This opinion from the CDE explains that a charter school may require a parent to sign a mandatory parent participation agreement as a condition of enrollment into the charter school. The mandatory parent participation agreement requires the parent/guardian to commit to volunteering a certain amount of time to the charter school during the school year.

This document identifies and summarizes the significant legislative changes made to the Charter Schools Act during the 2005 legislative session, including modifying the Charter Schools Funding Model and allowing a county superintendent of schools to request a Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team (FCMAT) review of a charter school.

This page links to resources for people interested in opening a charter school. It includes a description of SMYM’s charter development services as well as Power Point presentations and sample documents used by SMYM in their Charter Developer workshops.

High Tech High (HTH) received the first SBE approval for a statewide charter school in January of 2006. This link provides the CDE’s analysis of the HTH charter petition and recommendation to the SBE that the petition be approved.

The State Board of Education approved the model charter school application during its November 12-13th, 2003 meeting. The model charter school application is exemplary, not mandatory. There are three reasons stated by the Department of Education why its use is encouraged:

1. to ensure the charter petitioners cover all minimum elements required by law in a systematic way;to expedite the process of appeal
2. provide a measure of uniformity in evaluation from charter authorizer to charter authorizer. If you believe that your charter petition may end up before the State Board of Education on appeal and/or on a denied renewal, it is highly recommended that you adopt and follow the model charter school application.

1. Selective granting of charter petitions that have been denied or not renewed by local education agencies, but that the State Board determines to have met statutory requirements;
2. Taking appropriate action, including, but not limited to, revocation with respect to State Board-granted and locally-granted charters under specific circumstances set forth in statute;
3. Establishing appropriate funding levels for non-classroom-based charter schools;
4. Jointly with the State Superintendent, approving district-wide charter petitions when those petitions are determined to be satisfactory;
5. Developing and adopting regulations to implement various provisions of the Charter Schools Act of 1992 (Part 26.8 of the Education Code, commencing with Section 47600);
6. Approving or denying requests to waive otherwise applicable provisions of law;
7. Assigning numbers to charter school petitions to ensure that the statutory cap on the number of charter schools is not exceeded; and
8. Following the passage of AB 2030, overturning charter revocations if the SBE determines that the revocation was not based on substantial evidence.

This document lists the regulations the SBE uses when reviewing the elements of a charter petition submitted for its approval. These regulations attempt to convey to charter petitioners the State Board of Education's understanding of the meaning of the elements specified in Calif. Educ. Code § 47605(b).

This document lists the regulations the SBE uses when reviewing the elements of a statewide benefit charter school petition submitted for its approval. These regulations attempt to convey to charter petitioners the State Board of Education's understanding of the meaning of the elements specified in Calif. Educ. Code § 47605.8.

Charter schools are required to undergo yearly independent audits. A challenge to an audit finding is brought before the Education Audit Appeals Panel (EAAP). This link brings together in one convenient location the regulations EAAP uses to review appeals of audit findings.

This article, written by Lisa Corr of SMYM and published in CANECtions Magazine, discusses the increasing influence of the Advisory Commission on Charter Schools, especially in areas including funding determinations for non-classroom-based charter schools, reviewing charter petition appeals to the SBE, and special education.

This article, written by Jim Young of SMYM and published in the CCSA Charter Journal Magazine in 2004, discusses the flexibility enjoyed by charter schools in establishing and maintaining a workforce, and offers suggestions for how charter schools can make the best uses of this flexibility.