Section 180-19-010 - Definitions(1) "At-risk student" or "systemically marginalized student" means a student who has an academic or economic disadvantage that requires assistance or special services to succeed in educational programs. The term includes, but is not limited to, students who do not meet minimum standards of academic proficiency, students who are at risk of dropping out of high school, students in chronically lowperforming schools, students with higher than average disciplinary sanctions, students with lower participation rates in advanced or gifted programs, students who are limited in English proficiency, students who are members of economically disadvantaged families, and students who are identified as having special educational needs.(2) "Authorizer" means a school district board of directors that has been approved to be a charter school authorizer under RCW 28A.710.090 and the charter school commission established under RCW 28A.710.070.(3) "Board" means the state board of education.(4) "Charter contract" means a fixed term, renewable contract between a charter school and an authorizer that outlines the roles, powers, responsibilities, and performance expectations for each party to the contract.(5) "School district" or "district" means a school district board of directors.(6) "Charter school" or "charter public school" means a public school that is established in accordance with chapter 28A.710 RCW, governed by a charter school board, and operated according to the terms of a charter contract executed under this chapter.(7) "Charter school board" means the board of directors appointed or selected under the terms of a charter application to manage and operate the charter school.(8) "Commission" means the Washington state charter school commission established in RCW 28A.710.070.(9) "NACSA Principles and Standards" means the "Principles and Standards for Quality Charter Authorizing (2015 Edition or most current edition)" developed by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA).(10) "High percentage of charter school closures" means a higher percentage of closures than the national charter school closure rate as reported by NACSA.(11) "Parent" means a parent, guardian, or other person or entity having legal custody of a child.(12) "Student" means a child eligible to attend a public school in the state.(13) "Undeveloped" means that the application response is wholly inadequate in that the applicant has not considered or anticipated the welldeveloped practice at all, or proposes to carry out its authorizing duties in a way that is not recognizably connected to the expectations established by the board and the NACSA Principles and Standards.(14) "Partially developed" means that the application response contains some aspects of a welldeveloped practice, is limited in its execution, or otherwise falls short of satisfying the expectations established by the board and the NACSA Principles and Standards.(15) "Well-developed" means that the application response meets the expectations established by the board and the NACSA Principles and Standards in material respects and warrants approval subject to execution of an authorizing contract with the board.(16) "Persistently unsatisfactory performance of an authorizer's portfolio of charter schools" shall consist, for any school or schools, of: (a) Repeated failure during a contract term, or consecutive contract terms, to meet the expectations for academic performance set forth in the charter contract including, but not limited to, applicable state and federal accountability requirements, without evidence of a trend indicating the school will meet those expectations;(b) Repeated failure during a contract term, or consecutive contract terms, to meet the financial performance targets within the charter contract;(c) Repeated failure during a contract term, or consecutive contract terms, to meet the targets for organizational performance within the charter contract.(17) "A pattern of well-founded complaints" means multiple complaints that are found by the board to be supported by sufficient factual information that: (a) An authorizer is not in compliance with its authorizing contract, or its authorizer duties, including the failure to develop and follow nationally recognized principles and standards for charter authorizing; or(b) Schools in the authorizer's portfolio that are not in compliance with a charter contract or applicable law.(18) "Other objective circumstances" include, but are not limited to, failure of the authorizer or its charter schools to comply with an applicable state or federal law or regulation, or evidence that a charter school is not operating in a manner that fulfills the requirements of its charter contract or has a substantial risk of becoming operationally unable to fulfill those requirements.Wash. Admin. Code § 180-19-010
Amended by WSR 14-19-107, Filed 9/16/2014, effective 10/17/2014Amended by WSR 17-20-070, Filed 10/2/2017, effective 11/2/2017Amended by WSR 24-07-015, Filed 3/7/2024, effective 4/7/2024Statutory Authority: RCW 28A.710.090. WSR 13-07-065, § 180-19-010, filed 3/19/13, effective 4/19/13.