California Charter Schools Archives

Share What School Choice Means To You

In honor of National School Choice Week (Jan. 26 – Feb. 1, 2014), Charter School Capital wants you to share what school choice means to you and your community.
Open now, the “What Does School Choice Mean to You” contest is accessible on Charter School Capital’s Facebook page. Students, parents, educators, and supporters from the community all are encouraged to share their stories about how charters and choice have impacted their families and lives. As a bonus, everyone who shares a story is automatically entered to win a free Kindle Fire HD.
School Choice has become a powerful movement during the past decade. Charter schools today are positively impacting communities across the nation – increasing educational opportunities and driving up academic performance. A 2012 study by the Florida Department of Education shows that charter school students are outperforming their traditional public school counterparts on almost all benchmarks. In California, underserved or disadvantaged students who would have been left behind in their education have now received their degrees thanks to charters focused on the goal of getting everyone to the finish line.
Freedom to choose the best educational environment for yourself or your children has never been so important. In this rapidly changing digital world, flexibility and innovation have become cornerstones to success. Charter School Capital understands that, and that is why we are proud to be the nation’s leading working capital and facilities funding source for charter schools in the U.S.
Charter School Capital funds more than 400 charter schools serving 400,000 students from California to North Carolina, Ohio to Arizona. That is why we want to hear from you. Coast-to-coast, school choice is making a positive difference in education and we want to hear those stories. Share yours with us today, and then share it with your friends.
You can share your story and enter to win the Kindle Fire HD here. (Full link below) Also, be sure to keep your eyes on the Charter School Capital blog. We’ll be taking excerpts from your stories to share with our readers. We might just share yours!
https://www.facebook.com/CharterSchoolCapital/app_1448834632002022

Charter High School of the Arts – Multimedia and Performing (CHAMPS) in Van Nuys, California has a diverse culture and unique educational focus. However, CHAMPS faced financial pressures as a result of California deferrals. Although grants and philanthropic funds helped somewhat, the school struggled with the same funding uncertainties impacting the operations of many charter schools. Charter School Capital stepped in to provide operational, working capital charter school funding to keep CHAMPS’s doors open.
“Charter School Capital kept the school afloat at a very bad time. It was instrumental in keeping us going,” says Joanne Saliba, director of CHAMPS.

Saliba first joined the charter school’s Board of Directors and her involvement led to taking on the Director position at CHAMPS. She had to quickly learn how charter schools receive funds from the state, how state legislation was impacting the school, and how Charter School Capital could help her through the process. She found herself contacting the Charter School Capital team often for information to help her in her new role.
“I think the Charter School Capital team is terrific. They are amazingly responsive and so helpful,” says Saliba. “Every person I’ve dealt with has just been great. There hasn’t been one time that I haven’t heard back immediately or gotten a very supportive response.”
CHAMPS is now experiencing great success. The school currently boasts an enrollment of 952 students in grades 9-12 and focuses on performing, multimedia, digital arts, film, dance, music, drama, and other programs. More than 13 languages are spoken in the halls and graduation success rates are exceptionally high. The school’s administration knows that this is due to the dedication of its students, staff and the combined interest in furthering the arts rather than cutting arts programs. This success is in part due to the partnership with Charter School Capital.
“In the day-to-day operation there is no question that Charter School Capital’s support is vitally important for our cash flow. Whenever there is a glitch or I find something I need, I feel very confident that we’re working together and that is a really good feeling,” explains Saliba.
CHAMPS and Charter School Capital will continue to work together to identify ways to meet the charter school’s funding needs. Ultimately this allows Saliba and the rest of her team to continue serving students, educating in their unique way as they prepare students for a lifetime of success.

Next Tuesday, January 21st, at 9:00 a.m. PST, Charter School Capital will be hosting its first California Legislative Update Webinar of 2014. We hope you will join our panelists as they share information about recent legislative decisions and policies that may impact your charter school. Our panel includes legislative consultant Branche Jones, Chas Cardall of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, and John Helgeson, co-founder of Charter School Capital. REGISTER NOW to join this FREE webinar. Stay up to date on news, trends and legislative issues important to charter schools by registering for our blog.

