Now that the state of California’s Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (ACCS) has set their hearing for February 6th it has become apparent that non-classroom based charter schools will have a more difficult time with the SB 740 regulatory process in the future. Schools that were once deemed to be in full compliance with the regulations are now seeing California Department of Education (CDE) staff recommend that their mitigating factors be denied and that their charter school funding be drastically reduced. CDE staff has not announced any changes to the way that they are handling the regulatory process but schools that have always received 100% of their charter school funding are now seeing their funding cut.
On the February 6th ACCS agenda there are 23 non-classroom based charter schools that have requested mitigating circumstances from the SB 740 regulations. All of their documentation was submitted between January and March of last year and all of their hearings and determinations were delayed until next month. CDE staff is recommending that 5 of the schools have their funding completely denied, 4 schools were recommended for 70% funding and 5 schools were recommended for 85% funding. All of these schools had their request for mitigating circumstances denied. Of the remaining schools on the list, 1 school was recommended for 85% funding and had their request for mitigating circumstances (reserves and exclusion of one time funding sources) approved. Another school was recommended for 100% funding but also had its request for mitigating circumstances denied and 7 schools were recommended for 100% funding and their request for mitigating circumstances is recommended for approval.
It remains to be seen if the ACCS will follow the CDE staff recommendations. However, the negative tone from CDE seems to be getting worse when it comes to charter schools. This is undoubtedly why the administration has put forth proposals, in the Governor’s January budget, to move two charter school programs from CDE to the California School Finance Authority (CSFA) in the State Treasurer’s office. The Governor would like to move both the Charter School Facility Grant Program and the Charter School Revolving Loan Program over to the Treasurer’s office. With CDE’s recent actions charter school supporters and advocates should be cheering and calling their legislator to urge that they approve the Governor’s proposal. If the administration’s proposals are approved it would remove many barriers that charters face when they deal with CDE. Currently, the CSFA runs its own charter school program that is funded with federal dollars and assists numerous charter schools with facility issues. Their staff is easier to deal with than the CDE staff and they are actually helpful and willing to work towards the best interest of the charter school. That is something that we have not seen in the CDE staff in years.
Month: January 2013
Not only is Minnesota the birthplace of charters, its current charter school laws are earning the state praise.
The National Alliance of Public Charter Schools issued its annual ranking report of state charter school laws this month and awarded top billing to Minnesota. Among the reasons for Minnesota’s high score are the absence of enrollment caps and its support for school variety.
For a detailed breakdown, read the full report here.
Charter School Capital is proud to be a part of the Minnesota charter school system through our funding of many charter schools the Twin Cities area. We have been supporting charter schools in the state since the initial hold-backs began to impact the financial stability of charter schools.
Source: Minnesota Public Radio
Right now, more students in the United States are attending public charter schools than ever before. According to the latest data from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the current 2012-13 school year has seen 6,000 schools in operation, educating more than 2.3 million students—a new record.
And the phenomenal numbers don’t end there:
- Charter school enrollment increased by 275,000 students this year compared to last—the largest increase in the movement’s 20-year history.
- The last five years have seen exponential growth, with the addition of 1 million students alone.
- The number of charter schools has grown to comprise 5% of public schools in the United States.
Certainly, these figures affirm public demand for charters. And coupled with two decades of steady momentum, they reinforce charter schools’ staying power.
Charter School Capital recognizes the demand and is supporting charter schools across the country with needed charter school funding.
Read more at the NAPCS website.
With California Governor Jerry Brown releasing his January budget proposal the administration’s educational priorities have become clear for everyone to see and it will ultimately help charter schools and their funding. The budget proposal increases per pupil funding by $1,100 for 2013-14 and projects per pupil funding to gradually increase until 2016-17 when there will be an increase of $2,700 per student over the current funding level. Proposition 98 overall will see an increase of $2.7 billion dollars with $1.8 billion going to pay back deferrals that the legislature has instituted.
The Governor has also doubled down on his Student Weighted Formula proposal from 2012 and has proposed a newly crafted student funding formula for 2013, the Local Control Funding Formula. Resembling last year’s proposal, this year’s proposal still starts with a base level of funding that will be the same for all public schools (charters included) with increased funding for English Language Learners and students participating in the Free and Reduced Lunch Program. To soothe some of the tensions from interest groups that objected to his proposal last year, the Governor included K-3 class size reduction into the funding base of his proposal. For charter schools specifically the new funding formula will greatly reduce the inadequacies in funding that charters have seen since their existence between themselves and traditional public schools. However, this measure will pit some suburban school districts vs. some inner city districts as the latter is clear to see an increase in their funding that could come from cuts to the former. Though the Governor’s proposal is far from perfect it represents a giant step forward in terms of charter schools reaching a level of funding parity with their traditional school partners.
The Governor’s budget has some other good proposals for charter school funding specifically. It contains $48.5 million for pupil growth in charter schools. He is also proposing to move two charter school programs, the Charter School Facility Grant Program and the Charter School Revolving Loan Fund, from the California Department of Education (CDE) to the California School Finance Authority (CSFA), which is located within the State Treasurer’s Office. This can be seen as a bonus to the charter school community because the CSFA has been an easier partner to work with than CDE. The CSFA already runs their own federally funded charter school facility program and has partnered with many charter schools to ease their overall facility and funding needs. This would also place the State’s Treasurers Office in charge of two very large charter school programs and is sure to be seen as a slight to CDE. Yet another set of positive proposals appear in the Governor’s budget as he wants to allow non-classroom based charter schools to access funding from the Charter School Facility Grant Program and ease the regulatory burden that the funding determination process places on non-classroom based charter schools. Much like his funding proposal, these are proposals that he put forward last year and shows his continued commitment to the charter school movement. It is yet to be seen how the legislature will react to these proposals but the Governor has made his stance clear. Governor Jerry Brown is a strong supporter of charter schools in California and understands the need for charter school funding.
Legislative hearings will began on the Governor’s budget proposal in the next few weeks. These hearings will continue throughout April or May. In May the Governor will submit a revision to his budget proposal which will take into account new state revenue projections and may reflect some of the issues that the legislature has weighed in through the committee process. The legislature then has until June 15th to pass an on time budget. Undoubtedly the Governor’s new per pupil funding proposal will lead to very strict legislative scrutiny but he is committed to changing the way that we fund schools in the state.
To view the Governor’s budget and other featured information visit www.dof.ca.gov.