A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to permit the state board of education to grant or renew school charters for a period of up to ten years.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑238.29D(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	The State Board of Education may grant the initial charter for a period not to exceed 10 years and may renew the charter upon the request of the chartering entity for subsequent periods not to exceed 10 years each. A material revision of the provisions of a charter application shall be made only upon the approval of the State Board of Education.
It shall not be considered a material revision of a charter application and shall not require the prior approval of the State Board for a charter school to increase its enrollment during the charter school's second year of operation and annually thereafter (i) by up to ten percent (10%) of the school's previous year's enrollment or (ii) in accordance with planned growth as authorized in the charter. Other enrollment growth shall be considered a material revision of the charter application, and the State Board may approve such additional enrollment growth of greater than ten percent (10%) only if the State Board finds that:
(1)	The actual enrollment of the charter school is within ten percent (10%) of its maximum authorized enrollment;
(2)	The charter school has commitments for ninety percent (90%) of the requested maximum growth;
(3)	The board of education of the local school administrative unit in which the charter school is located has had an opportunity to be heard by the State Board of Education on any adverse impact the proposed growth would have on the unit's ability to provide a sound basic education to its students;
(4)	The charter school is not currently identified as low‑performing;
(5)	The charter school meets generally accepted standards of fiscal management; and
(6)	It is otherwise appropriate to approve the enrollment growth."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.  Section 1 of this act applies only to charters granted or renewed on or after that date.