DUARTE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
STAFF REPORT AND RECOMMENDED FINDINGS
REGARDING CALIFORNIA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS – SAN GABRIEL VALLEY
RENEWAL CHARTER PETITION
Date Posted: January 29, 2025
Background
California School of the Arts – San Gabriel Valley (“CSArts”) serves approximately 1,200 students in grades 6 to 12 in a facility located at 1401 Highland Avenue, in Duarte, California 91010 that formerly housed the District’s Northview Intermediate School. CSArts’ charter was initially approved by the Duarte Unified School District’s (“District”) Board of Education (“Board”) on June 30, 2016 for a five-year term from July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2022. The school opened in August 2017.
Pursuant to Education Code section 47607.4, all charter schools with terms expiring on or between January 1, 2022 and June 30, 2025 were automatically granted two-year extensions of their charter terms. In 2023, Education Code section 47607.4 was amended to provide an additional one-year extension to charter schools with terms then set to expire between January 1, 2024 and June 30, 2027. Therefore, the current term of CSArts’ charter concludes on June 30, 2025.
On November 19, 2024, CSArts submitted its Renewal Charter Petition (“Charter”) to the District, seeking renewal for a seven-year term, from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2032.
Pursuant to Education Code section 47605, subdivision (b), the governing board of a school district shall either grant or deny a charter within 90 days of receipt of a petition; however, that date may be extended by up to 30 days if both parties agree to the extension. The 90-day statutory timeline required action on the Charter by the District’s Board no later than February 17, 2025. However, as permitted by Education Code section 47605, subdivision (b), the District requested, and CSArts provided, an extension to February 28, 2025 for the Board to make a determination as to whether to grant or deny the Charter.
On December 19, 2024, the Board held a public hearing on the provisions of the Charter. Parents of current and former CSArts students, the CSArts Principal of Academics, and the District-appointed President of the CSArts Board of Trustees spoke in favor of the renewal.
Based on a comprehensive review and assessment of CSArts’ Charter and its record of performance, District staff has determined that CSArts has satisfied the requirements for renewal and therefore recommends renewal of the Charter.
Applicable Law
Education Code section 47607, subdivision (b) provides that charter renewals “are governed by the standards and criteria described in Section 47605, and shall include, but not be limited to, a reasonably comprehensive description of any new requirement of charter schools enacted into law after the charter was originally granted or last renewed.” Additionally, the chartering authority is required to consider the charter school’s performance on the state and local indicators included in the California Department of Education’s (“CDE”) California School Dashboard (“Dashboard”).
Education Code section 47607, subdivision (c)(2)(A) provides that a chartering authority “shall not deny renewal” for a charter school on the basis of academic performance if either of the following apply for two consecutive years immediately preceding the renewal decision:
(i) The charter school has received the two highest performance levels schoolwide on all the state indicators included in the evaluation rubrics adopted pursuant to Education Code section 52064.5 for which it receives performance levels.
(ii) For all measurements of academic performance, the charter school has received performance levels schoolwide that are the same or higher than the state average and, for a majority of subgroups performing statewide below the state average in each respective year, received performance levels that are higher than the state average.
Therefore, a “high performing” charter school is entitled to a streamlined renewal process and is eligible for renewal for a term of between five and seven years. (Ed. Code, § 47607, subd. (c)(2)(E).)
CDE publishes a Charter School Performance Category Data File, which is updated annually with the release of the Dashboard. It lists all charter schools and assigns them a performance category after considering the academic performance data provided on the Dashboard. CDE designates charter schools as high, middle, or low performing, based on their performance during the two consecutive years immediately preceding the renewal decision. (Ed. Code, §§ 47607, 47607.2.) The particular categorization determines the standards for renewal and the length of the renewal term.
For purposes of charter renewal, a high performing charter school must only update its charter petition “to include a reasonably comprehensive description of any new requirement of charter schools enacted into law after the charter was originally granted or last renewed and as necessary to reflect the current program offered by the charter.” (Ed. Code, § 47607, subd. (c)(2)(F).)
