"I think all of us on the board are feeling pretty similar," said parent and charter trustee Alison Bacigalupo on Tuesday. "We're all so excited, and it's very difficult to rein in."
The Contra Costa County Board of Education will discuss Wednesday an amendment to its Memorandum of Understanding with the charter, which will extend time for finalizing special education details and require a fiscal review after the first year.
Meanwhile, the committee has been meeting with Mt. Diablo district officials to hammer out a facilities agreement for the Clayton Valley building and talk about recruiting current eighth-graders to attend the charter next year.

"Parents Across America.org"
I am a parent with kids in the in the Mount Diablo Unified School District (not a lobbyist or politician). Here in our District in the Bay Area (Contra Costa County ) one of our public high schools, Clayton Valley High School, recently converted to charter. During the course of analysis of the proposal, it became evident that the conversion will result in a loss of funding to the District to the tune of $2 Million -$4 Million, which will affect all the other schools in the District. Conversion charter high schools are funded in accordance with a formula that provides them with funds at a higher rate than the rate applicable to the other high schools in our District. The District, and not the state, is required to make up this difference in funding from its other funds. Further, under the charter law, the District is expressly prohibited from considering the financial impact of the charter conversion on the District. Therefore neither the District, nor the County Office of Education, which approved the conversion, could consider that we were hurting 31,000 other students of the District to help 2,000 at this high school. The proponents of this particular charter (it's a local nonprofit formed by parents, teachers businesspeople and politicians or former politicians), have expressed their wish that other public high schools in our District follow their example. If this were to happen, it would devastate the District's finances available for elementary and middle schools.
A bill (AB 1172) has been introduced to allow a school district to consider the adverse impact of a conversion on the District’s finances in voting to deny a charter. According to the latest update, it was passed out of committe and is now under consideration in the Senate. Please review the law. It seems like something that perhaps you personally, or an organization like yours ( "Parents Across America.org" or at least your California constituents), might wish to support. We ask that you consider writing, or asking your constituents to write, letters to your state representatives in support of the bill. I have attached a sample letter that we have developed in cooperation with a member of our local school board.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
_______, 2012
[Name of Assemblyperson/Senator]
State Capitol, Room ____
1303 Tenth Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear [Assemblyperson/Senator] _________,
I am a resident of the ________________ School District and I'm writing to ask you to support AB 1172 (Mendoza).

AB 1172 would help school districts by giving boards of education broader authority to consider the fiscal impact of a charter petition.

Specifically, AB 1172 would permit a school district to deny a charter petition if the district determines the petition would have a negative fiscal impact on the district. A negative fiscal impact would be established if any of the following exist:

1) The district has received a negative financial certification;
2) The district has received an emergency loan and is operating under the oversight of a state administrator; or
3) The school district, due to declining enrollment of pupils, is in the process of closing a school that a charter school petition has identified as the proposed site for its charter school, and the district has received a qualified financial certification or would receive a qualified financial certification if the charter school petition is approved.

Funding for public education has already been cut by about $20 billion over the past three years. Please give us the discretion to deny a charter petition if it would exacerbate financial hardships and reduce services to students who remain in the district.

Please support AB 1172 (Mendoza). Thank you.

Sincerely,