N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8 § 119.1

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 51, December 18, 2024

Section 119.1 - Financing of charter schools

(a) Purpose. In the event of the failure of a school district to make payments to a charter school as required by section 2856 of the Education Law, the commissioner shall certify the amount of the unpaid obligation to the comptroller to be deducted from any State aid payments which become due to such school district. The amount of each school district's obligation shall be calculated in accordance with this section.

(b) Definitions. For the purposes of this section:

(1) Legally absent means to be absent for: personal illness, illness or death in the family, impassable roads or weather, religious observance, quarantine, required court appearances, attendance at health clinics, approved college visits, military obligations, disciplinary detention of an incarcerated youth, or for such other reasons as may be approved by the commissioner.

(2) Period of enrollment means that period commencing on the first day of the school year that a pupil is enrolled in and is physically present at, or legally absent from, an educational program or service of a charter school and ending on the last day of the school year that such pupil is so enrolled and physically present at, or legally absent from, such program or service.

(3) Enrollment for each charter school student shall mean the quotient, calculated to three decimals without rounding, obtained when the total number of weeks of the period of enrollment of such student is divided by the total number of weeks in the full school year of the educational program or service of the charter school. For the purposes of this section, three consecutive days of enrollment within the same week and within the same month shall be the equivalent of one week of enrollment, provided that no more than four weeks of enrollment may be counted in any calendar month.

(4) Levels of service shall mean the categories of programs for students with disabilities specified in section 3602 (19)(b)(1)-(4) of the Education Law.

(5) Approved operating expense shall mean the amount calculated pursuant to section 3602 (1) of the Education Law as established by the commissioner based on the most recent electronic data file prepared by the commissioner on May 15th of each school year available.

(6) Expense per pupil shall mean the amount calculated pursuant to section 3602 (1)(f) of the Education Law for the school district using year prior to the base year expenditures and pupils, as established by the commissioner based on the electronic data file prepared by the commissioner on May 15th of the base year pursuant to section 305 (21)(b) of the Education Law. Where the expense per pupil is not available for a school district, the expense per pupil shall be deemed to be the average expense per pupil for the county in which the school district is located.

(7) Charter basic tuition per pupil shall be equal to the amount calculated pursuant to section 2856 of Education Law, as established by the commissioner based on the electronic data file prepared by the commissioner on May 15th of the base year pursuant to section 305 (21)(b) of the Education Law.

(8) State aid attributable to a student with a disability attending a charter school shall mean:

(i) Through the 2023-2024 school year, the sum of excess cost aid payable to a public school district pursuant to section 3602 (19)(4) of the Education Law based on the resident weighted enrollment in the charter school of pupils with disabilities receiving special services or programs provided directly or indirectly by the charter school in the current school year and any apportionment payable to such public school district pursuant to paragraph (5) of such subdivision (19) of the Education Law that is based on the cost of special services or programs provided directly or indirectly by the charter school to such pupil in the current school year. Excess cost aid for the purposes of this section shall equal the product of excess cost aid per pupil calculated pursuant to section 3602 (19)(3) of the Education Law, the proportion of the weighting attributable to the student's level of service provided directly or indirectly by the charter school pursuant to section 3602 (19)(b)(1)-(4) of the Education Law, and the student's enrollment in such charter school in the current school year; and

(ii) Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, the sum of the following as established by the commissioner based on the most recent electronic data file prepared by the commissioner on May 15th of each school year available:

(a) Excess cost aid payable to a public school district pursuant to section 3602 (5) of the Education Law that is based on the cost of special services or programs provided directly or indirectly by the charter school to such pupil in the current school year, plus

(b) Funds payable under section 3602 (5-a) of education law, pro-rated by the enrollment in the charter school of pupils with disabilities receiving special services or programs provided directly or indirectly by the charter school as a proportion of public school district enrollment of students as computed pursuant to 3602(1)(n) of education law, plus

(c) The product of (1) 1.41 multiplied by (2) current year enrollment of pupils with disabilities receiving special services or programs provided directly or indirectly by the charter school and further multiplied by (3) the school district selected foundation aid calculated pursuant to subdivision 3602(4) of Education Law.

(9) Federal aid attributable to a student with a disability attending a charter school, and receiving special education services or programs provided directly or indirectly by the charter school, shall mean:

(i) for the first year of operation of the charter school, the allocation that would be attributable to the charter school pursuant to 20 U.S.C.A. 1411 and 1419 (United States Code Annotated, 2017 edition; Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9328; 1998 - available at the Office of Counsel, Education Building, Room 148, State Education Department, Albany, NY 12234) for a pupil who is identified as a student with a disability, as such term is defined in section 200.1 of this Title, who is included in a report to the commissioner of pupils so identified as of December 1st of the current school year, or for such other pupil count as specified by the Federal government for the current school year, provided that the enrollment of such students in the charter school during the current school year shall be used for this purpose until such report, or a report of such other pupil count, has been received by the commissioner; and

(ii) for the second year of operation of the charter school and thereafter, the allocation that would be attributable to the charter school pursuant to 20 U.S.C.A. 1411 and 1419 (United States Code Annotated, 2017 edition; Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9328; 1998 - available at the Office of Counsel, Education Building, Room 148, State Education Building, Albany, NY 12234) for a pupil who is identified as a student with a disability, as such term is defined in section 200.1 of this Title, who is included in a report to the commissioner of pupils so identified as of December 1st of the base year, or for such other pupil count as specified by the Federal government.

(c) Charter school obligations.

