BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-14 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 622
AUTHOR: Campos
AMENDED: April 15, 2013
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: July 3, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lenin Del Castillo
SUBJECT : Charter Schools: Petitions.
SUMMARY
This bill requires a proposed or existing charter school and
its authorizer to post on their Internet web sites a copy of
the summary of the petition, 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.
BACKGROUND
Existing law authorizes anyone to develop, circulate, and
submit a petition to establish a charter school. Current law
requires charter developers to collect certain signatures in
support of the petition and requires petitions to include a
prominent statement that a signature means that the person
signing has a meaningful interest in teaching in or having
his or her children attend the school. (Education Code �
47605)
For petitions that propose to establish a new charter
school, the charter developers must obtain the
signatures of either the parents of at least half of the
pupils expected to enroll at the school or half of the
teachers expected to be employed at the school during
its first year of operation.
For petitions that propose to convert an existing public
school to a charter school, the charter developer must
collect the signatures of not less than 50 percent of
the permanent status teachers at the school to be
converted.
AB 622
Page 2
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Provides that if the petitioners of a proposed charter
school maintain an Internet web site for the proposed or
an existing charter school, the petitioners shall post
on the proposed or existing charter school's Internet
Web site a copy of the summary of the petition and a
copy of the initial petition, renewal petition, or
appeal petition, and any substantive revisions to the
petition submitted to the charter school authorizer that
contains all the information required to be part of the
petition for the establishment of a charter school,
within five days from the date of submission.
2) Provides that a charter school that maintains an
Internet web site shall post a copy of the summary of
the charter school's petition and a copy of the charter
school's petition on the school's Internet web site.
3) Requires a charter school authorizer to post on its
Internet web site all of the following:
a) A summary of the petition and a copy of the
initial petition, renewal petition, or appeal
petition submitted for the establishment of a
charter school that is submitted to the charter
school authorizer for approval, renewal, or appeal
within five days from the date of 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 charter school petition and
the charter school petition for each charter school
it has authorized.
4) Provides that an initial petition, a renewal petition,
or an appeal petition submitted to a charter school
authorizer for purposes of establishing a charter school
shall simultaneously include an electronic copy of the
summary of the charter school petition and the charter
AB 622
Page 3
school petition. Requires that any substantive
revisions to the initial petition or renewal petition
submitted to the charter school authorizer to be
submitted in electronic form.
5) Provides that "charter school authorizer" means the
governing board of a school district, the county board
of education, or the state board, as the case may be.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill : According to the author's office,
this bill provides communities contemplating the
formation of a charter school with information necessary
for a comprehensive assessment of the proposal.
Currently, parents, teachers, school employees, and
other interested parties have no way to review a charter
school petition in its entirety prior to adoption by the
charter authorizing entity. The charter is the guiding
document for the potential school that includes, among
other important information, the school's academic goals
for students and the methods for student achievement.
This foundational document lays out vital details about
how the school will operate. A community must be able
to review and evaluate all of these particulars before
they can make a truly informed decision. According to
the author's office, AB 622 simply requires that a
charter school petition be posted online and thereby
available for the public and interested parties to
examine prior to a vote by the authorizing entity. This
would help ensure that parents, teachers and community
members are well informed when making decisions about
establishing a charter school.
2) California Research Bureau Report . A January 2012
report by the California Research Bureau (CRB),
"California Charter Oversight, Key Elements and Actual
Costs", includes a recommendation to make charter school
petitions available to the public. The report states,
"Our first recommendation is to increase the
transparency of charter school authorization and charter
school operation. Charter schools promise that they can
be held accountable for their performance by parents and
AB 622
Page 4
the community. Charter schools set out their agreed upon
performance standards in their charter or petition
document. When CRB attempted to collect charters and
petitions, we encountered a number of problems. If
parents and community members are going to hold charter
schools accountable for performance, they need access to
the charter. We would encourage the Legislature to
mandate that charter schools make their petition or
charter readily available to the general public."
3) Charter schools . Charter schools are public schools
that provide instruction in any combination of grades,
kindergarten through grade 12. Except where
specifically noted otherwise, California law exempts
charter schools from many of the statutes and
regulations that apply to schools and school districts.
According to the State Department of Education, there
were over 1,000 charter schools (including three
statewide benefit charters and 33 approved by the State
Board of Education) with an enrollment of approximately
456,000 pupils operating in the state in 2012-13.
Parents, teachers, or community members may initiate a
charter petition, which is typically presented to and
approved by a local school district governing board.
The law also allows, under certain circumstances, for
county boards of education and the State Board of
Education to authorize charter schools. The specific
goals for a charter school are detailed in the agreement
(charter) between the authorizing entity and the charter
developer. The charter petition is also required to
include a description of the educational program of the
school and several other policies and procedures
relating to employees, pupils, and finances. Current
law establishes procedures for the renewal of charter
schools, not to exceed five years.
SUPPORT
California Federation of Teachers
California School Employees Association
California Teachers Association
AB 622
Page 5
OPPOSITION
Charter Schools Development Center