27th Annual California Charter Schools Conference

As one of this year’s proud sponsors, we are eager to celebrate to honor charter school success at the 27th annual California Charter Schools Conference in Long Beach, CA at the Long Beach Convention Center.

Be sure to stop by booth #1012 to say hello and grab your free pair of our exclusive 2020 #WeLoveCharterSchools socks, while supplies last!

As always, we look forward to meeting, learning from, and connecting with charter leaders who come from all over The Golden State to help forward the charter school movement.

If you’re attending, we sincerely hope you’ll take a minute to swing by our booth and say hello and let us know how we can support your school and students!
Additionally, we will be hosting a session that you won’t want to miss:

Enrollment Marketing 101: How to Attract and Engage Prospective Students
Wednesday, March 18th | 8:30a.m. – 9:30a.m.

Extra Credit: Use the hashtag #WeLoveCharterSchools hashtag onsite, and we’ll share your special conference moments on our social channels!

Find more information on our session and get other conference details here: https://charterschoolp.wpengine.com/event/ccsa2020/

Since the company’s inception in 2007, Charter School Capital has been committed to the success of charter schools. We help schools access, leverage, and sustain the resources charter schools need to thrive, allowing them to focus on what matters most – educating students. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $2 billion in support of 600 charter schools that have educated over 1,027,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!

LEARN MORE

After the polls closed in California and a long night of counting ended most of the state’s legislative and state-wide contests are complete. Overall the Democratic Party was victorious in every state-wide contest. Though several races were very close, Democrats swept each race.
The toughest, most expensive race was for the Superintendent of Public Instruction where the current Superintendent, Tom Torlakson, was seeking a second term in office. He was opposed by Marshall Tuck, a former charter school operator and education reform supporter back by numerous individuals who play heavily in education reform. Torlakson was supported by the California Teachers Association and some of the state’s other unions.
The race became the most expensive race in the state as total spending exceeded $30 million; this was more than triple the total amount spent on the race for Governor where Governor Brown cruised to an unprecedented fourth term. Both sides were well funded and were able to present their case to the voters; in the end the Superintendent will serve four more years.
In the State Senate the Democrats lost a race in Orange County where moderate Democrat Lou Correa was termed out of office. He will be replaced by Republican Janet Nguyen who defeated former Assemblyman Jose Solorio by 20 percentage points. The Republicans were able to hang on to their only ‘targeted’ seat as Senator Andy Vidak beat back his Democratic opponent Luis Chavez.
In a move of musical chairs three State Senators were elected to Congressional seats which will create three vacancies and require three special elections set by the Governor. This will be added to the current vacancy that exists in the 35th Senate district where an election has been scheduled for December 8th.
The 35th will elect a Democratic State Senator, one of the other vacancies will also add to the Democratic side of the aisle and the other two will go Republican. This leaves the State Senate breakdown as 25 Democrats and 11 Republicans; the Democrats currently sit two votes short of a 2/3 majority.
In the State Assembly the Democrats lost four seats but did pick up one vacancy. The Republicans picked up more seats in one election cycle than they have in the last few cycles combined.
The Democrats lost the 16th district where the California Teachers Association fielded one of their former employees Tim Sbranti. After defeating a moderate Democratic candidate in the June primary he lost to Republican Catharine Baker who ran a tremendous race.
In the 36th Assembly district Republican Tom Lackey defeated Assemblyman Steve Fox. Fox’s earlier election had been a surprise to legislative Democratic leaders and he was always considered a ‘target.’
In the 65th Assembly district Republican Young Kim defeated Democratic Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva and in the 66th Republican David Hadley defeated Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi for the Republicans fourth pick up of the night.
The Democrats did pick up Republican Assemblyman Jeff Gorrell’s seat as he vacated it to run for Congress. That leaves the Assembly breakdown 52-28 in favor of the Democrats again leaving them two votes short of a 2/3 majority.
To view complete election results go to www.sos.ca.gov and hit the election results tab.

EdSource reported in an article earlier this week that the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) is continuing it’s efforts to recommend closure of under-performing charter schools across the state with it’s criticism of the San Jose school district for approving two new campuses for a local charter school.
Branche Jones, a legislative advocate who works with numerous California charter schools, explained that CCSA is using a metric based on an accountability system that no longer exists. Last year the California legislature suspended the API system because it was deemed outdated and does not conform with the Common Core standards. Currently, the SBE is developing a new set of assessments and accountability system.
“The standards CCSA is following is not the current statute, so when charters are up for renewal they are not trying to meet CCSA’s metrics, they are conforming with the state statute,” said Jones. “As a statewide advocacy organization, CCSA should be helping their members improve their academic achievement.”
According to Jones, CCSA tried to implement their own accountability system through legislation several years ago and were unsuccessful. The EdSource article highlights pushback from both charter schools, school districts and superintendents against CCSA’s efforts.
EdSource Article: Charter Schools Association Continues Push To Weed Out Low-Scoring Schools, by John Fensterwald
“Upping its campaign to root out what it views as its lowest performing schools, the California Charter Schools Association last week criticized a San Jose school district for allowing a charter school to open two more campuses next year…” Read More.

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:

It may become more difficult to open a California charter school that is a new conversion. This week the California Assembly Education Committee will hear AB 917 by Assemblyman Bradford. AB 917 would add the signatures of classified employees to the signatures that are needed to convert an existing public school into a charter school. The bill is being sponsored by SEIU and supported by the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA). It is unclear what has led the CCSA to support this measure but they are actively behind it.
Adding classified employees will make it more difficult to convert a school into a charter. In some cases like in Los Angeles, it could add up to 60 new signatures that will need to be gathered during the petition process. For other parts of the state the new requirement may not be that onerous but it would depend on how many classified employees actually work at the school site. For the sponsor it is a manner of including classified employees in the decision making process at individual schools but for charter school supporters it means that they would have to work to organize both the teachers union and the classified union employees.
The bill also raises a serious policy issue: should classified employees be involved in the conversion process at all? When the charter school statute was drafted it was meant as a tool for teachers and parents at and around a particular school. Clearly, AB 917 expands the law to include individuals that the original statute did not intend to cover.
Luckily for charter school advocates this measure is similar to AB 86 from 2011 and AB 2363 that was run a year prior to that. AB 2363 failed in the Senate Education Committee and the Governor vetoed AB 86. If the California Governor keeps his same position he will veto AB 917 once it reaches his desk.
To view any of the bills listed above go to http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billSearchClient.xhtml and put in the bill number.