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HB 2971

Relating to financial institutions.

2025 Regular Session Introduced by David Gomberg

HB 2971 caps charter authorizing fees at 3% of funding (2% district, 1% for governance training) and links renewal terms to top-tier academic performance.

Chapter 96, (2025 Laws): Effective date January 1, 2026.
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Bill Summary · HB 2971

HB 2971 — Charter School Fees (summary)

Status and sponsor
- Sponsor: Rep. Angelica Guerrero-Cuellar (primary)
- Introduced: February 2025 (filed in early February 2025)
- Recent procedural activity: committee amendment filed (Mar 11, 2025), committee approval with amendment, placed on House calendar, several readings and committee reports through spring–summer 2025. The file shows multiple actions through June 2025 (including passage steps and later executive action entries). The bill has moved through committee and floor stages; consult the legislature’s website for the current live status.

Purpose
- To limit and clarify administrative fees that authorizing entities may withhold from charter school public funding, specify permitted uses of those fees, and make academic achievement the principal renewal metric — including a minimum renewal term for high‑performing charters.

Key provisions
1. Administrative fee cap
- For charter schools authorized by a local school district, administrative fees withheld for contract administration, oversight, and authorizing services are capped at 3% (of total annual public dollars allocated to the charter school).

  1. Fee breakdown (within the 3% cap)

    • Up to 2% may be withheld by the local school district for administrative duties related to authorization and oversight.
    • 1% is designated to a statewide charter school membership association to administer statutorily required board governance training.

  2. State Board authority

    • If the State Board of Education is the charter authorizer (i.e., sole statewide authorizer), it may withhold a fee not to exceed 3% of a charter’s revenue to cover authorizing activities (the statute lists example allowable activities such as proposal review, staff training/supervision, monitoring, reporting, and grant management).

  3. Renewal criteria and term length

    • The principal metric a district must consider for charter renewal is academic achievement.
    • If a charter’s average annual summative designation over its contract term is within the top three summative designations on the State Report Card, a local district authorizer must grant a renewal term of no fewer than five years.

Other notes
- The bill text includes material about functions and fees of the State Board as an authorizer and lists illustrative allowable uses of authorizing fees (e.g., monitoring, staff training, reporting).
- A House amendment was filed (Mar 11, 2025) that modifies bill text (lines deleted per amendment filing).

Who is affected
- Charter schools authorized by local school districts (financially — reduced/limited fee withholdings).
- Local school districts (their ability to withhold fees for oversight limited to 2%).
- State Board of Education when acting as an authorizer (may collect up to 3%).
- A statewide charter school membership association (would receive up to 1% per charter to fund mandated board governance training).

Potential impacts
- Reduced administrative fee burden on charter schools (more funding retained by schools).
- Formalizes funding for statewide board governance training (via the 1% allocation).
- Limits district flexibility to fund oversight from charter dollars (districts must operate within the 2% cap).
- Creates incentives for academic performance by tying longer renewal terms (≥5 years) to high summative designations.

For current status, vote history, or full bill text, consult the legislature’s official bill tracker (House Bill 2971).

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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