Last week the California Governor Jerry Brown released the funding projections for school districts and charter schools under his new Local Control Funding Formula. The much anticipated numbers from the Department of Finance have districts throughout the state positioning themselves for a bruising battle over winners and losers. All districts would see an increase in funding or continued funding at their current levels but many urban districts and some rural districts would see a jump in funding due to their student populations. However, this jump in funding would not appear for many suburban school districts. Their funding would be stagnant or a little better under the best case scenario. For all districts and charter schools the proposal increases funding by $2,700 per student over the first five years of its implementation. Supplemental funding would be provided for disadvantaged students that could equal as much as 35% of the base funding. For districts with 50% or greater disadvantaged students the state would provide an additional concentration grant equal to 35% of their base funding for each English Language Learner and disadvantaged student over the 50% threshold. So undoubtedly the fight will be over how you define a disadvantaged student and what do you do for suburban districts that do not serve this student population. For charter schools, the Governor’s proposal wipes out the funding disparity that the Legislative Analyst’s Office identified last year. There are still charter school funding issues but this proposal is a huge step in the right direction.
To view the Department of Finance’s funding projections go to: http://www.dof.ca.gov and hit the link for the Local Control Funding Formula.
Month: February 2013
The Governor of California has released his education trailer bills (trailer bills are the implementing legislation used to enact changes in the California state budget) and they have a number of good provisions in them for charter schools in California. Clearly, the Governor is doubling down on his support of charter schools. In 2012 he proposed numerous provisions in the budget for charter schools and even authored his own charter school trailer bill. Now he is taking it a step further and actually proposing major initiatives that would benefit charter schools and charter school funding all over the state. Listed below are some of the provisions that the Governor is proposing.
In the education trailer bill here are some of the changes that the Governor proposes for charter schools:
- Extending the current language that allows a school district’s surplus property to be made available to charter schools for five more years.
- Allowing the State Board of Education to delegate oversight and supervisorial powers to any LEA.
- Changing the SB 740 funding determination process to make it more friendly for charter schools by mandating that the non-classroom based charter schools have to submit a funding determination during their first and third year of existence and never submit a funding determination after that unless they meet certain criteria, including:
- The charter school receives a notice to cure for financial reasons.
- The charter school receives a notice of revocation.
- The charter school receives an apportionment significant audit exception.
- The charter school initiates a request for an additional funding determination for the purpose of seeking a change to its current funding level.
- The Governor proposes to move both the Charter School Revolving Loan Program and the Charter School Facility Grant Program from the California Department of Education to the State Treasurer’s Office, allowing the California School Finance Authority to administer the programs.
With the issuance of these trailer bills, the Governor has again shown his support for school choice. This is tremendously encouraging and we hope for continued success in the Governor’s pursuit of more freedoms for charter schools.