BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2225
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Date of Hearing: April 30, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 2225 (Allen) - As Introduced: February 20, 2014
SUBJECT : Charter schools: accountability: charter revocation.
SUMMARY : Authorizes charter schools to appeal a revocation of
a charter made pursuant to recommendations by the California
Collaborative of Educational Excellence (Collaborative).
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires, if a charter school fails to improve outcomes for
three or more pupil subgroups identified pursuant to Section
52052, or, if the charter school has less than three pupil
subgroups, all of the charter school's pupil subgroups, in
regard to one or more state or school priority identified in
the charter pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (5) of
subdivision (b) of Section 47605 or subparagraph (A) of
paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) of Section 47605.6, in three
out of four consecutive school years, all of the following to
apply:
a) Using an evaluation rubric adopted by the state board,
the chartering authority shall provide technical assistance
to the charter school.
b) The Superintendent may assign, at the request of the
chartering authority and with the approval of the state
board, the California Collaborative for Educational
Excellence to provide advice and assistance to the charter
school.
2)Requires a chartering authority to consider for revocation any
charter school to which the Collaborative has provided advice
and assistance and about which it has made either of the
following findings, which shall be submitted to the chartering
authority:
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a) That the charter school has failed, or is unable, to
implement the recommendations of the Collaborative.
b) That the inadequate performance of the charter school,
based upon an evaluation rubric, is either so persistent or
so acute as to require revocation of the charter.
3)Requires the chartering authority to consider increases in
pupil academic achievement for all pupil subgroups served by
the charter school as the most important factor in determining
whether to revoke the charter.
4)Requires a chartering authority to comply with a specified
hearing process when revoking a charter; and, specifies that a
charter school may not appeal a revocation of a charter made
pursuant to recommendations from the Collaborative. (Education
Code (EC) 47607.3)
5)Specifies that if a school district is the chartering
authority and it revokes a charter pursuant Section 47607, the
charter school may appeal the revocation to the county board
of education within 30 days following the final decision of
the chartering authority. (EC 47607(f))
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill deletes the prohibition on charter schools
appealing their revocation decision pursuant to recommendations
of the Collaborative. This would authorize charter schools to
appeal such a revocation decision.
According to the author, "Under the newly implemented Local
Control Funding Formula (LCFF), �47607.3 was added to the
Education Code creating a Local Accountability Plan for charters
schools. This plan includes an evaluation rubric adopted by the
State Board of Education (SBE), and grants authority to the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to assign the CA
Collaborative for Education Excellence (Collaborative) to the
charter schools to reach their goals, and ultimately authorizes
the chartering authority to close any charter school that does
not meet the standards of the accountability plan. For many
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years, prior to the adoption of the LCFF, charter schools were
able to appeal revocation based upon student performance.
Education Code �47607(f) provides that a charter school may
appeal revocation by its authorizer to a neutral board, in the
case of a district authorizer, the county board of education and
in the case of a county board authorizer, the SBE. While the
recent addition in the Education Code, � 47607.3(d) requires a
chartering authority to comply with the long-standing evaluation
process before revoking a charter (Education Code � 47607), it
also states that the charter school may not appeal a revocation
of its charter. This eliminates due process and does not allow
the charter school to appeal a revocation as previously allowed
under statute."
Revocation Process under the Collaborative : Charter schools that
fail to improve outcomes for three or more pupil subgroups (or
all subgroups if the school has less than three), in three out
of four consecutive years, shall have the following apply:
1)The chartering authority shall provide technical assistance
using an evaluation rubric.
2)The Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) may assign, at
the request of the chartering authority, and with the approval
of the SBE, the Collaborative to provide assistance.
If the charter school does not make progress with the help of
the collaborative team, the team may make either of the
following findings:
1)The school has failed or is unable to implement the
recommendations of the collaborative; or,
2)That the inadequate performance of the charter, based on their
evaluation rubric is either so persistent, or so acute, as to
require revocation of the charter.
If the collaborative team makes one of these findings, the
charter authority shall consider revoking the charter school.
One could argue that an appeal to a neutral body is not
necessary in this case since the Collaborative is a neutral body
and the Collaborative was assigned based on the approval of the
SBE, which is another neutral body. In addition, this committee
recently passed AB 2408 (Allen), which expands the governing
board of the Collaborative from five to seven members by adding
a charter school operator appointed by the Governor and a parent
of a California public school pupil appointed by the Governor.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AB 2225
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None on file.
Opposition
California Teachers Association
California Federation of Teachers
Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087