Last week the California legislature finished their Budget Subcommittee hearings on the Governor’s revision to his January budget proposal. The Governor’s charter school proposals, while not totally intact, all survived the hearings and are now headed to be deliberated in the budget conference committee. The conference committee will begin meeting this week in an effort to ‘iron’ out the differences between the Assembly and Senate in their budget recommendations. Once the conference committee has adopted a final product it will head to both houses of the legislature for a final vote with June 15th being the deadline to pass a budget before legislators start to get docked paychecks. For charter schools: extending the Governor’s proposal to allow them first refusal of school district surplus property, fixing the issues around county-wide charter schools, expanding the SB 740 program to include non-classroom based charters and changing the funding determination process for non-classroom based charter schools will all be before the conference committee. Both houses have already adopted the proposal to move the Charter School Facility Grant Program and the Charter School Revolving Loan Program from the California Department of Education to the California School Finance Authority in the State Treasurer’s Office. This means that the Governor has kept his strong commitment to charter schools, charter school funding and is fighting hard to address their concerns.
Also of interest to charter schools will be how the Governor’s Local Control Funding Formula will be implemented. Both the State Assembly and State Senate have their own versions of the Governor’s funding formula that they would like to implement but the Governor, while willing to negotiate, is still pushing the general concept and premise of his proposal: that district’s and charters in harder to serve communities get more dollars from the state than other districts. For charter schools the Governor’s plan means an immediate boost in funding since for the first time in the state’s history they would be funded, through the base grant, the same as school districts. This will wipe away an inequity in funding that the Legislative Analyst identified in a study of charter school funding last year. To view the study go to http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2012/edu/charter-schools/charter-schools-012612.pdf.
Month: May 2013
On Tuesday the California Governor released his May Revision which contains changes to his January budget proposal. As expected, with some tweaks and changes, the Governor doubled down on his efforts to change how we fund education in California. The May Revision estimates that revenues will be up $2.8 Billion over estimates provided in January. Though this is good news it is a low projection when thoughts were that revenues could have increased as much as $4.5 Billion. However, these funds have allowed the Governor to increase spending in some areas while still maintaining an overall modest budget proposal. Specifically, for Proposition 98 the Governor proposes a one-time investment of $1 billion for Common Core implementation allocated to all schools outside of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) on an ADA basis. This will be about $170 per student. Ignoring the complaints about the base funding being too low for schools in his LCFF and that his concentration grants should be eliminated, the Governor has produced data showing that 80% of his LCFF funding going to base grants, 16% to supplemental grants (for ELL students, students in poverty and foster youth) and only 4% going to the concentration grants.
Additionally, the Governor’s May Revision provides additional Proposition 98 funds for the following one-time K-12 uses including:
- $1.6 Billion to accelerate repayment of inter-year deferrals and;
- $61 Million to backfill the reduction in federal funding for Special Education under the sequestration cuts
For charter schools specifically the Governor did not change any of his January proposals which is very positive. The only issue that will affect charter schools is he has dropped his proposed changes to ‘online’ education and said that he will pursue those changes during next year’s budget debate.
To view the May Revisions and all of the proposed changes go to the Department of Finance’s website at www.dof.ca.gov.
Last week the Assembly Education Committee passed AB 948, as amended, out of committee on a unanimous vote. AB 948 is authored by Assemblywoman Kristen Olsen and sponsored by the California Charter Schools Association. The amendments adopted in committee would expand the SB 740 facility grant program by lowering the threshold of the program below 70% free and reduced lunch by one percentage point at a time once the schools in areas with greater than 70% are fully funded. The measure also allows the program to be used to purchase facilities and on debt service for facilities. That is the one step forward; the two steps backwards are the concessions that the Association agreed to in order to use the program for purchase and debt service. If the program is going to be used for purchase or debt service then the charter schools will have to adhere to the field act. Additionally, the measure subjects all charter schools utilizing the SB 740 facility grant program to the audit guide. The field act and the audit guide are two areas that charter schools have worked hard to stay away from over the last two decades. So though AB 948 expands the facility grant program it includes charter schools in two areas that are detrimental to the movement. These are two vital concessions that never should have been made.
This week America honors charter schools and the tremendous contributions they make to the education landscape. “Delivering on the Dream” is the theme of the 2013 National Charter Schools Week, with events large and small being held across the nation May 5 – 12.
Approximately 5% of all of the nation’s schools are charters, serving over 2.3 million students. The movement has seen rapid growth, and states from California to Florida are embracing charters as an integral part of a modern education system.
In a May 3 statement, President Obama recognized charters as learning environments that “give educators the chance to try new models and methods that can encourage excellence in the classroom and prepare more of our children for college and careers… We should share what they learn with other public schools and replicate those that produce dramatic results.”
Charter School Capital is happy to take part in this celebration of charters this week alongside its partner schools. We commend parents, teachers and school administrators for the many accomplishments the movement has made on behalf of students, and declare continued support for the road ahead.
Supporters and advocates should use the opportunity of National Charter Schools Week to contact their local or state charter association to learn about upcoming public events or rallies happening in their state. Individuals are also encouraged to contact their state legislators to declare their support for charters.
“I commend our nation’s charter schools, teachers and administrators, and I call on states and communities to support charter schools and the students they serve,” stated the President. At Charter School Capital, we couldn’t agree more.
Helpful Links to get started with National Charter Schools Week: