Charter school operating budgets; maximum MEM.

A. Each state-chartered charter school shall submit to the charter schools division of the department a school-based operating budget. The operating budget shall be submitted to the division for approval or amendment pursuant to the Public School Finance Act and the Charter Schools Act [Chapter 22, Article 8B NMSA 1978]. Thereafter, the operating budget shall be submitted to the commission for review. B. Each locally chartered charter school shall submit to the local school board a school-based operating budget for approval or amendment. The approval or amendment authority of the local school board relative to the charter school operating budget is limited to ensuring that sound fiscal practices are followed in the development of the operating budget and that the charter school operating budget is within the allotted resources. The local school board shall have no veto authority over individual line items within the charter school's proposed financial budget or over any item in the educational plan but shall approve or disapprove the operating budget in its entirety. Upon final approval of the charter school operating budget by the local school board, the individual charter school operating budget shall be included separately in the budget submission to the department required pursuant to the Public School Finance Act and the Charter Schools Act. C. For its first year of operation, a charter school's operating budget shall be based on the projected number of program units generated by the school and its students using the at-risk index, the English learner three-year average rate and the staffing cost multiplier of the school district in which the charter school is located, and the charter school's operating budget shall be adjusted using the qualified MEM on the first reporting date of the current school year. For its second and third fiscal year of operation, a charter school's operating budget shall be based on the number of program units generated by the school and its students using the average of MEM on the second and third reporting dates of the prior year, the at-risk index and English learner three- year average rate of the school district in which the charter school is located and the charter school's staffing cost multiplier. For its fourth and subsequent fiscal years of operation, a charter school's operating budget shall be based on the number of program units generated by the charter school and its students using the average of the MEM on the second and third reporting dates of the prior year, the charter school's at-risk index, the charter school's English learner three-year average rate and the charter school's staffing cost multiplier.