(a) A charter school shall be eligible to become a participating employer in a public employee retirement system participated in by the local school district in which the charter school is located.

(b) A charter school seeking to become a participating employer in a public employee retirement system shall make application for admission to such system in the manner prescribed by such system.

(c) Once a charter school has been accepted as a participating employer by a public employee retirement system, such participation may not be revoked by the charter school. A charter school participating in a public employee retirement system shall bear all the responsibilities and obligations of a participating employer in such system. Among other things, the charter school shall be responsible for the timely collection of employee contributions and the timely payment of employer and employee contributions to the public employee retirement system. A charter school shall also maintain such records of service and compensation as may be required by the public employee retirement system.

(d) Employees of a charter school participating in a public employee retirement system shall be deemed public employees for retirement purposes and eligible for admission to membership in a public employee retirement system in which the charter school participates on the same basis as comparable employees of the local school district in which the charter school is located.

(e) In the event a charter school is admitted as a participating employer in a public employee retirement system after it has commenced operation, the employees of the charter school may be credited with such prior service with the charter school as shall be certified by the charter school to have been rendered to it and otherwise creditable in such system, provided and only to the extent the applicable employer and employee contributions for such service with applicable interest as determined by such system have been paid to such system for such service.

(f) For the purposes of section 2855 of the Education Law, the material and substantial failure of a charter school to make timely collection of employee contributions and to make timely payment of employer and employee contributions to a public employee retirement system shall constitute fiscal mismanagement.