1. (1) The State Board or a school district board that approves a proposal will be considered the sponsor of the public charter school defined in the proposal.

2. (2) An applicant or tribal applicant whose proposal has been approved by the sponsor must, in cooperation with the sponsor, prepare and execute a charter that addresses, at a minimum, the information that is included in the proposal and:

   1. (a) State any reasonable pre-opening requirements or conditions for the public charter school to ensure they meet all health, safety, and other legal requirements prior to opening and are prepared to open smoothly;
   2. (b) State how the public charter school shall receive any state and federal funds distributed to districts other than the negotiated percentage of the charter school rate as required by ORS 338.155;
   3. (c) Establish the performance standards under which the public charter school will be evaluated, using objective and verifiable measures of student achievement as the primary measure of school quality;
   4. (d) Define the sources of academic data that will form the evidence base for ongoing and renewal evaluation;
   5. (e) Include expectations for appropriate access, education support services, and coordination with the district in which the public charter school is located for students who may qualify for additional education services; and
   6. (f) Include clear, measurable performance standards to judge the effectiveness of mission-specific performance measure and metrics that credibly demonstrate the public charter school’s success in fulfilling is mission and serving its students.
3. (3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), an applicant and sponsor may agree to change elements of the proposal prior to including them in the charter and may agree to exclude elements of the proposal from the charter or to include new elements in the charter by mutual agreement of the school district board and the applicant.
4. (4) An initial charter may be in effect for no more than five years and may be renewed by the sponsor.
5. (5) The first renewal of a charter must be for the same number of years as the initial charter.
6. (6) Subsequent renewals of a charter must be for a minimum of five years but may not exceed 10 years.
7. (7) A sponsor and the charter school governing body may amend a charter at any time by joint agreement.

8. (8)

   1. (a) A public charter school must submit a copy of the executed or amended charter to the Oregon Department of Education.
   2. (b) Upon executing an initial charter the public charter school must also submit to the Oregon Department of Education evidence of the charter school’s governing board Oregon nonprofit status under ORS 65 and federal 501c3 nonprofit status.

Statutory/Other Authority

ORS 326.051

Statutes/Other Implemented

Ch. 200 & OL 1999 (SB 100)

History

ODE 32-2026, amend filed 06/18/2026, effective 06/19/2026
ODE 62-2025, temporary amend filed 12/19/2025, effective 12/22/2025 through 06/19/2026
ODE 5-2024, amend filed 02/16/2024, effective 02/16/2024
ODE 30-2018, amend filed 09/26/2018, effective 09/26/2018
Renumbered from 581-020-0311, ODE 10-2014, f. & cert. ef. 2-19-14
ODE 13-2000, f. & cert. ef. 5-3-00