Urgent Legislative Action Needed Today! Oppose AB 1316

Apr 20, 2021 | Legal Alerts

AB 1316 Urgent Action

PenAssembly Bill (“AB”) 1316 was recently amended by Assembly Member Patrick O’Donnell (D—Long Beach).  AB 1316, as currently written will have crushing effects on all California charter schools. Today is the last day to register your opposition to AB 1316 before it is heard by the Assembly Education Committee on April 28, 2021.  You can submit a letter of opposition (see sample below).  Further, if your local Assembly representative sits on the Education Committee, please also reach out to them individually in opposition to this terrible legislation and explain the devastating impacts it will have on your School(s). 

AB 1316 appears to be aimed to destroy or severely limit the operation of non-classroom-based charter schools but all charter schools will be negatively impacted by the legislation. The following is a summary of the most concerning provisions:

All Charter Schools
  • Imposes a minimum daily instructional minute requirement in addition to the annual instructional minute requirement.
  • Eliminates year-round multitrack calendars except under very narrow conditions.
  • Extreme expansion of the annual independent audit process, schedule, and reporting requirements; mandates consolidated audits for related organizations.
  • Any enrichment activities must be identified in the charter in order to collect ADA and satisfy instructional day/minute requirements.
  • Imposes public bidding and contract requirements on charter schools.
  • All teachers must be employed by the school thus limiting the use of contract teaching staff.
  • Requires charter schools to report financial data in the same manner as school districts using a standardized account code structure (“SACS-compliant”) format.
  • Increases oversight fees to actual costs up to 3% (a 300% increase – not dependent upon the provision of facilities as was required in the past)
  • Charter schools may not expend public funds with a vendor unless any employees of the vendor who are responsible for the direct supervision of pupils shall be credentialed and appropriately assigned.
  • Prohibits the calculation of fees for management, business, marketing, and technology services as a percentage of revenue.

Non-classroom-based Charter Schools

(and as noted below independent student programs operated by classroom-based charter schools)
  • Non-classroom-based charter schools (NCB) must provide classroom-based instruction for pupils whose independent study master agreement is revoked due to unsatisfactory educational performance and missed assignments and/or lack of attendance.
  • ADA for independent study (in NCB and CB charter schools) may only be claimed for students who reside in-county (no longer allowed to reside in an adjacent county)
  • Reduction in funding of most non-classroom-based schools by 30 percent using a sliding scale which rewards schools with more funding by increasing the amount of classroom-based instruction provided.
  • Requires supervising teachers to have in-person or live visual/audio contact with independent study students at least once every third day and increases supervision and paperwork requirements for supervising teachers of independent study students (in NCB and CB charter schools)
  • Requires proctoring of independent study annual summative assessments (in NCB and CB charter schools)
  • Limits the size of NCB charter schools based upon the size of their authorizers. An authorizer with less than 2,500 pupils may not authorize an NCB charter more than 100% of the ADA of the authorizer.  An authorizer with ADA of 2,500-4,999 may not authorize an NCB charter for more than 2,500 ADA. An authorizer with an ADA of 5,000-9,999 may not authorize an NCB charter for more than 50% of the ADA of the authorizer.  There is no grandfather provision for this proposal nor delayed effect to allow the transition of existing charter schools.
  • Expands requirements for independent study policy, written agreements, and documentation (in NCB and CB charter schools)

AB 1316 must be defeated!  YMC has joined in a joint letter with the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA), the Charter School’s Development Center (CSDC), and the APLUS+ Network along with other charter advocates that many of you may have already signed. If you have not signed onto that joint letter, please get your letter of opposition into the Assembly Committee on Education TODAY through the Position Letter Portal on the Assembly Committee on Education website.

Consider the following sample letter for submission to register your opposition to AB 1316:

 

The Honorable Patrick O’Donnell
Chair, Assembly Education Committee
1020 N Street, Room 159
Sacramento, California 95814

Re: AB 1316
Position: Oppose

Dear Assembly Member O’Donnell,

On behalf of [insert name] Charter School, I’m writing in opposition to Assembly Bill 1316.

This bill will severely negatively impact [insert name] Charter School.  [list a few primary examples from above as to how your school will be negatively impacted.]

I believe that this bill will have a devastating impact on public charter school students statewide which will result in a sharp decline in high-quality educational options for all California students. For these and many other reasons, our school opposes this bill.

Sincerely

[insert name, title]

[school]

[logo]

Contact YM&C with questions regarding this Legal Alert:

Attorney Lisa Corr

Lisa A. Corr, ESQ.
Partner
916.646.1400

Jerry Simmons

Jerry W. Simmons, ESQ.
Partner
916.646.1400

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.

 

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