FAQs: Prop 39, LASD and BCS (January/February 2019)

As you can imagine, with the Board set to decide on its Preliminary Facilities Offer (emphasis on preliminary) pursuant to Prop 39 for BCS Monday night, we have all been receiving email from concerned parents and community members.  I welcome the engagement and am so glad to see more people getting involved! 

However, when reading all these emails I have discovered common misunderstandings and questions.  Therefore, I have decided to craft an FAQ to have a central location where concerned citizens can find answers about the recent history regarding LASD, BCS, the five year agreement and the Prop 39 process.  I hope you find this helpful!  I will add more questions and answers as I get them.  

Frequently Asked Questions: 

What is Prop 39? 
It is a group of laws created in 2000 and revised over the years that dictates how charter schools are created, approved, governed and given facilities, among many other things.  

Tell me about the 5 Year Agreement. 
I am glad you asked.  In July 2014, LASD and BCS agreed to a five year agreement to halt the Prop 39 process and any lawsuits regarding the same.  That agreement split BCS between Egan and Blach, changed their enrollment preference from Los Altos Hills, to all children in LASD and capped the charter school's enrollment at 900.  That agreement will end on June 30, 2019.  

Does LASD have oversight over BCS? 
No.  BCS is chartered by the Santa Clara County Board of Education (SCCBOE) and is overseen by them.  

Why doesn't LASD have oversight over BCS?
When BCS was created in 2003, they asked to be chartered by LASD and LASD refused.  Pursuant to Prop 39, BCS appealed to the SCCBOE for approval and oversight and the County ultimately approved (first giving LASD one more bite of the apple, that it refused).  

If LASD does not govern BCS, why does it have to provide them facilities?
According to Prop 39, even if a charter school is not authorized by a local school district, if the bulk of the charter school's students come from the local school district, the local school district must provide reasonably equivalent facilities to the charter school for those kids that would have otherwise been educated by the local school district (in district).  In short, Prop 39 dictates that LASD must provide facilities to all the in district student's BCS enrolls and those facilities must be reasonably equivalent to the facilities LASD students enjoy.   

Why are we starting the Prop 39 process again?  
As stated above, the five year agreement expires 6/30/19. Therefore, with no new agreement reached yet, the process must start back up again for the charter school to receive facilities from the district.  While BCS and LASD has been in ongoing discussions to create another long term agreement for quite some time now, no agreement has been reached as of yet. Negotiations are ongoing and we have made some real progress.  As of 2/6/19 both sides agreed to delay Prop. 39 by 2 weeks to enable continued productive negotiations.
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Tell me about the Prop 39 process. 
It is a process that happens every year in advance of the next school year unless there is another agreement in place.  The process is not great for either LASD or BCS and an agreement is preferable to going through it.  However, no agreement is currently in place.  The process is as follows:

1. November 1:  BCS files its Prop 39 Facilities Request with LASD.  This year, that request included a unilateral enrollment growth to 1,058 in district students (and just over 1,100 students in total) and a request for exclusive use of Egan
2. December 1: Deadline for LASD objections to BCS enrollment projections (if LASD has any).  This year we did not object to their enrollment numbers because BCS had already received confirmation all 1,058 would attend before they submitted their Prop 39 Facilities Request.  However, LASD did request that BCS request approval for enrollment growth from the SCCBOE.  
3. January 2: Deadline for BCS response to objections (if there were any).  This year there were none. 
4. February 1: Deadline for LASD's Preliminary Offer of Facilities.  The Board decided to place the 220 more in-district BCS students on Loyola Elementary School.   
5. March 15: Deadline for BCS's response to the preliminary offer.  At this time the BCS Board will state its objections/counters to LASD's preliminary offer of facilities.  Please note, representatives from the BCS and LASD Boards met on February 5, 2019 as part of ongoing negotiations in pursuit of a long term facilities agreement. We had a productive session and believe we can come to a mutually beneficial solution, albeit with difficult compromises on both sides. As such, both sides have agreed to extend the upcoming Prop 39 deadlines two weeks to focus on continued negotiations.  Therefore, the deadline that was March 1st, has been changed to March 15th.  
6. April 15: Deadline for LASD's Final Offer of Facilities.  At this time LASD will make its decision as to a final offer of facilities to the charter school (again based on all the information and input received from staff, parents and the general community).  

Why is the Board considering placing BCS on a 3rd campus in its Prop 39 Preliminary Facilities Offer?  
The short answer to why the Board is considering placing the added enrollment of BCS to a 3rd campus is that (1) we cannot easily and in such a short time period hand over an entire campus (Egan, BCS's requested facility) to BCS in such a short time period (a logistics nightmare, to say the least) and (2) Egan and Blach (the campuses already housing BCS) are either at capacity (Egan) or in flood plain (Blach) causing any construction to cost too much for a short term solution.  We do not see this as a long term solution.  

Why isn't there a new long term agreement in place yet?  
LASD and BCS have been negotiating a long term agreement for just over a year now.  An agreement has not been reached.  To date, the negotiations have not resulted in a compromise that would ensure the long term health of LASD.    However, negotiations are set to restart shortly.  LASD believes a long term agreement is in the best interest of LASD, BCS and the community at large.  It will lead to peace and stability, but will involve difficult compromises on both sides.  Either way, an agreement is preferable to the Prop 39 process, which by its definition is short term in nature.   

What is the status of long term negotiations? 
Representatives from the BCS and LASD Boards met on February 5, 2019 as part of ongoing negotiations in pursuit of a long term facilities agreement. We had a productive session and believe we can come to a mutually beneficial solution, albeit with difficult compromises on both sides. As such, both sides have agreed to extend the upcoming Prop 39 deadlines two weeks to focus on continued negotiations.

Can LASD rent commercial property and place BCS on it? 
Many constituents have asked this question.  The answer is: No.  While a charter school can choose to self site on a commercial property, a school district is not allowed under Prop. 39 to require a charter school to do the same.  

Can't you just move BCS into the district offices in the short term?  
If it were that simple we would.  The district offices were constructed as offices and not classrooms.  In order to convert them to classrooms and offer them to the charter school plans would need to be drawn for conversion, approved by the state and then the construction project finished.  Therefore, it can't be done in a short time frame and will likely be cost inefficient.