APPEALS COURT LIMITS STATEWIDE CHARTER SCHOOLS

By John Fensterwald in The Educated Guess

August 4th, 2010 -- A state appeals court has restricted the State Board of Education’s authority to allow charter school organizations to open up multiple sites statewide.

In a decision issued last week, the California 1^st Court of Appeals ruled that the State Board improperly granted Aspire Public Schools charters for schools in Stockton and Los Angeles. If the ruling stands, the charters may be revoked for those schools and four more that Aspire granted since the 2007 suit was filed.  Aspire also could reapply to local districts for charters where the schools are located.

At issue is the State Board’s power to grant charters of statewide benefit that bypass local districts’ oversight. During the decade that it has had the authority, the State Board has interpreted its power broadly but used it selectively, granting only three established charter organizations – Aspire, High Tech High, based in San Diego, and Magnolia Schools, based in Los Angeles – the right to open schools without geographic restrictions.

State law requires that in granting a statewide charter, the State Board must find that “the proposed state charter school will provide instructional services of statewide benefit that cannot be provided by a charter school operating in only one school district, or only in one county.”

The State Board has used this clause to encourage strong charter organizations to establish a statewide presence and to operate efficiently, avoiding the expense and hassles of local charter applications and idiosyncratic, local requirements. Statewide benefit status would be the gold standard given to a proven few.

But the Ed Coalition – California School Boards Assn., Association of California School Administrators and the California Teachers Assn. – and Stockton Unified sued over the interpretation of the law. They argued that statewide benefit should be viewed narrowly, as a school that provides a unique service, like a military academy or a distinct performing arts charter, that would serve students statewide. They also argued that the state board shouldn’t be granting a charter that a local district could issue.  The intent of the charter law was to put local districts in charge.

The appeals court agreed 3-0, and, in overturning the district court’s decision, Judge Maria Rivera wrote that the charter law “reflects an intent to promote district chartered schools and local oversight while allowing for limited exceptions.”

Oakland-based Aspire operates 25 schools in Oakland, Los Angeles and the Central Valley, and plans to open three or four per year. Most of the charters have been issued by local districts – proof, the Ed Coalition argued, that Aspire doesn’t need statewide benefit authority to replicate its model successfully.

The State Board discussed its response to the ruling – whether to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court or take other actions — in closed session this week.