BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 622
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 622 (Campos) - As Amended: April 15, 2013
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires a charter school (proposed or existing) to
post on its Internet website a copy of the summary of its
petition, a copy of the initial petition, renewal petition, and
any substantive revisions to the petition submitted to the
charter school authorizer within five days from the date of
submission. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a charter school authorizer to post all of the
following on its Internet website:
a) A summary of the petition and a copy of the initial
petition, renewal petition, or appeal petition submitted to
the charter school authorizer. Further requires this
information to be posted within five days from the date of
the submission.
b) Any substantive revisions of the petition submitted for
initial approval or renewal, within five days from the date
of submission.
c) A summary of the petition and the petition for each
charter school it has authorized.
2)Requires an initial petition, a renewal petition, or an appeal
petition submitted to a charter authorizer to simultaneously
include an electronic copy of the summary of the petition and
the actual petition. Further requires any substantive
revisions to the initial petition or renewal petition to be
submitted to the authorizer in electronic form.
3)Defines "charter authorizer" as the governing board of a
school district, the county of education, or the State Board
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of Education (SBE), as appropriate.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)To the extent this measure creates increased costs to charter
schools, there will be GF/98 cost pressure, of at least
$65,000, to charter schools to complete the requirements of
this measure.
2)GF/98 state reimbursable mandated costs, of approximately
$95,000, to charter authorizers to post charter school
petition, renewal, and appeal information on its Internet
website within five days of submission.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . A charter school is a public school that may provide
instruction in any of grades K-12. It is usually created or
organized by a group of teachers, parents and community
leaders or a community-based organization. A charter school
may be authorized by an existing local public school board,
county board of education, or SBE. Existing law requires a
potential charter school to submit a petition to a governing
board or SBE for approval to establish the school. The
petition is required to include a description of the
educational program of the school and several other policies
and procedures relating to employees, pupils, and finances.
Statute also establishes procedures for the renewal of charter
schools, not to exceed five years. If a charter schools is
denied renewal by its authorizer, the school may petition to
the county board of education or the SBE for approval, where
applicable.
According to the author, "[This bill] helps ensure that
parents, teachers and community members are well informed when
making decisions about establishing a charter school.
Currently charter petitions are not readily available in
neighborhoods for community review. AB 622 requires charter
petitions to be posted online... By requiring this easy public
access to a charter petition, a community may make a well
informed decision to support a new charter school and hold
existing charter schools accountable."
2)Under existing law , specific goals and operating procedures
for the charter school are detailed in an agreement (charter)
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between the sponsoring board and charter organizers. A charter
school is generally exempt from most laws governing school
districts, except where specifically noted in the law.
According to the State Department of Education (SDE), there
were 1,062 charter schools (including three statewide benefit
charters and 33 approved by SBE) with an enrollment of 456,000
pupils in 2012-13.
3)Are charter schools eligible for mandate reimbursement ?
According to a May 2006 decision by the Commission on State
Mandates (CSM), charter schools are not eligible to claim
mandate reimbursements. In denying charter schools' mandate
claims, the CSM repeatedly cites the fact that charter schools
are "voluntarily" created. Furthermore, the CSM agrees with
the following comments of the Department of Finance: "Unlike
school districts, charter schools upon seeking to be chartered
and upon having their charter reauthorized every five years,
operate optional programs and thus choose to accept the
State's requirements for such operation. . . . The charter
school is simply an alternative to traditional public schools
and are voluntarily created and reauthorized."
The CSM further cites existing statute that does not define a
charter school as a school district. Specifically, it stated:
"Charter schools are not mentioned in the mandate statutes
(Government Code section 17500 et seq.), nor are they
considered "school districts" for purposes of mandate
reimbursements in the charter school statutes (Education Code
(EC) 47600 et seq.). Charter schools were established in 1992,
long after the Commission's statutory scheme in 1984. Although
both statutory schemes have been amended in recent years, the
Legislature has not amended either scheme to make charter
schools eligible claimants."
This bill places requirements on charter schools; however,
they are not eligible to file a claim with the CSM for
reimbursement of these activities.
4)The K-12 Education Mandate Block Grant and charter schools .
The 2012 Budget Act allocated $166.6 million for this block
grant. Essentially, a school district, charter school, or
county office of education may choose to receive a per-pupil
allocation to conduct existing K-12 mandated activities. If
the district, charter school, or COE chooses to receive this
allocation it forfeits its ability to claim mandate
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reimbursement via the existing state process. School
districts received approximately $28 per pupil; charter
schools approximately $14 per pupil; and COEs approximately
$29 per pupil. The advantage of this block grant is school
districts and COEs will receive annual funding now versus
waiting to receive payment under the existing claims process,
which the state has deferred paying for a number of years.
For charter schools, they receive funding for existing
mandated activities in which they are not eligible for
reimbursement by the CSM. Likewise, they receive funding for
mandated activities that may only apply to districts and COEs
and not to them.
According to the Legislative Analyst Office, 634 school
districts (approximately 67% of all districts), 35 COEs
(approximately 60% of all COEs), and 877 charter schools
(approximately 93% of charter schools) participated in the
block grant. Presumably if the requirements of this measure
are determined to be a state mandated program for school
districts and COEs, its requirements would be added to the
block grant.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081