The Senate Education Committee today approved SB 166, a bill by Senator Nell Soto (D – Pomona) to revise the renewal period for charter schools from a fixed period of five years to a variable period of anywhere from two to five years. The vote was 7-2.

Current law authorizes charter schools to be established by the governing board of any school district, county office of education or the State Board of Education, and provides that a charter may be renewed one or more subsequent times by the granting entity for a period of five years each.  In addition, local school boards are required to grant charters unless a local board documents specified inadequacies in the proposed charter.

The Los Angeles County Office of Education, which is sponsoring the bill, believes SB 166 would be helpful for local boards dealing with charter schools that have problems. SB 166 offers local officials more flexibility.

SB 166 has been amended from its original form to include the following provisions:

• A chartering authority can only renew a charter school for less than 5 years one time;

• The chartering authority has to provide a statement of concerns explaining why renewal was granted for a period of less than five years;

• Charter schools can appeal the denial of the 5-year renewal to the State Board of Education.

AB 1137 (Reyes), which took effect January 1, 2004, made numerous changes to the laws governing charter schools including adding oversight duties for  chartering entities, specified reporting requirements for charter schools and policies and procedures to monitor the fiscal condition of each charter school.

However, SB 535 (Runner), which is scheduled to be heard in the Education Committee on April 6, proposes to make a number of changes as well, including extending the duration of a charter renewal from the existing period of five years to a range of five to 15 years.

SB 166 is supported by the Association of California School Administrators, the California School Employees Association, the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, the California School Boards Association and the L.A. County Office of Education (the sponsor). Opposed are the California Charter Schools Association and CharterVoice.