April 2026 ACCS - Item 5 Public Comment 1

April 3, 2026

Advisory Commission on Charter Schools
1430 N Street, Room 1101
Sacramento, CA 95814

Delivered Electronically:
charters@cde.ca.gov

Re: Item 5- Vista Springs Charter Renewal Petition

Dear Members of the Advisory Commission on Charter Schools:

The California School Employees Association (CSEA), AFL-CIO, respectfully urges the Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (ACCS) to recommend that the State Board of Education (SBE) deny the Vista Springs Charter renewal petition.

CSEA has long maintained that charter schools should be subject to local establishment, renewal, accountability, and oversight, just as the Charter Schools Act of 1992 envisioned. Assembly Bill (AB) 1505 (Chapter 486, Statutes of 2019) reaffirmed this preference for local governance when it removed the SBE’s statutory authority to authorize charter schools and required the SBE to transition the authorization of any existing SBE-authorized charters to local districts and counties. This will be the last time the SBE considers, using a de novo standard, whether to approve or deny the Vista Springs Charter renewal petition.

In November 2025, the Vista Unified School District Board voted four to one to deny Vista Springs’ renewal petition, finding that the school failed to meet or make sufficient progress towards meeting academic standards and that closure is in the best interest of pupils. Since Vista Unified School District voted to non-renew the charter, its academic performance, as evidenced by California School Dashboard data, has only worsened.

Vista Springs received a low-performing designation in early 2026, and analysis by California Department of Education (CDE) staff reveals that the school is categorically failing its English Language Learners, Hispanic students, and Socioeconomically Disadvantaged students. All of those student groups performed worse than students statewide in both 2024 and 2025 English Language Arts and Math assessments. The data is clear—Vista Unified School District made the correct decision to deny renewal because Vista Springs’ most marginalized students deserve an academic program that will truly help them succeed.

The staff analysis of this renewal continues to include so-called “verified data” provided by the charter school; however, the Legislature and Governor repealed the statute that authorized the consideration of verified data in charter school renewals through AB 1505 on January 1, 2026. Continued use of verified data in renewal deliberation and the documentary record is inappropriate and inadmissible. However, even if the SBE were to consider the i-Ready assessment data provided by Vista Springs, it does not meet the student participation thresholds established by the SBE in order to be considered as verified data. In 2025-26, only 94 percent of students participated in the assessments, while the SBE standard requires at least 97 percent participation.

The performance improvement plan (PIP) presented by Vista Springs spends more time justifying the school’s low performance than offering real solutions to improve student outcomes. For example, the PIP describes staffing and leadership stability as a contributing factor to poor student outcomes, stating that “vacancies in middle school teaching positions” that were filled by substitutes disrupted student growth continuity. However, the solution that Vista Springs presents is not a budget item to improve educator salaries or benefits to boost teacher retention, but instead “weekly coaching” for new teachers.

Renewals of low performing charter schools have a presumption of denial under the law. Vista Spring is a low performing charter, and the locally accountable school district rightly voted to deny its renewal over concerns for enrolled students’ academic wellbeing. The ACCS should affirm Vista Unified School District’s decision by recommending that the SBE deny the Vista Springs Charter renewal petition. If you have any questions regarding CSEA’s position, please do not hesitate to contact me at cmancini@csea.com or (916) 329-3622. Thank you.

Sincerely,

CALIFORNIA SCHOOL EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION
Cassie Mancini
Legislative Advocate

CM:tt

cc: Chris Masami Myers, Interim Director, Governmental Relations
Ric Reyes, Director, Charter Schools Division, California Department of Education