(1) No later than 30 days prior to the first business day of July, September, November, January, March and May, each charter school shall report to each public school district with resident pupils attending the charter school and to the department an updated estimate of the enrollment of students attending the charter school in the current school year who are residents of such public school district and any reduced amounts per pupil that shall be payable to the charter school for such students pursuant to subdivision one of section 2856 of the Education Law that has been established pursuant to an agreement between the charter school and the charter school entity as set forth in the charter, provided that, for the 1999-2000 school year, no report shall be required 30 days prior to the first business day of July. For each student with a disability attending such charter school, such report shall also indicate the level of special programs or services to be provided directly or indirectly to such student by the charter school and an estimated annual cost to be incurred by the charter school in providing such special programs or services. The Commissioner may excuse any delay in reporting under this paragraph for the length of time of a school closure ordered pursuant to an Executive Order of the Governor pursuant to a State of emergency for the COVID-19 crisis, however, such delay shall not exceed 30 days from such reporting deadline.

(2) On or before the last day of July, each charter school shall provide a final report of actual enrollment to the department and to each school district with resident pupils attending the charter school in the prior school year. For each student with a disability attending such charter school, such report shall also indicate the level of special programs or services actually provided directly or indirectly to such student by the charter school and the annual cost incurred by the charter school in providing such special programs or services.

(3) In the event of the failure of a school district to fulfill the financial obligation required by section 2856 of the Education Law equal to the amounts calculated pursuant to this section based on the final report of actual enrollment required pursuant to subdivision (c) of this section, the charter school shall notify the commissioner no later than the December 31st immediately following the school year in which the payments were due financial obligation was incurred and shall submit all documentation required by the Commissioner to complete a state aid intercept to the department no later than the June 30th one year after the close of the school year in which the financial obligation was incurred.

(d) Public school district of residence obligations.

(1) No later than the first business day of July, September, November, January, March and May of the current school year, each public school district with resident pupils attending a charter school shall pay directly to such charter school the appropriate payment amounts as specified in subdivision one of section 2856 of the Education Law that are attributable to the enrollment of such pupils as reported to the public school district by the charter school no later than 30 days prior to each such payment date, provided that, for the 1999-2000 school year, no payment shall be required on the first business day of July.

(2) The total amount of payments due and payable to a charter school for the current school year by a public school district shall be paid as follows:

(i) on or before the first business day of July, one sixth of the total amount due, as adjusted for any supplemental payments due or overpayments to be recovered for the prior school year;

(ii) on or before the first business day of September, two sixths of the total amount due, as adjusted for any supplemental payments due or overpayments to be recovered for the prior school year, minus any payments made before such date pursuant to subparagraph (i) of this paragraph;

(iii) on or before the first business day of November, three sixths of the total amount due, as adjusted for any supplemental payments due on overpayments to be recovered for the prior school year, minus any payments made before such date pursuant to subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of this paragraph;

(iv) on or before the first business day of January, four sixths of the total amount due, as adjusted for any supplemental payments due or overpayments to be recovered for the prior school year, minus any payments made before such date pursuant to subparagraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) of this paragraph;

(v) on or before the first business day of March, five sixths of the total amount due, as adjusted for any supplemental payments due or overpayments to be recovered for the prior school year, minus any payments made before such date pursuant to subparagraphs (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) of this paragraph; and

(vi) on or before the first business day of May, the total amount due, as adjusted for any supplemental payments due or overpayments to be recovered for the prior school year, minus any payments made before such date pursuant to subparagraphs (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v) of this paragraph.

(3) The school district financial obligation per resident student enrolled in a charter school shall equal the sum of:

(i) the product of the school district's charter school basic tuition and the current year enrollment of the pupils in the charter school as defined in paragraph (b)(3) of this section; and

(ii) the amounts of State and Federal aid, if any, that may be attributable to such pupil as defined in paragraphs (b)(8) and (9) of this section, or the amount established pursuant to an agreement between the charter school and the school district as authorized under section 2856 (1)(b) of the Education Law and section 102 of Part H of Chapter 83 of the Laws of 2002 .

(4) The total annual obligation due to a charter school by a public school district shall be the sum of the annual financial obligations for all resident students enrolled at any time during the current school year in the charter school.

(5) School districts shall include the enrollment of resident students attending charter schools in the enrollment, attendance and, if applicable, count of students with disabilities reported to the department for the purposes of claiming State aid.

(6) If there is a delay in reporting pursuant to paragraph 1 of this section, the Commissioner shall excuse any delay in payments required under this subdivision for the length of time of a school closure ordered pursuant to an Executive Order of the Governor pursuant to a State of emergency for the COVID-19 crisis, however, such delay shall not exceed 30 days from such payment deadline.

(e) Department obligations.

(1) On or before the first day of June of each year, or as soon as practicable upon the receipt of Federal notice of the estimated State appropriation for the next school year, the commissioner shall notify all school districts and all charter schools of the charter school basic tuition and the estimated per pupil allocation under part B of the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to be used in the calculation of payments due to charter schools in next school year, provided that, for payments due to charter schools in the 1999-2000 school year, such notification shall be made on or before August 15, 1999. Notice of final Federal per pupil allocation will be issued as soon as practicable upon the State's receipt of the notice of final allocation from the Federal government.

(2) In the event of the failure of a school district to fulfill the financial obligation required by section 2856 of the Education Law equal to the amounts calculated pursuant to this section, upon notification by the charter school, the commissioner shall certify the amounts of the unpaid obligations to the comptroller to be deducted from State aid due the school district and paid to the applicable charter schools.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 8 § 119.1

Amended New York State Register February 24, 2021/Volume XLIII, Issue 08, eff. 2/24/2021

Amended New York State Register September 25, 2024/Volume XLVI, Issue 39, eff. 9/25/2024