BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 622
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 622 (Campos)
As Amended September 6, 2013
2/3 vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |62-13|(May 29, 2013) |SENATE: |27-10|(September 10, |
| | | | | |2013) |
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|ASSEMBLY: |59-19|(September 11, | | | |
| | |2013) | | | |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
SUMMARY : Requires charter school petitions to be posted on the
authorizing school district's Internet Web site as well as the
charter school's Internet Web site, as specified.
The Senate amendments remove the requirement for a charter
school petitioner and a charter school authorizer to post
petition information on their Internet Web site within five days
from the date of submission and instead specify that petition
information be posted no later than three days before the
hearing.
EXISTING LAW establishes a process for the submission of a
petition for the establishment of a charter school. Authorizes
a petition, identifying a single charter school to operate
within the geographical boundaries of the school district, to be
submitted to the school district. Authorizes, if the governing
board of a school district denies a petition for the
establishment of a charter school, the petitioner to elect to
submit the petition to the county office of education (COE).
Authorizes, if the COE denies the charter, the petitioner to
submit the petition to the state board of education (SBE).
Authorizes a school that serves a countywide service to submit
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the charter petition directly to the county office of education.
Authorizes a school that serves a statewide purpose to go
directly to the SBE.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, potentially significant reimbursable new state
mandate on school districts and county offices of education
(COEs).
COMMENTS : According to the California Department of Education
(CDE), the 2012-13 count of operating charter schools is 1,062
which includes three statewide benefit charters and 33 SBE
approved charters, with student enrollment of more than 456,000
in the state. Charter schools are part of the state's public
education system and are funded by public dollars. Charter
schools are authorized by school district boards, county boards
of education or the SBE.
This bill requires charter school petitions to be posted on the
school district authorizer's Internet Web site and on the
proposed charter school's Internet Web site, if one exists.
According to the author, this bill provides communities
contemplating the formation of a charter school with information
necessary for a comprehensive assessment of the proposal. 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. This bill 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.
A 2012 report by the California Research Bureau (CRB) entitled,
California Charter Oversight, recommends making charter school
petitions available to the public. They state, "Our first
recommendation is to increase the transparency of charter school
authorization and charter school operation. Charter schools
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promise that they can be held accountable for their performance
by parents and 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." This bill also requires petitions for existing charter
schools to be posted both on the district's Web site and the
charter school's Web site.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
"Local school districts have been authorizing charters schools
for over 20 years through proceedings that are both noticed and
public. The new requirements contained in this bill would not,
in my opinion, improve the current chartering process."
Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN:
0002897