1. A Bit of background
California passed charter school enabling legislation in 1993 The ambition was to introduce competition into the public school systems that would spur innovation
Minnesota was the first in Since then 43 states have passed charter legislation and charters enroll about 6% of the nations public school students. In California it is about 10%

2. The League of Women Voters of California supports the concept of educational choices for parents and students within the public school system, including charter schools
Education Code regulations with respect to the authorization, reauthorization and oversight of charter schools-- whether independent, dependent, seat-based, independent-study, virtual or other-- should be clear and enforced.
The League supports the implementation and enforcement of academic, equity, transparency and financial standards for the authorization and reauthorization of all charter schools.
Fresno Proposal for a State Position—non recommended, for concurrent adoption

3. The League believes that charter schools should
be authorized and under the oversight of a locally elected or appointed school board within whose district they reside,
not be governed by an entity without ties and accountability to the community whose students they serve,
be required to report the same academic and financial data, including attendance, to the state and public as any other public school and school district,
be required to get authorization for any expansion to new sites (including resource centers) and that any such expansion requires an evaluation of their current effectiveness and compliance with their contract,
adhere to the California Public Records Act and applicable Open Meeting laws and provisions of he Political Reform Act of 1974.
The League believes that charter schools should

4. The League further believes that
California standards governing the granting of charters, their renewal and their funding should be periodically reevaluated and amended as necessary, and
the calculation of attendance for independent- study and virtual schools should be periodically reevaluated to align attendance practices with school district standards.
The League further believes that

5. Our study We took on this task in 2017
We visited the charter schools within the Fresno boundaries
We held meetings with the Charter authorizer within FUSD and with charter school administrators
We collected data from the California Department of Education.
Our study
When Betsy DeVos became sec of education and was actively supporting choice schools –including vouchers to private schools and charter schools, we determined to look at what the charter landscape looked like in Fresno. Many of us on the Ed committee were former public school teachers and recognized our own bias but limited knowledge.

6. Relevant Findings
Out of 17 charter schools within the Fresno Unified boundary, only 8 were chartered by FUSD.
6 were chartered by other school districts
*including large independent study high schools chartered by one-school elementary districts
3 were chartered by the County Office of Education
* There is an education code provision that stipulates that a district may only authorize schools that have grade levels that they serve. This is one source of our concern that the State clarify and implement its regulations

7. Appeals of authorization and reauthorization determinations are arbitrary.
While acknowledging the academic failings that lead to a local charter being denied renewal, the County nevertheless renewed it. Several independent study charter schools have opened satellite sites without knowledge of those sites being shared—with Fresno Unified or the State. New charter numbers were applied to existing charters by the State, eliminating the history of those schools at the CDE.

8. While the demographics of most charters are similar to Fresno Unified
Achievement is worse on average than the district Independent study schools have lower graduation rates, higher dropout rates and lower achievement scores than Fresno Unified’s own independent study site. Two exceptional schools have very much higher proportions of white , non-poverty, non-English Learners and non special education students.

9. Financial information is particularly difficult to access or understand
Charter schools do not report the same sorts of financial information in the same form as school districts.
We were forced to use unaudited financial statements to estimate the proportion of their funding that went to instruction and to teacher salaries
The number of full time equivalent teachers is not available data.
While there are ed code provisions for lower funding levels for independent study and virtual schools, all of our charters are funded on exactly the same attendance and LCFF rates as the District’s seat-based schools.
100% funding levels require 40% of revenues spent on personnel and benefits, 80% on instruction and instruction related activities and a pupil teacher ratio of 25 to 1 or equal to the largest school district in the county. None of these benchmarks are obviously met on the basis of accessible reported data.

10. State Leagues with charter school positions
OHIO “Ideally, we believe charter schools should be under the oversight of a locally elected school board but barring that, at a minimum the school should be under the oversight of an elected state Board of Education. . . and not be governed by an entity with no ties or accountability to the community it serves

11. Illinois
The financial impact on traditional schools must be evaluated before charters are granted.
Charter school authorizers should evaluate the performance of existing charters before granting new charters or approving additional campuses.
The authority for approving an renewing charters should reside exclusively in the local school board.
Funding for virtual schools should be based on actual costs, rather than on the same level of funding provided to other charter schools

12. New York
Authority to grant, oversee, renew and revoke charters, other than those granted in pubic school conversions, should be vested in a single entity
Charters should be subject to more stringent oversight of charter compliance in the renewal/revocation process, with greater emphasis on positive educational outcomes.

13. Michigan
Moratorium on new charters until the State can provide adequate oversight.
Qualified staff at the authorizing institutions must provide well developed oversight of charter schools.
Oversight must include evaluation of curriculum,compliance with legal requirements, and financial management that follows accepted government auditing standards.
The State Board of Education should ensure that authorizing institutions are performing their oversight and accountability functions.

14. Proposed legislation in California
SB126 Transparency and conflict of interest requirements for charters. PASSED AB 1505 School districts the sole possible authorizer—no appeal AB 1506 Cap number of charters in state to current number 1,323 AB 1507 Rescind an exemption that allowed a charter school without available facilities to locate in another district within the county—has passed the Assembly* AB1508 Allow consideration of the financial impact of a charter to the resident district in considering authorization
With regard to cap—Initial charter legislation provided for 100 schools. Amended in 1998 to allow for 250 with 100 possible additions each year.
1507 allows for such schools to stay open until charter is renewed. Can stay authorized with permission from resident district. No discussion of denial of that permission. Appeal?

15. Newsom Commission
The new governor has asked Tony Thurmond to appoint a commission to look at the financial effect and other impacts of charters.
Their recommendations are due on July 1st.