(a) There is established within the State Charter Schools Commission an Office of Charter School Compliance, which shall be staffed with personnel as provided for in subsection (d.1) of Code Section 20-2-2082, who shall report directly to the State Board of Education for purposes of this subsection. The responsibilities of such office shall be to:

(1) Prepare charter school guidelines to be approved by the state board;

(2) Distribute charter school petition information to inquiring parties;

(3) Process all charter school petitions and coordinate with the Charter Advisory Committee established pursuant to Code Section 20-2-2063.1 to facilitate its review and recommendations to the state board;

(4) Administer any state or federal charter school implementation grant program;

(5) Contract with an independent party to evaluate the performance of charter schools, as such performance relates to fulfilling the terms of their charters;

(6) Compile information necessary to produce the annual report required by Code Section 20-2-2070, which shall include, but shall not be limited to, information regarding the effectiveness of the incentives and the adherence of local school systems to the requirements provided for in Code Sections 20-2-2064 and 20-2-2064.2;

(7) Prepare guidelines for local boards of education for the evaluation of charter school petitions. Such guidelines shall be published on the public website of the Department of Education and shall include:

(A) Criteria for evaluating the academic, operational, and financial plans of the charter petitioner;

(B) Best practices for conducting a thorough and objective review of charter petitions;

(C) Procedures for public hearings and community input on charter petitions; and

(D) A standardized evaluation rubric for use by local boards of education during the evaluation of charter petitions; and

(8) Provide technical assistance to local school systems as charter school authorizers, support local school systems as needed to implement best practices in charter school authorization, and regularly engage with local school systems to promote charter school authorization at the local level.

(b) There is established within the Department of Education an Office of District Flexibility, the responsibilities of which shall be to:

(1) Prepare charter system guidelines to be approved by the state board;

(2) Distribute charter system petition information to inquiring parties;

(3) Process all charter system petitions and coordinate with the Charter Advisory Committee established pursuant to Code Section 20-2-2063.1 to facilitate its review and recommendations to the state board;

(4) Administer any state or federal charter school implementation grant program;

(5) Contract with an independent party to evaluate the performance of charter systems, as such performance relates to fulfilling the terms of their charters; and

(6) Compile information necessary to produce the annual report required by Code Section 20-2-2070.