BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 705
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Date of Hearing: August 19, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
SB 705
(Hill) - As Amended July 9, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill requires a school district, within 10 days of
receiving a facilities request from a charter school or making a
preliminary or final offer of facilities to a charter school, to
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post that information on the school district's Internet Web
site.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Proposition 98/GF state mandated costs, likely in the low tens
of thousands, for school districts to post facility proposals or
requests on their website. As of 2013-14, there were 1,125
charter schools enrolling approximately 514,000 of the state's
6.2 million students.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. Current law requires school districts make available,
to all charter schools operating in their school district with
projections of at least 80 units of average daily attendance
(ADA), facilities that will sufficiently accommodate all of the
charter's in-district students. It also requires that the
facilities be reasonably equivalent to other classrooms,
buildings, or facilities of the district. Facilities provided
are required to be contiguous, furnished, and equipped, and are
to remain the property of the school district. Additionally,
the school district is required to make reasonable efforts to
provide the charter school with facilities near to where the
charter school wishes to locate, and may not move the charter
school unnecessarily.
The author introduced this bill in response to parent and
community concerns following the San Mateo Union High School
District's decision to co-locate a charter school with an
existing high school, Mills High School, in Millbrae. According
to the author, members of the community expressed concerns about
the lack of community engagement and transparency in the process
and raised concerns about potential traffic, scheduling, and
overcrowding problems at the schoolsite. Ultimately, it was
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determined that co-location of these schools was not feasible in
the long-term.
This bill seeks to provide a transparent process for any
facility requests, including potential co-location of
facilities.
Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081