After more than a decade, districts, charters making peace over facilities
By Kimberly Beltran
Monday, November 19, 2012
In the 12 years since a state law forcing districts to share facilities with charter schools took effect there are still turf wars but anecdotal evidence suggests the disputes are fewer and more often than not, beneficial relationships have instead replaced acrimony.
Proposition 39, passed in 2000 and enacted the following year, requires a district to provide facilities for charter schools operating within it. Among other conditions, the law requires the facilities to be offered at no cost, although a district may charge a charter school a pro rata share of facilities costs paid from its unrestricted general fund monies.
“It’s getting better. We have seen a shift toward districts and charters seeing the potential for collaboration,” said Gary Borden, senior vice president for statewide advocacy at the California Charter Schools Association, of which about 70 percent of the state’s more than 1,000 charter schools are members.
Charter schools must formally request use of district facilities on an annual basis – a legal negotiation process that is
