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To help California schools cope with unprecedented staffing shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic, on January 10, 2022, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-3-22 to provide temporary staffing flexibility to impacted schools. The Order widens eligibility to perform substitute teacher services. The Order also addresses two potential barriers to some retired educators returning to work.

January 25, 2022

Governor Newsom outlined his proposed 2022-23 state budget this morning during a lengthy press conference, including a large cost-of-living adjustment and continued implementation of massive K-12 program expansions; he also issued a vague call for protecting charter schools from pandemic-driven enrollment and attendance declines. 

January 10, 2022

Last summer, AB 130 expanded requirements for Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs) once again. These changes included a significant one-time requirement for a mid-year report. This article reviews the mid-year reporting requirement as well as changes to the LCAP template for the next cycle.

December 20, 2021

The California Department of Education (CDE) has indicated to CSDC staff that over 90 percent of charter schools have not yet completed the critical new process to designate recipients for the “Accountability Coordinators Listserv.”

October 19, 2021

The first year of the two-year legislative session ended quietly and relatively early Friday evening, September 10. In this first year, legislators introduced a total of 2,776 bills. As of today, 459 of those bills have become law and 645 await review by Governor Newsom.

October 05, 2021

The Charter Schools Division of the California Department of Education (CDE) has posted a request for applications (RFA) for the Public Charter School Grant Program (PCSGP). The PCSGP program is administered by the United States Department of Education (USDE), which awards funds to states based on a competitive application process. 

October 04, 2021

Governor Newsom announced in San Francisco today that his Administration plans to phase-in mandated vaccination of K-12 students in all public and private schools for COVID-19 after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides full authorization for vaccine use in children. The announcement, accompanied by a three-page press release, provides only partial details, but includes the key parameters summarized below.

October 01, 2021

On September 16, Governor Newsom signed AB 361, legislation to facilitate teleconferencing of public meetings during states of emergency into law and, followed four days later with Executive Order N-15-21, which delays the implementation of AB 361 until October 1.

September 24, 2021

At its September meeting, the State Board of Education (Board) made a key decision regarding 2021-2022 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) testing. To address ongoing challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board approved the continued use of short-form “adjusted blueprints” for the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments in English language arts/literacy and mathematics.

September 22, 2021

The Legislature approved a K-12 education budget “clean-up” bill before concluding its session for the year on September 10, including several helpful clarifications and several burdensome new impositions. The bill, AB 167, contains a long list of changes, some technical, but many substantive ones with high financial and compliance stakes.

September 20, 2021

Governor Newsom announced today that the California Department of Public Health issued a new health order mandating that TK-12 schools must verify the vaccine status of all workers. The Order appears largely self-explanatory, but includes a few notable features and ambiguities based on CSDC’s initial review...

August 11, 2021

On Monday, amongst hundreds of pages of budget trailer bill provisions, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a requirement to extend most charter school petition terms by two years. The extensions apply to all charters that would otherwise expire on or between January 1, 2022 and June 30, 2025. Many charter schools may welcome this news, but each school should carefully evaluate implications for their renewal prospects.

July 16, 2021

At its May 12 meeting, the State Board of Education (State Board) adopted a methodology for calculating student growth for students in grades four through eight. The new “growth model” is based on the change in an individual student’s scores on the California Assessment of Progress and Performance (CAASPP) from the prior year to the target year.

June 14, 2021

This year, for the first time, Local Education Agencies (LEAs) must report local indicators on the California School Dashboard (Dashboard) to their governing boards in conjunction with Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) adoption. Local indicators now have particular significance to charter renewal decisions. Current statute requires authorizers to consider Dashboard state and local indicators, and, in many cases, “verified data.” As such, charter school leaders may want to consider local indicators through the lens of renewal.

June 08, 2021

Assemblymember O’Donnell moved his anti-charter legislation, AB 1316, to the Inactive File in yesterday’s Assembly floor session. This likely means the bill is “dead” for this calendar year, but technically could be taken up next year in the second year of the two-year legislative cycle. Meanwhile, budget committees in both houses of the Legislature reached an unusual, early agreement on a budget package with several significant differences relative to the Governor’s May Revise proposals.

June 04, 2021

The Assembly Education Committee heard and passed AB 1316 (O’Donnell—D, Long Beach) this morning. Among other provisions, this bill cuts funding for nonclassroom-based charter schools by 30 percent, triples the cap on school district oversight fees for all charter schools, and imposes a long list of burdensome mandates on charter schools.

April 28, 2021

Confusing recent guidance from the US Department of Education (USDE) and the California Department of Education (CDE) may shift how charter schools consider testing flexibility this spring. During the first week of April, the two departments articulated what strike many as different standards for test administration. 

April 15, 2021

CSDC recommends that charter schools strategically select testing options that ensure their school(s) can demonstrate growth in student achievement.

April 05, 2021