The 13-page draft of Sen. Tom Katus' proposed charter school bill is loaded with red flags, according to Donna DeKraai, president of the South Dakota Education Association teachers union.

The legislation could have some unintended consequences, she said.

While some charter schools have been successful at improving student achievement, others have failed, she said.

About 30 percent of all charter schools are operated by for-profit businesses, DeKraai said.

As it is written, the proposed legislation does not specify how state and local funding would be allocated for charter schools.

Katus says the state per student allocation would follow students.

Funding is generally an issue for charter schools, according to Rapid City Superintendent of Schools Peter Wharton. Wharton worked in Michigan, which has more than 200 charter schools, before coming to South Dakota nine years ago.

"There are some wonderful, very effective charter schools," Wharton said.

"What make them such is not a charter, it's that they have the resources, starting with money, facility and the most important one - people."

Charter schools work if they have sound financial support, Wharton said.

Many of Michigan's charter schools have survived because they received corporate help to buy facilities, he said.

South Dakota does not have the revenue base, or chooses not to have a revenue base, to give education the financial support all schools have asked for, Wharton said.

"The last thing South Dakota needs is another small school competing for dollars," he said.

DeKraai also wants to know where the state will get the money to support another state board and the staff to monitor charter-school performance, both items mentioned in Katus' bill.

The legislation also requires charter schools to conduct a criminal background check on staff members and stipulates that the schools cannot hire a teacher whose certificate has been revoked.

But nowhere in the bill does it specify that charter schools must hire certified teachers, DeKraai said.

Katus maintains that all teachers must meet state requirements.

DeKraai is also concerned that the Katus bill does not subject charter schools to the same public scrutiny as other public schools.

Public school systems are required by law to publish teacher salaries, but the proposed legislation specifically treats salaries of charter school employees as private information.

In addition, teachers who leave a public school system to teach in a charter school would have up to three years to return to the public school without any loss of status or benefits. "If I'm a teacher right now and I leave my school district to go to another school district, my former school district does not have to take me back," DeKraai said.