As the budget process moves ahead, below we’ve outlined some key information and initiatives that impact California charter schools.
This week the California legislative budget subcommittees and the full Assembly and Senate Budget Committees will finish their work reviewing and voting on their respective budget blueprints. Once that process is complete the Joint Budget Conference Committee will begin meeting so the legislative houses can begin to ‘hash out’ the differences between their blueprints and pass one budget through both houses by June 15th. After that Governor Jerry Brown will have 30 days to sign or veto the budget; he can also blue line (or reduce) certain amounts of funding within the budget.
For the education community, including charter school funding, the budget is robust with extra funding. The Assembly has included $3.1 Billion additional dollars for the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) while the Senate included $2.979 Billion. Both houses also have included over $1 Billion to pay off the mandate backlog.
For California charter schools specifically, the legislature rejected the Governor’s effort to add $20 Million for Charter School Start Up Grants. The Governor had proposed the money because California did not get approved for the next round of federal dollars for charter school funding. The legislature’s rationale is there is still over $24 Million in federal carryover dollars available for the program and they will take a look at it again next year. They did approve an additional staff person for the California School Finance Authority to work on the Charter School Facility Grant Program. Additionally, the Senate included language that will allow independent study charter schools to store their records electronically. The Assembly did not include that language so it will be a conference item.
Month: May 2016
Last week the California Governor Jerry Brown released his May Revision. The Revision amends the budget that he introduced in early January, reflecting the new state revenue projections and any new policy proposals that the administration wants to pursue. The Governor stated that revenues are running $1.9 Billion below projections. As such he is holding firm to his goals of keeping spending down and the budget balanced. This means that he will not support the creation or new programs or the expansion of existing programs. Though Proposition 98 will see a bump specifically: the supplemental and concentration grants in the local control formula will see an increase in the May Revision of $2.9 billion. This will bring implementation of the formula to 96 percent. Additionally, the Governor is continuing his push for a block grant for all early education programs allowing them to be administered by local education authorities. For charter schools specifically the Governor is still including dollars for the charter school start up grants since California no longer qualifies for federal funds. He has also included language in one of the education trailer bills that will allow independent study charter schools to store their records electronically. The legislative budget subcommittees will begin hearing the details of the May Revision this week and forward their recommendations to both houses of the legislature in a few weeks. Then the legislative Joint Budget Conference Committee will begin to hear ‘open’ items with final passage of the budget by June 15th.
Below are links to the Governor’s May Revision and his education trailer bills.
May Revision Budget Summary:
http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/FullBudgetSummary.pdf
Education-related Finance Letters (including related trailer bill language):
http://www.dof.ca.gov/budget/historical/2016-17/may_1_finance_letters/documents/MR%20FL%20Education.pdf
Have you ever wondered if play matters in today’s education?
We did too and so we decided to partner with Kevin Carroll to bring charter leaders, advocates and students a free YouTube Live series designed exclusively for charter schools. We will begin our exploration with four key themes that impact charter schools, education and the classroom – Play Matters!, Storytelling, Delivering the Unexpected, and Got Grit?!. Kevin is an author, speaker, mentor, and an agent for social change. He has inspired organizations and individuals — from CEOs and employees of Fortune 500 companies to school children — to embrace the spirit of play and creativity to maximize their human potential and sustain meaningful growth.
Join us this Wednesday, May 18th at 9:00 a.m. Pacific / 12:00 p.m. Eastern as we kick-off this journey with PLAY Matters! and learn more about how we will capture and embody this theme throughout 2016. Check out a preview of Kevin’s talk and register below.
RSVP using the form below. The YouTube Live event is 100% free and will available across any device — PC, tablet or smartphone. Bring a friend or your entire team! We look forward to seeing you there.
Register to Attend the Webinar
On Tuesday, May 3rd, thousands of charter school advocates flocked to their state’s capitals to encourage legislative support and action for the charter school movement. Known across the country as Charter School Advocacy Day, this nationally coordinated effort empowers students, teachers, parents, and administrators to share their stories of charter school successes directly with state government officials.
In California, where 581,000 students attend 1,228 public schools, nearly 500 charter school supporters met with state representatives and state senators to reiterate the need for school choice, praise supportive officials, and advocate for continued expansion of the state’s substantial charter school program. Throughout the day, a bipartisan group of state officials spoke to charter school advocates, praising the innovation charter schools bring to the education space, as well as the advances charter schools have made in bringing a quality education to students from all backgrounds.
“It’s great to see the Capitol full of charter school advocates,” said Branche Jones, a charter advocate in California. “As they visit legislative offices they really enforce the importance of school choice and options while letting legislators know the benefits that they are providing for their constituents.”
