BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2543
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Date of Hearing: May 19, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2543 (Lowenthal) - As Amended: April 28, 2010
Policy Committee: EducationVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires a charter school to submit a renewal petition
to the chartering authority no later than September 15 prior to
the expiration of the charter or by a later date, if mutually
agreed upon by the chartering authority and the charter school.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the governing board of a school district or county
board of education (CBE) that authorized the charter school to
approve or deny a renewal petition no later than December 15
prior to the expiration of the charter.
2)Requires a charter school that elects to appeal the denial of
its renewal application to submit its application to the CBE
or State Board of Education (SBE) within 30 days of the date
of the denial.
3)Prohibits existing charter renewal timelines from being
affected by provisions of this measure.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor, absorbable GF/98 costs to CBEs and minor, absorbable GF
administrative costs to SBE to comply with the timelines in this
measure.
There is a current GF/98 state reimbursable mandate of $2.3
million annually paid to local education agencies to review
charter school petitions and renewals, notify charter schools of
reasons for revocation, and administer facility rentals. The
cost associated with this measure will be added to the existing
mandate. According to a May 2006 decision by the Commission on
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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.
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 the SBE. Specific goals and
operating procedures for the charter school are detailed in an
agreement (charter) 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.
Existing law authorizes a charter school to be granted one or
more renewals for a five year period. A renewal is granted by
the authority (i.e., school district, CBE, or SBE) that
approved the charter school's petition.
According to the author, "Setting a deadline by which
districts and county offices must make renewal decisions would
facilitate completion of the appeals process prior to the end
of the fiscal year. Current statute permits local districts to
deny renewals at any time; local boards have made decisions
not to renew in May and June, requiring a county board of
education & state board of education to hear appeals in July,
August, and September. [This bill] will provide students,
families, and charter employees with notice to make informed
decisions regarding enrollment and employment prior to the
beginning of the next school year."
2)Existing law authorizes a charter school to be granted one or
more renewals for a five year period.
When determining whether or not to renew the charter school,
the chartering authority is required to review the original
petition submitted by the school and a description of any new
requirement enacted into law after the charter was originally
granted or last renewed.
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Current law requires a charter school whose renewal petition
has been denied to abide by the same appeals process that
exists for an initial charter school petition. Under existing
law, the charter school is authorized to submit the petition
to the CBE for approval, if the chartering authority denies
the renewal petition. California Code of Regulations requires
the petition to be received by the CBE no later than 180
calendar days after the denial. The CBE is required to grant
or deny the charter petition within 60 days of receiving the
appeal.
If the CBE denies the charter school's appeal, the school may
submit the petition to the SBE for approval. Likewise,
regulations require the SBE to grant or deny an appealed
charter petition within 90 days of receipt of the appeal.
Under existing law, the charter school petition appeals
process can take up to two years, assuming the full
utilization of timelines by all entities. This bill
establishes deadlines for the charter renewal process, which
reduces the time it takes to determine a renewal to one year
for the charter petition renewal process.
3)Number of charter schools . As of March 2010, there are 870
active and pending charter schools. Fifty-one of these
schools have a status of "pending" because they have been
locally approved and numbered by the SBE, but the state has
been advised that funding will not be claimed for these
schools until the 2010-11 school year. Of the 870 charter
schools, 25 currently operate based on SBE approval.
4)Related legislation .
a) AB 1950 (Brownley), pending in this committee, makes
several statutory changes to charter school accountability
and financial compliance.
b) AB 2320 (Swanson), pending in this committee, amends the
charter school petition process and limits the ability of
county boards of education and the State Board of Education
to approve charter petitions and appeals.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 2543
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