Members of the Re-1 school board began the first round of contract negotiations with members of the Battle Rock Charter School board Tuesday concerning payment for services provided to the charter school by the school district.

The Colorado legislature has mandated that, starting this year, all Colorado school districts must allocate charter schools an amount of funding equal to the number of pupils in each charter school multiplied by 95 percent of the per-pupil operating revenue (PPOR).

The remaining 5 percent is retained by the district for administrative costs.

For the 1999-2000 school year, the school district provided 85 percent of the PPOR to Battle Rock. In addition, the district provided several services to Battle Rock, including transportation, workman’s compensation insurance, and unemployment insurance.

In 1999-2000, Re-1 allocated roughly $99,700 in per-pupil funding to Battle Rock. Re-1 will receive $4,938 in funding for each pupil for the 2000-2001 school year, and will allocate a difference of an estimated $11,000 in additional per-pupil funding for the charter school, in accordance with the new state law.

Charter-school enrollment is calculated as part of district enrollment numbers on which each school district is funded. In order for charter schools to be functional within the system, school districts have to allocate money per pupil to the charter schools for operating costs.

Jim Riffy, Re-1 business manager, said, "Having paid them 85 percent and provided services in addition to the 85 percent, the district brought the contribution up over 100 percent of PPOR."

It was suggested during the yearly contract negotiations on Tuesday that Battle Rock will have to pay for some services that Re-1 furnishes to the charter school or contract with another entity for those services, with the additional 10 percent in per-pupil funding from the district.

"Since we can’t side-step what the government asked for, we have to find out what’s agreeable," said Battle Rock board President Peter Clay

"Let’s all get the numbers on one sheet, and then decide," he continued.

Transportation costs were suggested as one area where Battle Rock could compensate the district. Re-1 estimates $90.64 per student in transportation expenses per year, which amounts to about $2,000 a year.

Suggestions that were brought up at the Tuesday meeting will again be addressed at special meeting of the Re-1 board on Aug. 15.