Overview
Charter schools are an important and significant part of today’s education landscape. California is home to 1,300 charter schools (including seven all-charter districts), serving nearly 630,000 students statewide — approximately 11 percent of all K-12 students in California.
This guide is designed to help California’s school governance leaders understand and execute their governance and charter school oversight responsibilities in a productive manner that effectively educates all students.
Since this book was last published in 2016, significant changes to California’s education systems have impacted all public schools, including charter schools. Charter schools are adapting to new academic content standards and accountability requirements, along with additional reforms passed by the Legislature and State Board of Education in 2019 and 2020. These, and many other updates, are changing the way in which charter schools operate and how governance teams fulfill their responsibilities as charter school authorizers.
The new edition includes an overview of California’s charter school laws and funding, and provides guidance about the petition review process, facilities and oversight responsibilities. It also includes updated content related to California’s renewal process, revocation of charters, revocation appeals and charter school closure. Additionally, the guidebook provides governance team members information about CSBA’s charter school policies, a summary of key state legislation and legal cases.
Click here to purchase the new Charter School Manual e-publication.
CSBA Resources
The following resources are available from CSBA:
External Resources