Founded in 1890 A Gannett newspaper Greg Burton, Joanna Allhands, Phil Boas, Elvia Díaz, Abe Kwok and Robert Robb

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and came up with Senate Bill 1394 — better known as charter reform legislation. After much debate, SB 1394 passed out of the Senate Education Committee this past week.

Some argue this bill doesn’t go far enough. Others oppose it for going too far. Many, however, believe this bill strikes the right balance.

Senate Bill 1394 – led by Republican Sen. Kate Brophy McGee and other lawmakers from both parties, including my husband Democrat Rep. Lorenzo Sierra – offers real solutions when it comes to balancing public charter schools’ statutorily guaranteed autonomy with rightfully expected accountability.

So, let’s explore SB 1394 and what it offers taxpayers.

The proposed legislation would require local governing boards to have at least three governing body members. It also specifies that not more than two immediate family members may serve simultaneously on the governing body of the same charter school. In addition, it would prohibit immediate family members from being the majority of the governing body members of the same charter school.

Put another way, SB 1394 puts into Arizona statute what is required by the Internal Revenue Service in order to qualify for and maintain a 501(c)(3) non-profit status.

Additionally, this bill would require governing board members and key school administrative personnel to participate in a governing board training.

The training would cover important aspects of governance, including open meeting laws, public records requirements, enrollment laws and regulations, applicable procurement rules and student discipline.

Under SB 1394, the sponsor for a charter school must annually compile and publicly share information about the governance and operations of each public charter school it sponsors. These requirements rely heavily on the Form 990, used by the IRS to enforce spending, conflicts of interest, and purchasing regulations for non-profit organizations.

Non-profit public charter schools will share their Form 990, filed annually with the Internal Revenue Service. Forprofit public charter schools would be required to disclose the same information.

In other words, taxpayers would be able to see and review financial information that meets — and in some cases, exceeds — the same information the IRS requires in order to remain a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in good standing with the U.S. government.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but the IRS describes the information contained on the Form 990 this way. “Organizations also use the Form 990 to share information with the public about their programs. Additionally, most states rely on the Form 990 to perform charitable and other regulatory oversight ...”

In addition to this disclosure, the sponsor of a charter school would annually compile and publicly share information such as the names of voting members of the governing board, an adopted conflicts of interest policy for the governing board, total revenues received by a public charter school and how much is spent on items such as teacher salaries, special education, facilities, administration, and other services.