Getting Ahead of the Curve: Prepare Now for Charter Renewal

May 4, 2020

With an entirely new legal landscape for charter renewal taking effect on July 1, 2020 it is now more important than ever to get an early start on your school’s renewal. 

It’s time to move past flattening the curve, and actually get ahead of it! If your school’s charter term will expire on June 30, 2021, now is the time to begin preparing for a successful renewal because of the new protracted timelines in the law for school district, county board of education, Advisory Commission on Charter Schools, and State Board of Education consideration of the renewal charter.

Before we had even heard of Coronavirus, the Legislature enacted a raft of new laws that have created a seismic shift in the legal requirements for charter petitions, the academic criteria that charter schools must meet to be eligible for renewal, and also the legal timelines and procedure for authorizer review and appeal.

Virtually all provisions of Assembly Bill 1505 (“AB 1505”), which overhauls the primary sections of the Education Code governing charter renewal, become effective on July 1, 2020. This means renewal charters must take into consideration, among other things:

• A three-tier approach to satisfying academic criteria for renewal, plus new rules for DASS schools, without the benefit of 2019-20 CAASPP data;
• Longer timelines for authorizer board action to approve or deny;
• Limited appeal rights;
• New content required for charter elements; and
• Revised governing laws regarding each charter element.

We know your focus maybe elsewhere at the moment, but a successful renewal takes more time and careful planning than anytime in the past. YMC has over 26 years of successful experience in assisting charter schools in the strategic planning, data compilation, community building, and charter revisions needed for a successful renewal.

Let YMC assist you in planning now, so that you can hit the ground running as schools open back up this fall! Put YMC’s vast knowledge, deep experience, and stellar success rate to work for your school. 

For a closer look inside the legal changes by AB 1505, please review YMC’s PowerPoint presentation from its recent webinar on AB 1505  located at https://ymclegal.com/webinars/.

Contact Janelle Ruley at 916-646-1400 or jruley@mycharterlaw.com to begin the process of setting a roadmap for a successful renewal!

Young, Minney & Corr, LLP’s Legal Alerts provide general information about events of current legal importance; they do not constitute legal advice. As the information contained here is necessarily general, its application to a particular set of facts and circumstances may vary. We do not recommend that you act on this information without consulting legal counsel.