Legislation Impacting Charters

This web page serves as a centralized location for matters related to the implications and implementation of recent legislation impacting California charter schools, charter authorizers, and stakeholders. Specifically, this web page speaks to changes in statute made by Assembly Bills 1505 and 1507 [Chaptered 486, Statutes of 2019], which were approved by the Governor on October 3, 2019, and AB 130 [Chaptered 44, Statutes of 2021], which was approved by the Governor on July 9, 2021.

Section Menu

• Charter School Performance Categories
• Charter School Renewal Terms (Updated 26-Jul-2021)
• Continuing Charter Schools
• Enrollment Data
• Frequently Asked Questions (Updated 25-Aug-2021)
• Funding Determinations for Nonclassroom-Based Instruction (New 13-Aug-2021)
• State Board of Education Information Memoranda and Agenda Items
• Teacher Credentialing
• Temporary Prohibition on New Nonclassroom-Based Charter Schools (Updated 21-Jul-2021)
• Verified Data

Charter School Performance Categories

A list of charter schools and their respective performance categories, as determined by the criteria outlined in AB 1505 is provided in the Charter School Performance Category Data File (XLSX). Information regarding each field of the aforementioned data file is available at Record Layout for Charter School Performance Category Data File. Additional information regarding the determination of charter school performance categories is available in the Determining Charter School Performance Category Flyer (PDF).

General information regarding the performance categories for charter school renewals is available in the slide deck from the June 23, 2020, AB 1505: Criteria for Performance Categories Webinar (PDF).

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Charter School Renewal Terms

Section 58 of AB 130 added California Education Code (EC) Section 47607.4, which provides the following:

Notwithstanding the renewal process and criteria established in Sections 47605.9, 47607, and 47607.2 or any other law, effective July 1, 2021, all charter schools whose term expires on or between January 1, 2022, and June 30, 2025, inclusive, shall have their term extended by two years.

The below table summarizes charter schools’ extended terms, pursuant to this section:

Note, this extension does not apply to charter schools whose term expired on June 30, 2021, and who were renewed or non-renewed.

No action is required of charter authorizers or charter schools for this extension. EC Section 47607.4 does not preclude charter authorizers from invoking revocation procedures, pursuant to EC Section 47607.

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Continuing Charter Schools

EC sections 47605 and 47605.1 require the California Department of Education (CDE) to treat any charter school that was serving students and must change authorizers as a result of the requirements in AB 1507 as “continuing for all purposes.” In order to help identify which charter schools are to be treated as continuing, the CDE has developed the Charter School Action Form. A downloadable copy of the Charter School Action Form as well as detailed information and instructions are available at Charter School Numbers and Changes in Authorizers.

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Enrollment Data

AB 1505 requires the CDE, upon request by a charter school authorizer, to provide the following aggregate data reflecting pupil enrollment patterns at the charter school:

• A) The cumulative enrollment for each school year of the charter school’s term. For purposes of this chapter, cumulative enrollment is defined as the total number of pupils, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and pupil subgroups, who enrolled in school at any time during the school year.
  
  This data is available at Cumulative Enrollment Data.

• B) For each school year of the charter school’s term, the percentage of pupils enrolled at any point between the beginning of the school year and census day who were not enrolled at the conclusion of that year, and the average results on the statewide assessments in the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress system, or any successor system, for any such pupils who were enrolled in the charter school the prior school year.
  
  This data is available and will be provided to charter school authorizers upon request. Requests should be submitted via email to AAU@cde.ca.gov.

• C) For each school year of the charter school’s term, the percentage of pupils enrolled the prior school year who were not enrolled as of census day for the school year, except for pupils who completed the grade that is the highest grade served by the charter school, and the average results on the statewide assessments in the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress system, or any successor system, for any such pupils.
  
  This data is available and will be provided to charter school authorizers upon request. Requests should be submitted via email to AAU@cde.ca.gov.

Information regarding these data files is available in the slide deck from the October 20, 2020, AB 1505: Data Files Reflecting Student Enrollment Changes Webinar (PDF).

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Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs):

• Assembly Bill 130 FAQs
  Chaptered 44, Statutes of 2021
  
• Assembly Bills 1505 and 1507 FAQs
  Chaptered 486, Statues of 2019
• Senate Bills 98 and 820 FAQs
  Chaptered 24, Statutes of 2020 and Chaptered 110, Statutes of 2020

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Funding Determinations for Nonclassroom-Based Instruction

Information regarding the reporting requirements for existing charter schools to receive funding for nonclassroom-based average daily attendance is available at Charter School Funding for Nonclassroom-Based Instruction for Fiscal Year 2021-22.

Additional information regarding the funding determination process is available at Nonclassroom-Based Determination of Funding.

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State Board of Education Information Memoranda and Agenda Items

Information memoranda presented to the State Board of Education (SBE) regarding AB 1505 and AB 1507 are available below as well as at Information Memoranda:

• Charter School Legislation Updates: AB 1505 and AB 1507 (DOCX; Posted 31-Oct-2019) provides a summary of AB 1505 and AB 1507, as well as the implications of the new legislation on the role of the SBE, the Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (ACCS), and the CDE.
• Implementation Update: AB 1505 and AB 1507 (DOCX; Posted 29-May-2020) provides information and background on the ongoing work of the CDE in conjunction with SBE staff pertaining to the implementation of AB 1505 and AB 1507.

The following agenda item was presented to the SBE to provide an overview of the CDE's current and upcoming implementation efforts of AB 1505 and AB 1507:

• November 2020 SBE Agenda Item 13 (DOCX; Posted 23-Oct-2020) provides an overview of the CDE's implementation of AB 1505 and AB 1507, specifically as it pertains to the new review standard and process of the SBE and ACCS in the hearing of appeals for the establishment and renewal of charter schools.

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Teacher Credentialing

Updates from the Commission on Teacher Credentialing are available at the following:

• Coded Correspondence 20-01: Changes to Assignment Monitoring Based on the Provisions of AB 1219 (PDF)
• Coded Correspondence 20-02: Changes to the Credential Requirements for Charter School Teachers Based on the Provisions of AB 1505 (PDF)

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Temporary Prohibition on New Nonclassroom-Based Charter Schools

Information regarding the temporary prohibition on the approval of petitions to operate new nonclassroom-based charter schools between January 1, 2020, and January 1, 2025, is available at Temporary Prohibition on New Nonclassroom-Based Charter Schools.

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Verified Data

In November 2020, the SBE adopted criteria to define verified data and identify an approved list of valid and reliable assessments (EC Section 47607.2[c][2]). Verified data is defined as follows:

• Data derived from nationally recognized, valid, peer reviewed, and reliable sources that are externally produced
• Verified data shall include measures of postsecondary outcomes

Additional information about these criteria and the verified data review process are available at Verified Data.

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