BUDGET PROPOSAL POSITIVE BUT MAY CLASH WITH LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
Last week California Governor Jerry Brown released his proposed budget for the year. With revenues rising and the state finally coming out of years of deficit spending the Governor has decided to increase his spending on education. The Proposition 98 guarantee will be funded at $61.6 Billion which is an increase of $6.3 Billion over the 2013 Budget Act level. Additionally, the Governor is proposing:

An additional $6.4 Billion in spending to eliminate all of the education deferrals that have been in place.
$4.5 Billion in funding to implement his Local Control Funding Formula and
$46.5 Million to implement the Common Core standards.
An increase of $25.9 million Proposition 98 General Fund for county offices of education LCFF in 2014-15.
An increase of $74.3 million Proposition 98 General Fund to support projected charter school growth.
A decrease of $2.2 million Proposition 98 General Fund to reflect a decline in Special Education ADA.
Cost-of-Living Adjustment increases of $33.3 million to support a 0.86 COLA for categorical programs that remain outside the LCFF, including Special Education, Child Nutrition, American Indian Education Centers, and the American Indian Early Childhood Education Program. COLAs for school districts and county offices of education are provided within LCFF increases.

All of this additional funding is a very positive sign for the education community but it does set up a battle of priorities between the Governor and the legislature. The legislature, while they will probably support much of this new funding, has its own set of principles that it has publicized. The Democratic members of the State Assembly put out their own budget blueprint last month that included a variety of new spending and program expansions. The Senate leadership has been clear that it would like to use the state’s new revenues to increase access to early learning programs in California. The President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Darrell Steinberg, has already introduced legislation (SB 837) that would establish transitional kindergarten programs for all children in the state. Additionally, early education advocates are preparing legislation that would establish universal preschool in the state as well. While not commenting on the proposals the Governor did say in his budget press conference that it would not be fiscally prudent to establish new programs in the state simply because revenue projections are up. This will set up a tug of war between the Governor and legislative leaders that may not resolve until a final budget is adopted in June.
To learn more about the Governor’s proposals and other California state updates may impact your charter school, register for a free webinar hosted by Charter School Capital on Tuesday, January 21st at 9:00 a.m. PST. Register now.

The California Department of Education is requesting that all data files be submitted no later than Wednesday, January 15th in order to meet the statutory deadline for the 2013-14 First Principal Apportionment. Please see the information below for details on files needed for submission. Additional information can be found on the CDE website.
From the CDE website:
Wednesday, January 15, 2014 is the due date for the following data files:

2013-14 P-1 Attendance
2013-14 P-1 Necessary Small Schools Funding Selections and Certifications
2013-14 P-1 SELPA ADA
2013-14 P-1 Special Education Tax Allocations
2013-14 P-1 LEA Special Education Infant Data
2013-14 P-1 Revenue Limit ADA Adjustments

Note: It is important that we receive the files by the due date in order to process the 2013-14 First Principal Apportionment by the statutory deadline. If you have any questions, or need assistance, please contact our office by phone at 916-324-4541 or by e-mail at PASE@cde.ca.gov.

Tuesday, June 5th was Election Day, and the results may have an impact on funding for charter schools in California . This election was the first time California saw its new top-two primary voting system go into effect. Under the new system, the two candidates who receive the most votes, regardless of political affiliation, advance from the primary to the general election (as opposed to the top-two vote getters from differing political parties). Voters enacted the new system with the hope that more moderate candidates would be elected to the California State Legislature, and our state politics would become less polarizing. This new system also allows moderate groups an opportunity to be more successful when attempting to elect legislative candidates. Redistricting that was done a decade ago had led to various unions and business groups in zones that supported the Democratic and Republican candidates respectively, meaning there were few, if any, moderates who were being elected from either party to the state legislature.
With this in mind, the education reform community in California fared relatively well on election-day in the two legislative races in which they supported specific candidates. In the 57th Assembly District, Democrat Ian Calderon defeated Democrat Rudy Bermudez, enacting a general matchup with a Republican in November that Calderon is projected to win. He has been outspoken about the need to reform our current education system in California, and was heavily funded by a host of education groups throughout the state. In the 46th Assembly District, Democrat Brian Johnson, a Teach For America alumnus and former charter school executive director, is currently on pace to join another Democratic candidate in the November general election. Johnson holds a slim 82 vote lead over the Republican candidate in the race, who finished a close third in the balloting. This is sure to trigger a recount, but if Johnson can hold on, it will mean yet another victory for education reform groups. Like Calderon, Johnson was heavily backed. If both Calderon and Johnson are victorious come November, it could mean a much-needed increase in funding for California charter schools. To find out more about charter school financing options, visit our website.