(a) A charter school may not do any of the following:
(1) Charge tuition, except in accordance with Chapter 6 of this title, or collect fees not permitted to be assessed by other school districts.
(2) Be home-based nor engage in any sectarian or religious practices in its educational program, admissions policies, employment policies or operations.
(3) Restrict student admissions except:
a. By age and grade;
b. By lottery in the case of over-enrollment;
c. By gender in the case of a same-gender school, except that there may not be more than 1 same-gender school for each gender operating simultaneously, and any same-gender charter school authorized prior to June 30, 2014, may have their charter renewed and continue to operate. Any subsequent same-gender charter school that seeks to operate in the State shall make its application to the Department of Education and the State Board of Education.
d.–g. [Repealed.]
(4) Discriminate against any student in the admissions process because of race, creed, color, sex (except in the case of a same-gender school), handicap, or national origin, or because the student's school district of residence has a per student local expenditure lower than another student seeking admission. For the purposes of this subsection:
a. “Protective hairstyle” includes braids, locks, and twists.
b. “Race” includes traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and a protective hairstyle.
(5) Be formed to circumvent a court-ordered desegregation plan.
(b) Preferences in student admissions may be given to:
(1) Siblings of students currently enrolled at the school;
(2) Students attending an existing public school converted to charter status. Parents of students at a school converted to charter status shall be provided with a plan the district will use to address the educational needs of students who will not be attending the charter school;
(3) Students enrolling in a new (nonconverted) charter school may be given preference under the following circumstances as long as the school has described its preferences in the school's charter:
a. Students residing within a 5-mile radius of the school;
b. Students residing within the regular school district in which the school is located;
c. Students who have a specific interest in the school's teaching methods, philosophy, or educational focus;
d. Students who are at risk of academic failure;
e. Children of persons employed on a permanent basis for at least 30.0 hours per week during the school year by the charter school.
(4) Children of a school's founders, so long as they constitute no more than 5% of the school's total student population. For the purposes of this paragraph “founder” shall not include anyone whose sole significant contribution to the school was monetary, but otherwise shall be determined by the founding Board of Directors subject to Department of Education regulations.
(c) (1) On or before April 1 of each school year, a charter school shall have enrolled, at a minimum, 80% of its total authorized number of students, and the administrator of each charter school shall, pursuant to the requirements below, provide a written certification of that enrollment to the Department of Education and to the superintendent of each public school district in which 1 or more of the charter school's students reside.
(2) The certification from the charter school's administrator shall contain an updated roster of students who are enrolled at the charter school, together with their home address and district of residence.
(3) A charter school shall obtain a written confirmation, signed by a parent or guardian of each student in that student's initial year of attendance at the charter school, that the student will remain in the charter school for at least 1 school year. That confirmation shall include a statement reading:
“I understand that my child is required to remain in this charter school, in the absence of any condition constituting good cause, for at least 1 school year”
and shall be kept on file at the school and made available for inspection to Department of Education officials or representatives from the public school district in which the student resides. After a student's initial year of enrollment, it shall be presumed for school district planning purposes only that the student will continue to attend the charter school until completion of the school's highest grade level and no further written confirmation need be obtained by the charter school.
(d) A pupil accepted for enrollment in a charter school pursuant to this chapter shall remain enrolled therein for a minimum of 1 year unless, during that 1-year period, good cause exists for the failure to meet this requirement. For purposes of this section only, “good cause” shall be defined as a change in a child's residence due to a change in family residence, a change in the state in which the family residence is located, a change in the marital status of the child's parents, a change caused by a guardianship proceeding, placement of a child in foster care, adoption, participation by a child in a foreign exchange program, participation by a child in a substance abuse or mental health treatment program, a reported, recorded and substantiated instance of “bullying” against their child as defined in § 4161 of this title, mutual agreement by the board of directors of the charter school, the board of the receiving district and the parent or parents or guardian of such child to the termination of such enrollment, or a set of circumstances consistent with this definition of “good cause.”
(e) If at any time during any fiscal year of its existence, a charter school knows or reasonably should know that it has or will become unable to pay in full its projected expenses as they fall due, the school shall immediately so advise the Department of Education and its authorizer, and shall provide the Department with all financial information relating to revenues and expenses of the school necessary for the Department to determine the extent and cause of any potential operating deficit. If a charter school should fail to provide the notice to the Department of Education and authorizer required by this subsection or shall fail to cooperate with the Department in the production of financial information pursuant to this subsection, the authorizer shall subject the school's charter to formal review pursuant to the provisions of § 515 of this title in order to determine whether grounds exist to take remedial measures.
(f) If a child would qualify for a no- or low-cost breakfast or lunch under a federal national school breakfast or lunch program, beginning in the 2014-2015 school year, the charter school shall provide breakfast and lunch to the child at no or low cost to the child's family. Charter schools shall not consider whether a child would qualify for no- or low-cost breakfast or lunch under a federal national school breakfast or lunch program when making enrollment decisions.