By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report. | http://bit.ly/LWGhba
Friday, June 29, 2012 :: A superior court judge has issued orders requiring Aspire Public Schools to return to three local district boards in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Stockton for permission to continue operation of six charter schools.
The order, made public Thursday, would appear to close the books on a legal dispute dating back to 2007 when a coalition of school groups challenged the California State Board of Education’s use of the “statewide benefit” authority to approve multiple Aspire schools – a move that bypassed local review.
In a March ruling, Alameda County Judge Jo-Lynne Lee found the state board failed to properly apply the statewide benefit authority to the Aspire schools, but the question remained of what to do with the six schools – and some 2,000 students – that had been in operation in some cases for several years.
In ordering the reauthorization, Judge Lee gave the charter management group one year to complete the reauthorization process – a timeline, she said, would “reduce any hardship to presently enrolled students.”
The judge also ordered the state board to set aside its approval of the statewide charter for Aspire and to adopt statewide benefit regulations in compliance with the California Administrative Procedures Act.
James Willcox, Aspire’s chief executive officer, said that all six schools would continue in operation through the 2012-13 school year.
“We are studying the court’s order and have begun today the process of seeking local charters for these six schools while we consider other options,” said Willcox in a statement. “We are committed to serving all of our students and families who count on Aspire and want to calm any uncertainty that this decision may cause.”
The plaintiffs in the case were led by the California School Boards Association, the Association of California School Administrators and the California Teachers Association.
Karen Stapf-Walters, ACSA’s interim executive director, said in a statement they were pleased by the judge’s decision that ensures “the state board adopts the required procedural rules so only those charters that truly meet the test of statewide benefit status are considered in the future. It is important that all public schools and students are treated equitably
“We believe it is fair to allow schools affected by this ruling the opportunity to transition to local charter approval in a timely manner without any harm to students or loss of funding,” she said.
At issue is a section of the Education Code that gives the right of a charter operator to submit a petition directly to the state board for approval of a charter school that operates at multiple sites throughout the state. But the law also requires that the state board make a specific finding, “based on substantial evidence, 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 courts found that the state board failed to carry out the analysis needed to establish the statewide benefit.
The six Aspire statewide benefit schools are:
- Aspire Alexander Twilight College Preparatory Academy, Sacramento
- Aspire Alexander Twilight Secondary Academy, Sacramento
- Aspire APEX Academy, Stockton
- Aspire Junior Collegiate Academy, Huntington Park *
- Aspire Port City Academy, Stockton
- Aspire Titan Academy, Huntington Park *
* The LAUSD board would be the chartering authority
smf: Additional 4LAKids background on the case is here
- Aspire Public Schools is Reed Hastings.
- 4 of Aspires’ 7 member Board of Directors are venture capitalists.
- 1 is a for-profit post-secondary educator,
- 1 is a former senior consultant/staffer for the State Board of Ed Charter School Office.
None of these things make any of these people bad people.
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