California Charter Schools Association Archives

California Charter Schools – Legislative Update

Last week both the California Assembly and Senate Appropriation Committees met to send the last batch of house of origin bills to the Assembly and Senate Floors. Friday, May 23rd was the deadline to hear all fiscal bills in a fiscal committee in their house of origin; for instance Assembly bills in the Assembly and Senate bills in the Senate. There were two bills that were opposed by most charter school groups and would have had negative impacts on charter schools in California. In an anticipated move both measures were opposed by the Appropriation Committees in both houses.
AB 1531 by Assemblyman Chau would have mandated that the charter school authorizer appoint the members of a charter school’s governing board. This bill was sponsored by the California Teachers Association and would have affected every charter school in the state. It essentially would have gutted the charter school law and made all charter schools dependent on their authorizer. The Assembly Appropriations Committee held this measure on its suspense file, killing it for the year.
SB 1317 by Senator Huff would have created new conflict of interest provisions for charter schools. The measure would have also placed limitations on governing board members loaning money or leasing property to their own charter school; violating these provisions would have mandated revocation of the charter school. This measure was sponsored by the California Charter Schools Association. The Senate Appropriations Committee held this measure on its suspense file and like AB 1531 it is dead for the year.
To view these measures go to www.leginfo.ca.gov and place in the bill number.

The California Assembly Education Committee passed AB 2007 by Assemblywoman Shannon Grove from Bakersfield. This is very positive for California charter schools. The bill amends the charter school law to allow students attending non-classroom based charter schools to complete the school year (or course they are taking) with the school they are currently attending if they move out of that school’s geographic boundary. Though this is a simple clarification of existing law, it will have a major impact for many non-classroom charter schools that face instructional challenges when students move throughout the state for one reason or another. The measure will now heads to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for a vote. It passed the Assemby Education Committee on a unanimous 7-0 vote.
AB 2007 – Virtual or Online Charter Schools
Summary – Authorize a virtual or online charter school to also claim independent study average daily attendance for pupils who are residents of any other county in the state. If the pupil is enrolled in the virual or online charter school and moves to a residence outside of the geographic boundaries in which the charter school is authorized to operate, and continues enrollment in the virtual or online charter school. Provides for reenrollment within a specific time.
Status – 5/1/14 In Assembly. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Committee on Appropriations.
For more information on current legislation at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov and input the bill number.
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“Without Charter School Capital, we honestly wouldn’t exist.”
Those are the words of Ricardo Mireles, executive director of Academia Avance charter school in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Fortunately, Charter School Capital was there so that he and his team could focus on what really matters – their students. Academia Avance was founded in 2005 with 100 students in the 6th and 7th grades. Today, it serves 500 students grades 6-12, preparing them for college and career.

Dedicated to the idea that all students have a right to pursue a college education, Academia Avance offers rigorous course work relevant to today’s changing world, from language classes in Mandarin Chinese to computer classes in programming and robotics. However, what makes the school special is that it doesn’t just rely on books and testing to teach their students. With the understanding that hands-on experiences are vital to academic excellence, the school combines traditional classroom study with learning through projects, multi-cultural experiences and even internships at local businesses.
The results of this inter-disciplinary model are indisputable. In 2012, 100% of Academia Avance’s graduating students were accepted to 4-year university programs – a truly remarkable achievement. But it almost didn’t happen.
When Academia Avance was founded, funding for the school from the state of California proved inconsistent. The school wasn’t able to secure a traditional bank loan because they didn’t have a building to put up as collateral. To pay the bills, school administrators went looking for alternative options in charter school financing. That’s when they found Charter School Capital.
According to Mireles, Charter School Capital provided the flexibility, patience and professionalism in charter school funding needed to get Academia Avance up and running. “They allowed us to say ‘this month we need this much.’ I’m really appreciative of how Charter School Capital was able to understand what our need was.” Mireles believes he has a true partner in Charter School Capital, one that genuinely believes in the school’s mission and supports what the school is trying to accomplish. “It allows us to stay focused on our mission and our students.”

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.

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.