not all conflicts of interest that might arise in the context of service contracts.

Utah law requires criminal background checks on all contract employees who are employees of a staffing service or other entity who work at a public or private school under a contract.

Utah law provides requirements for fiscally and legally autonomous schools with independent governing boards.

Utah law requires that charter schools be open to all resident students in the state. The law notes that a charter school may not discriminate in the charter school’s admission policies or practices on the same basis as other public schools may not discriminate in admission policies and practices.

The law requires enrollment preference for previously enrolled students within conversions.

The law allows the following optional enrollment preferences: child or grandchild of an individual who has actively participated in the development of the charter school, a sibling of an individual who was previously or is presently enrolled in the charter school, a child of an employee of the charter school, a student matriculating between charter schools offering similar programs that are governed by the same charter school governing board, a student matriculating from one charter school to another pursuant to a matriculation agreement between the charter schools that is approved by the state charter school board, and a student who resides within a two-mile radius of the charter school and whose school of residence is at capacity, for a child of a military servicemember, and for those who left for COVID-19-related issues and want to return.
The law provides that a charter school whose mission is to enhance learning opportunities for refugees or children of refugee families may give an enrollment preference to refugees or children of refugee families. It also provides that a charter school whose mission is to enhance learning opportunities for English language learners may give an enrollment preference to English language learners.
The law provides that a charter school may weight the charter school’s lottery to give a slightly better chance of admission to educationally disadvantaged students, including low-income students, students with disabilities, English language learners, neglected or delinquent students, and homeless students.
The law provides that a charter school that is approved by the state board of education after May 13, 2014 and is located in a high growth area (i.e., an area of the state where school enrollment is significantly increasing or projected to significantly increase) must give an enrollment preference to a student who resides within a two-mile radius of the school.
The law requires that if a school is oversubscribed, the school must select students on a random basis.

Utah law provides automatic exemptions from a small number of laws, but requires charter schools to apply for waivers for most exemptions.
The law requires charter school teachers to be either state-licensed or on the basis of demonstrated competency, qualified to teach under alternative certification or authorization programs.

Utah law provides that charter schools are exempt from district collective bargaining agreements.

Regulations allow existing charter schools authorized by the state charter board to apply for up to three satellite schools by amending the original charter. Regulations also state that a satellite school shall be independently accountable for financial reporting and its own AYP report. These provisions aren’t applicable to schools authorized by local school boards or higher education institutions.

The law provides that charter school students are eligible to participate in all interscholastic leagues, competitions, awards, scholarships, and recognition programs available to non-charter public school students.Utah law allows charter school students to participate, on a state-established fee basis, in extracurricular activities at district schools, if those activities are not offered by the charter school.

Utah law provides that a charter school is the LEA for special education purposes. In addition to federal funding, Utah law provides funding for special education students.

Utah law provides state operational funding to charter schools. It also includes a local replacement fund to provide charter schools what school districts receive in property taxes. That fund combines two parts: (1) local property taxes for operations and (2) what districts spend on bonded indebtedness for school buildings. School districts provide about 25% of the funding for the fund. The state picks up the other 75%. The law provides that the amount of the local replacement fund is tied to increases school districts and the Legislature implement either as property tax hikes or as state guarantees to local property taxes. Utah law requires that a minimum of 10% of the local replacement fund must be expended for facilities.
Utah law provides that all charter schools are eligible to receive federal funds if they meet all applicable federal requirements and comply with relevant federal regulations and that local board-authorized schools must receive funding on the same basis that other district schools receive funding.

Utah law includes a local replacement fund to provide charter schools what school districts receive in property taxes. That fund combines two parts: (1) local property taxes for operations and (2) what districts spend on bonded indebtedness for school buildings. School districts provide about 25% of the funding for the fund. The state picks up the other 75%. The law provides that the amount of the local replacement fund is tied to increases school districts and the Legislature implement either as property tax hikes or as state guarantees to local property taxes. Utah law requires that a minimum of 10% of the local replacement fund must be expended for facilities.This facilities dedication is currently $270 per pupil. Utah law has established a charter school levy, which requires the local district to calculate the per pupil of the local levy for charter schools. The levy is collected by the state and distributed to charter schools. This mechanism guarantees an equal pro-rata share of local revenues are identified and designated to charter schools.

Utah law provides a charter school revolving loan fund that provides loans to charter schools for the costs of constructing, renovating, and purchasing charter school facilities. There is approximately $7.2 million in this fund.

Utah law creates the state charter school financing authority for charter facility financing. It provides charter schools with access to tax-exempt bond financing through issuers at the county and municipal levels.

Utah law creates the charter school credit enhancement program to assist qualified charter schools in obtaining favorable financing by providing the state’s moral obligation and providing a means of replenishing a qualifying charter school’s debt service reserve fund. The state appropriated $3 million to this program in FY 2013, which has been leveraged into about $450 million in credit enhanced bonds.

Utah law allows charter schools to opt into or out of the state retirement system.

Utah law includes a small number of the model law’s provisions for full-time virtual charter schools. Utah law provides a performance-based funding system for full-time virtual charter schools.