20-6-802. Public charter schools -- legislative findings and intent. (1) The legislature finds that:

(a) parents desire education options for their children;

(b) expanding educational opportunities for K-12 education within the state is a necessary and valid public purpose; and

(c) creating options that assist parents and encourage students to develop their full educational potential is vital to the economic competitiveness of the state.

(2) It is the legislature's intent to establish public charter schools that are under the supervision and control of trustees who are elected by qualified electors pursuant to Article IV, section 2, and Article X, section 8, of the Montana constitution for the purposes of:

(a) enhancing Montana's system of education to develop the full educational potential of each person;

(b) enabling parents to make decisions on how best to educate their children;

(c) providing other public educational opportunities for all students, especially those at risk of academic failure;

(d) encouraging and inspiring the use of different models of teaching, governing, scheduling, and providing instruction in both public charter schools and noncharter public schools to meet a variety of student needs;

(e) advancing Montana's commitment to the preservation of American Indian cultural identity, pursuant to Article X, section 1(2), of the Montana constitution, and to the elimination of the American Indian achievement gap by encouraging students, parents, and community members in Indian country to pursue alternative educational opportunities through public charter schools; and

(f) ensuring accountability to the qualified electors and taxpayers in the community in which the charter school is located.

(3) It is the legislature's intent to create innovative and high-performing public charter schools under the general supervision of the board of public education and under the supervision and control of trustees of the governing board who are elected by qualified electors in the community where the charter school is located.