Notwithstanding Education Code section 47607, subdivision (c), a chartering authority may deny renewal of a charter school upon a finding that the school is demonstrably unlikely to successfully implement the program set forth in the petition due to substantial fiscal or governance factors, or is not serving all pupils who wish to attend. (Ed. Code, § 47607, subd. (e).) If a chartering authority makes a finding that the charter school is not serving all pupils who wish to attend, the chartering authority must specifically identify the evidence supporting the finding. (Ed. Code, § 47607, subd. (d)(3).)
The governing board of the school district must publish all staff recommendations, including the recommended findings, regarding the petition at least 15 days before the meeting at which the governing board of the school district will either grant or deny the charter. (Ed. Code, § 47605, subd. (b).)
This staff report sets forth District staff’s recommendations, including recommended findings, and will be published on January 29, 2025, 15 days prior to the District’s February 13, 2025 Board of Education meeting.
Staff Analysis
Education Code section 47605, subdivision (c) provides that the governing board of a school district shall not deny a charter petition unless it makes written factual findings, specific to the particular petition, setting forth specific facts to support findings that the charter school presents an unsound educational program for pupils to be enrolled in the charter school; the petitioners are demonstrably unlikely to successfully implement the program set forth in the petition; the petition does not contain an affirmation of each of the conditions described in Education Code section 47605, subdivision (e); the petition does not contain reasonably comprehensive descriptions of the 15 elements set forth in Education Code section 47605, subdivision (c)(5)(A)-(O); and/or the petition does not contain a declaration of whether or not the charter school shall be deemed the exclusive public employer of the charter school for purpose of Chapter 10.7 (commencing with Section 3540) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code.
CDE ranked CSArts as “high performing” based on the overall status of both the charter school and its student groups and how they compared with the statewide averages for the two previous Dashboard years (Education Code section 47607, subdivision (c)(2)(A)(ii), above). A copy of CDE’s Charter School Performance Category Data File reflecting CSArts’ designation as “high performing” is included as Attachment 12 to CSArts’ Charter. Accordingly, the District may not deny renewal of CSArts’ Charter on the basis of academic performance, and a finding that CSArts presents an unsound educational program for pupils to be enrolled in the charter school is neither appropriate nor warranted.
To support a finding that charter petitioners are “demonstrably unlikely to successfully implement the program,” the District would need to determine that the petitioners have a past history of involvement in charter schools or other education agencies that the District regards as unsuccessful (e.g., the petitioners have been associated with a charter school of which the charter has been revoked); the petitioners are unfamiliar with the content of the petition or the requirements of law that would apply to the proposed charter school; the petitioners have presented an unrealistic financial and operational plan for the proposed charter school; and/or the petitioners personally lack the necessary background in the areas of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and finance and business management. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 5, § 11967.5.1, subd. (c).) CSArts not only has operated its Duarte school successfully since 2017, but it is an expansion of the Orange County School of the Arts, which has successfully operated since 1987. There is similarly no support for any of the other potential bases for finding the CSArts is unlikely to successfully implement the program set forth in the Charter.
Staff determined that the Charter includes the requisite affirmations and that the Charter contains reasonably comprehensive descriptions of the 15 required elements. It also includes a declaration that CSArts shall be deemed the exclusive public school employer for purposes of the Educational Employment Relations Act (Government Code section 3540 et seq.).
CSArts most recently updated its charter to include descriptions of new requirements of charter schools in August 2023, in conjunction with its material revision to expand the Joint Arts Program between the District and CSArts to include sixth grade students. In reviewing the Charter now considered for renewal, District staff determined that CSArts has updated the Charter to reflect descriptions of new requirements of charter schools enacted into law since August 2023 and to reflect its current program.
Staff Recommendation and Findings
After evaluating CSArts’ Charter utilizing the standards and criteria set forth in Education Code section 47605, considering new requirements of charter schools enacted into law since CSArts’ charter was last materially revised, considering CDE’s designation of CSArts as a high performing charter school, and based upon the above analysis, District staff finds that CSArts has satisfied the criteria for renewal and recommends renewal of the Charter for a seven-year term, from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2032.