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Charter School Funding

Provides essential information about state general purpose and state and federal categorical funding to charter school authorizers and administrators.

For most charter schools, the largest source of revenue is the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), which are unrestricted funds received through a process known as the Principal Apportionment, a series of apportionment calculations that adjust the flow of state funds throughout the fiscal year as information becomes known. Charter schools receive Principal Apportionment funds through a combination of in-lieu of property taxes and state funds. New and expanding charter schools may also receive funding through the Charter School Special Advance.

This web page is intended to provide information to charter school administrators and authorizers as it pertains to state general purpose and state and federal categorical funding. For information beyond this scope, please see the Charter Schools web page.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Assembly Bill 1505 and 1507

What guidance has the California Department of Education (CDE) issued with regard to the implementation of Assembly Bill (AB) 1505 and AB 1507?
Are there exemptions to the temporary ban on the approval of new nonclassroom-based charter schools?

Physical Location

What is the definition of physical location?
What if I have one location but it falls within the boundaries of multiple districts? I don’t want it to look like we have multiple sites when there actually is only one.
If I have multiple locations in multiple districts can I pick the district I think best to report?
I’m a nonclassroom-based (or independent study or virtual) charter. What district(s) should I include in my physical location(s)?
What if the grade level served by the charter school differs from that of the district?
What if my charter school does not submit physical location data?
What if my charter’s physical location is not within the boundaries of (differs from) my authorizer?
Should the charter school report the physical location data directly to the CDE? What about the certification process?
Where do I go to get district boundary information?

 

Questions: Principal Apportionment Section | pase@cde.ca.gov | 916-324-4541 
Last Reviewed: Friday, September 5, 2025
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