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Brown shoots down charter boundary restriction
(Calif.) An attempt by the Legislature to limit a charter school’s ability to locate outside the borders of its authorizing school district has been struck down by Gov. Jerry Brown.
The governor also rejected legislation that would have added two seats to the state panel created to monitor school accountability plans under his new education finance system.
SB 1263 by Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Calabasas, would have closed a legal loophole that allows a charter school to operate, under certain circumstances, a single facility outside the geographic boundaries of the school district that approved its charter petition.
The problem, said legislators, is that a charter operating outside its authorizing-district boundaries can have unexpected impacts on the host district, which has little to no authority over the school.
Under Pavley’s proposal, a charter school planning to operate outside the boundaries of its authorizing district would need written approval from the district where it intends to locate.
While admitting that a solution is needed to curb abuse of the law, Brown said he would not sign the bill given the impact it would have on some existing charter schools. He also said he has “assembled a team” to look into the issue.
“Unfortunately, it appears that some districts and charter schools have gone against the spirit of the law and the exemption has instead become the rule,” Brown wrote. “While this bill attempts to solve a real problem, I am not comfortable with the retroactive language that could force existing charter schools to change locations.”
Under the Pavley bill, charter schools operating outside the boundaries of their home district could continue to do so only if they met two criteria: That the charter school was authorized before April 1, 2013, to locate at that facility, and that the charter school operated that facility with pupils enrolled Brown shoots down charter boundary restriction :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:
Villain of autism-vaccine saga loses long-shot libel bid
(Texas) The British medical researcher known for a tainted research paper linking autism with public health vaccines may have come to the end of a long legal effort aimed at clearing his name.