Meanwhile in Ohio, where nearly 125,000 students attend charters, more than 400 families gathered at the state capital in Columbus for a series of inspirational speeches from state legislators on the steps of the Statehouse. Ohio Senate President Keith Faber encouraged everyone to keep pressing for school choice, “…remember to tell your legislator that parents know what learning environment is best for their children.”
Inside the Statehouse in Columbus, the Ohio House of Representatives passed a resolution recognizing National Charter Schools Week, reading in part, “Through the efforts of educators and administrators, Ohio’s charter schools have made significant contributions to improving the quality of life in our society.”
This resolution echoed similar resolutions of praise across the country, including official proclamations from President Barack Obama and Texas Governor Greg Abbott recognizing National Charter Schools Week.
Charter School Capital is proud to support National Charter Schools Week and Charter School Advocacy Day. With more than 1 million students still on wait lists for charter schools, every effort to educate, advocate, and advance the charter school movement is essential to making sure all children in this country have access to the highest-quality education.
Visit the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools site for more information on National Charter Schools Week.
The White HouseOffice of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 29, 2016
Presidential Proclamation — National Charter Schools Week, 2016
NATIONAL CHARTER SCHOOLS WEEK, 2016
– – – – – – –
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
Our Nation has always been guided by the belief that all young people should be free to dream as big and boldly as they want, and that with hard work and determination, they can turn their dreams into realities. Schools help us uphold this ideal by offering a place for children to grow, learn, and thrive. During National Charter Schools Week, we celebrate the role of high-quality public charter schools in helping to ensure students are prepared and able to seize their piece of the American dream, and we honor the dedicated professionals across America who make this calling their life’s work by serving in charter schools.
Charter schools play an important role in our country’s education system. Supporting some of our Nation’s underserved communities, they can ignite imagination and nourish the minds of America’s young people while finding new ways of educating them and equipping them with the knowledge they need to succeed. With the flexibility to develop new methods for educating our youth, and to develop remedies that could help underperforming schools, these innovative and autonomous public schools often offer lessons that can be applied in other institutions of learning across our country, including in traditional public schools. We also must ensure our charter schools, like all our schools, are of high quality and are held accountable — when a charter school does not meet high standards, we need to act in the best interest of its students to help it improve, and if that does not prove possible, to close its doors.
Charter schools have been at the forefront of innovation and have found different ways of engaging students in their high school years — including by providing personalized instruction, leveraging technology, and giving students greater access to rigorous coursework and college-level courses. Over the past 7 years, my Administration’s commitment of resources to the growth of charter schools has enabled a significant expansion of educational opportunity, enabling tens of thousands of children to attend high-quality public charter schools. I am committed to ensuring all of our Nation’s students have the tools and skills they need to get ahead, and that begins with ensuring they are able to attend an effective school and obtain an excellent education.
Educating every American student and ensuring they graduate from high school prepared for college and beyond is a national priority. This week, we honor the educators working in public charter schools across our Nation who, each day, give of themselves to provide children a fair shot at the American dream, and we recommit to the basic promise that all our daughters and sons — regardless of background or circumstance — should be able to make of their lives what they will.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 1 through May 7, 2016, as National Charter Schools Week. I commend our Nation’s charter schools, teachers, and administrators, and I call on States and communities to support high-quality public schools, including charter schools, and the students they serve.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortieth.
BARACK OBAMA
It’s National Charter Schools Week! Join Charter School Capital as we celebrate the nearly 3 million public charter school students along with all the teachers, administrators and staff across 42 states plus the District of Columbia. The growth of the charter movement during the past 25 years, since the first charter law implemented in Minnesota, has been incredible, from nearly 2,000 students attending public charter schools in 2000-2001 school year to almost 7,000 enrolled this school year.
There are many ways you too can celebrate charter schools this week. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools offers a host of tools you can access, including infographics, detailed one-sheets around the myths and facts about charters, to templates for press releases your school can use now. There’s also a big showing across social media – #CharterSchoolsWeek! You can access social avatars and other social icons from the National Alliance as well. Easy to download and then use across your own social pages in celebration of National Charter Schools Week. Show your support and engage.
“Though (public charter schools) only account for roughly 7% of public schools in the United States, they make up 1/3 of the top 100 schools in both the U.S. News and Washington Post lists.” ~ Nina Rees, CEO, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (Charter Schools Stack Up Well, U.S. News & World Report)
The team at Charter School Capital is celebrating and honoring public charter schools this week. Check out our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Slideshare, and other social pages for ongoing posts, quotes, infographics, and more. Tell us what you think about charter schools.
Check back to our blog and social pages this week for more around National Charter Schools Week. If you haven’t signed up yet for our blog RSS or to get regular information from our team, sign up today!