UPDATE, January 25, 2012: The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Bullis Charter School on Wednesday; it agreed with the decision of the appellate court for the Sixth District that the charter was not allocated adequate space under Propostion 39 by Los Altos School District, reports Sharon Naguchi of the Mercury News.
The Supreme Court also denied a request to prevent other charter schools from citing the appellate ruling when requesting facilities from local school authorities.
UPDATE, November 21, 2011: Los Altos School District (LASD) announced its decision last Wednesday to petition the state Supreme Court for a rehearing in the 6th District Court of Appeal after a 4-0 vote by the school board in a closed session Monday, reported Nicole Baldocchi of Los Altos Patch:
District officials argue the legal expenses are worth it to maintain the board's discretion in what it can legally provide to the charter school. Fighting the appeal in a higher court is projected to cost about $50,000 to $60,000, trustee Doug Smith said in an interview Tuesday....If it doesn't appeal, the district might be forced to spend "millions of dollars in construction" for Bullis facilities, trustee Tamara Logan explained.
The district contended, via a written statement bearing the names of all five trustees, that the state appeals court had decided that districts must follow a strict formula for measuring space to establish reasonable equivalence, contrary to previous decisions on Prop. 39 space allocation.
"As much as this court might wish to cast this process as strictly formulaic, in practice, the allocation of resources under the standard of "reasonably equivalent" does not neatly fit into a by-the-numbers approach," said Board president Bill Cooper in the written statement.
"The decision not only impairs school districts from exercising their judgment, balance interests, and make decisions in the best interests of all students, it provides a windfall to charter schools, affording them greater space than afforded students attending district schools," the district announcement read.
This is not just in the interest made of our 4,500 children," said school board member Tammy Logan. "... this ruling was very broad and would have impacted the 95% in the state that don’t attend charter schools."
Previously reported on this subject:
The 6th District Court of Appeals reversed a previous decision by Santa Clara County Superior Court, ruling that LASD inaccurately measured facility space and made unfair comparisons with other schools in the district, a mandate of Proposition 39, the School Facilities Local Vote Act of 2000, which requires "public schools facilities be shared equally among all public school pupils, including those in charter schools".
(The state Dept. of Education has opened a "comment opportunity" for district superintendents regarding the regulations and policies of Proposition 39.)
The 48-page ruling points out several flaws in how the district assessed for "reasonable equivalence" in the charter schools facilities with its other schools:
"The District, in its facilities offer here, excluded from its consideration over one million square feet of collective non-classroom space of the comparison group schools," Justice Wendy Clark Duffy, at left,wrote. The district also "overstated" the facilities offered to Bullis. A soccer field supposedly entirely available to the charter school is made available for only 40% of the time. Also, a multi-purpose room listed as being supplied by LASD was built, owned, and operated by Bullis. L A Ching of Los Altos Patch wrote that the court stopped short of characterizing LASD as acting in bad faith, but pointedly wrote: "There is certainly evidence in the record ... from which such a finding could be made. We decline to do so here".
Bullis Charter school, open since 2003, is a top-performing school (API: 984)that emphasizes an individualized education with a focus on leadership and technology; it also asks parents to (voluntarily) donate $5,000 annually and students take international trips each year. Out of the 403 students enrolled in 2010-11 according to Dataquest, the majority are white or Asian; 20 students are Hispanic or African American and only 1.2% have limited English. This is the fourth time Bullis Charter School has sued LASD, costing the district $600,000 in legal fees to date, much to the ire of parents and administrators who claim Bullis is only enrolling children of wealthy families in Los Altos Hills (no students are eligible for free or reduced-priced meals), in opposition to the intent of the charter school movement. Santa Clara County Office of Education board member Anna Song called Bullis' numbers "abysmal" and grounds for immediate revocation of the charter.
Ken Moore, chairman of the Bullis board of directors, praised the justices, saying "I'm not surprised (by the decision) because this is what we've been saying all along. We had not believed the district was complying with the law and unfortunately we had to go all the way to an appellate court."
The decision will head back to the Superior Court for further instruction, Moore said.
Written for California's Children by Elizabeth J Carlyle.
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