1. A. The Oklahoma Charter Schools Act shall apply only to charter schools formed and operated under the provisions of the act. Charter schools shall only be sponsored by a local school district or an area vocational-technical school district in districts with an average daily membership of five thousand (5,000) or more and which all or part of the school district is located in a county having more than five hundred thousand (500,000) population according to the latest federal Decennial Census. Additional charter schools may be sponsored as provided for in Section 8 of this act. Charter schools formed pursuant to the act shall serve as a pilot program to demonstrate the potential of expanding charter schools to other parts of the state. Any charter or enterprise school operating in the state pursuant to an agreement with the board of education of a school district on July 1, 1999, may continue to operate pursuant to that agreement or may contract with the board of education of the school district pursuant to the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act. Nothing in the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act shall prohibit a school district from applying for exemptions from certain education-related statutory requirements as provided for in the Education Deregulation Act. B. For purposes of the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act, "charter school" means a public school established by contract with a board of education of a school district or an area vocational-technical school district pursuant to the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act to provide learning that will improve student achievement and as defined in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. 8065. C. A charter school may consist of a new school site, new school sites or all or any portion of an existing school site. An entire school district may not become a charter school site.

Laws 1999, HB 1759, c. 320, § 7, emerg. eff. July 1, 1999.