June 2025 ACCS - Item 1 Public Comment 1
Public Comment 1 received for Agenda Item 1 of the June 3, 2025, Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (ACCS) meeting.The following information was provided on California Charter Schools Association letterhead. Except when needed for accessibility purposes, no corrections to spelling, grammatical, or typographical errors have been made.
To receive a copy of the below communication in its original format, contact the Charter Schools Division by email at charters@cde.ca.gov.
May 30, 2025
RE: June 2025 ACCS Meeting / Phoenix Charter Academy College View
Dear Chair Walsh and ACCS Commissioners,
On behalf of the California Charter Schools Association (“CCSA”), I am writing in support of the funding determination request of Phoenix Charter Academy College View (“Phoenix Charter Academy”). CCSA appreciates the effort put forth by California Department of Education (“CDE”) staff to review these funding requests, and we support CDE recommendations for full funding for the schools on this June 2025 agenda. However, we disagree with the staff recommendation that Phoenix Charter Academy should be denied funding for the 2022-23 school year. We ask you to vote in favor of a recommendation that the State Board of Education (SBE) approve the funding determination for this school at the funding level requested.
We understand CDE’s interest in complying with the moratorium on the approval of charter petitions for the establishment of new non-classroom based charter schools contained in California Education Code Section 47612.7(a). However, we believe that CDE’s reliance on this provision to deny funding to Phoenix Charter Academy is misguided. The Section 47612.7(a) moratorium prohibits only the approval of a petition for the establishment of a new non-classroom based charter school. As described in the staff memo for this item, the charter petition for Phoenix Charter Academy was granted by the Columbia Elementary School District to operate a classroom-based school. The approval of a petition for a classroom-based charter school does not violate Section 47612.7(a). Moreover Section 47612.7(a) does not prohibit the state from funding established charter schools that have provided non-classroom based instruction that would otherwise be eligible for state funding. As stated in the CDE staff memo, Phoenix meets the regulatory criteria for the requested level of funding based on reported fiscal year audited data. The unjustified denial of this funding request would create financial hardship for this school which would ultimately negatively impact the school’s ability to best serve its students. We therefore ask that you recommend that the SBE approve this funding determination request.
Thank you for your careful consideration of this item. If you have any questions regarding our position on this matter or would like to discuss it further, please feel free to contact me at (nwatson@ccsa.org).
Best Regards,
Nicolas Watson
Managing Director of Regulatory Affairs
California Charter Schools Association
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