Court of Appeal in Sacramento holds on charter school boundaries
Published: October 19, 2016
The Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento has held that with limited exceptions, charter schools must locate inside the boundaries of their district authorizer. (Anderson Union High School District v. Shasta Secondary Home School (October 17, 2016) ___ Cal. App. 4th ___.) If this opinion is upheld by the California Supreme Court, this means that a nonclassroom-based independent study charter school operating outside the boundaries of its authorizing district, but within the same county, will need to seek authorization by the district in which it currently operates or re-locate within the boundaries of its current authorizer. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, more than 275 such schools exist and may be affected.
In this case, the Shasta Secondary Home School, a charter school authorized by the Shasta Union School District, opened a nonclassroom-based charter school in the Anderson Union School District. AUHSD brought suit alleging the location of the school violated the Charter Schools Act. The trial court ruled in favor of SSHS finding that the Charter Schools Act is silent as regards to any prohibition of charter schools locating in the same county but outside the boundary of their authorizing district. The Court of Appeal reversed finding that the geographic limitations imposed by the Legislature on charter schools in 2002 served to “clarify a district’s sovereignty over public education within its boundaries” and that the “plain meaning” of the Charter Schools Act as amended “is that a charter school authorized by a school district is to be located and operate entirely within the geographic boundaries of the authorizing school district” unless an exception applies, such as where a nonclassroom-based charter school locates in an adjacent county.
The California Charter Schools Association has already signaled they will challenge the decision so stay tuned.