By Mr. Stanley of Waltham, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 575) of Thomas M. Stanley relative to the filing of charter school applications and the approval process by the Board of Education.  Education.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PETITION OF:

Thomas M. Stanley

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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.

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An Act relative to charter schools.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 89 of chapter 71 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out subsection (g) and inserting in place thereof the following subsection:—

(g) An application submitted for the establishment of a commonwealth charter school shall (1) be submitted to the board of education for approval pursuant to this section (2) be filed with the local school committee for the school district in which the charter school is located and (3) be submitted to the local legislative body and chief executive officer of the municipality in which the proposed commonwealth charter school for approval. If the local legislative body and chief executive officer do not approve the application then it is deemed denied. Before final approval to establish a commonwealth charter school the board of education with a majority of its members present shall hold a public hearing on said application in the municipality in which the proposed charter school is to be located. The board shall solicit and review comments on the application from the local school committee for the school district in which said charter school is to be located. Unless a majority of the members of the board of education are present at the public hearing. The application for a commonwealth charter school shall be deemed denied.