Charter schools: loans.

(1) Existing law authorizes a county superintendent of schools, with the approval of the county board of education, to temporarily transfer moneys to a school district under specified circumstances. The Charter Schools Act of 1992 authorizes any one or more persons to submit a petition to the governing board of a school district to establish a charter school that operates independently from the existing school district structure as a method of accomplishing specified goals. This bill, until July 1, 2017, would authorize a county board of education, subject to the concurrence of the county superintendent of schools, to loan moneys from the proceeds of revenue anticipation notes to a charter school for which the county board of education or the county superintendent of schools has a supervisory responsibility or, regardless of whether the charter school is within or outside of the county, with which a county board of education or county superintendent of schools has a contractual relationship. The bill would require the county superintendent of schools, before the county board of education makes the loan, to take specified actions regarding the advisability of the loan. The bill would provide that any loan of moneys pursuant to these provisions would not constitute a debt or liability for the county superintendent of schools, the county board of education, or the State of California. The bill would prohibit a charter school from receiving more than one of these loans per fiscal year. The bill would require the county board of education, as a condition of making a loan to a charter school, to report to the State Department of Education by September 15 of each prior year specified information on loans made to charter schools within the fiscal year and would require the department to compile that information into one report to be submitted by December 1 of each year to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, the Department of Finance, and the Legislative Analyst's Office. (2) Existing law states that existing law governing charter schools does not prohibit a private person or organization from providing funding or other assistance to the establishment or operation of a charter school. This bill, until July 1, 2017, would authorize a charter school to contract with a county superintendent of schools or a county board of education for purposes of borrowing moneys, as described above. The bill would require the borrowed moneys to be expended by a charter school solely for purposes of meeting the cash management needs of the charter school due to the deferral of apportionment payments and not for purposes of making capital acquisitions. (3) This bill also would make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.