SCHOOL DISTRICT EXPLAINS REJECTION
Dublin schools superintendent Stephen Hanke said that the district staff reviewed the application from a professional standpoint, as required by law, and found it falls short. “They can’t put the program into effect that they say they will. There are not enough students to support it,” said Hanke.
The charter school also would have trouble finding enough teachers with multiple credentials for such a small distribution of students, said Hanke. However, Zukoski said that meeting the requirements would not be a problem.
It’s not clear to Hanke where the charter school would set up shop. All the district must do is offer comparable facilities. There are none, said Hanke. The only vacant school is the former Neilsen elementary school on the city’s west side. It does not meet space requirements for high school facilities, he said.
There is no money to build a new high school, said Hanke. Dublin is spending all of the money it will ever receive from the state for expanding high school facilities for the district until development is at build-out in the community.
Construction has been underway, and will be finished for the entire campus in two years. The high school will have 2500 students, plus or minus 300, at build-out, said Hanke. Currently there are 1450 students.
The $120 million expansion and upgrade will include all necessary classroom and lab space, a new gym, and a fine arts performing space. It will be paid by the state allocation money, a local bond, and developer fees. Dublin made a decision years ago to go to build-out with only one high school, said Hanke.
ACHIEVEMENT GOOD IN ACADEMICS
Dublin High School does a good job of educating all students, and has graduates going on to Stanford, MIT and other elite schools, said Hanke.
The Academic Performance Index (API) scores released by the state in May show that Dublin High School scored 849 on the API, and was rated in the 9th decile overall in the state, and the 9th decile in comparison to the statewide schools most resembling them. The state wants all schools performing above 800.
By comparison, in the Pleasanton district, Amador Valley High School scored 879, and was in the 10th decile statewide, and the 7th decile in the school’s comparison group. Foothill High School scored 889, and was in the 9th decile statewide, and the 8th decile in comparable schools.
In the San Ramon Valley district, Monte Vista High School scored 897 and was in the 10th decile statewide and the 8th in comparable schools. San Ramon Valley High School scored 884 and was also in the 10th and 8th deciles in the respective categories.
DIVERSION COULD HAVE AN IMPACT
Zukoski said that dollars follow students, not school districts, so the charter school would not be taking dollars away from the Dublin district.
However, Hanke said that while the Sacramento funds are administered separately, the ongoing funding to pay staff at the charter school would come from the same pot, and is done based on a per-pupil revenue allocation. If there were fewer pupils at Dublin High, it might not be possible to reach a critical mass that would enable starting a class that is not part of the core curriculum, said Hanke.
Summing up the district’s position, Hanke said that the charter school is “not needed, not wanted and divisive.” Some 75 speakers protested it at the Dublin hearing. Another large number opposed it at a hearing May 25 before the county board, said Hanke.
Zukoski was the only person who spoke for the application at the Dublin meeting. He told The Independent that the charter group wants to wait to speak up when it goes to the state board of education, if the county also rejects the application.
Zukoski said that school districts oppose independent charter schools. It’s a different story at the state board of education. There the members have an eye only on whether the applicants have met all 16 of the necessary criteria.
Hanke said that if there were an appeal to the state, it may be that just the division created in the community would be enough to reject it. He said that a request in Fillmore for a charter school met that fate.
The state board rejected the application 6-2, and did cite division in the community. However, the circumstances were different. Applicants were trying to convert the lone public school in the district to a charter school. Nine of the school’s 17 teachers had made the application.
Hanke said that charter schools were allowed by state government to improve education in deficient districts. However, that doesn’t fit Dublin’s description, said Hanke. “Individuals in communities sometimes create a charter for other reasons,” but these are not needed and not wanted, he said.
BILL WOULD CHANGE APPEAL PROCESS
The Dublin application comes at a time when the Legislature is looking at cutting the state board of education out of the appeals process. A bill written by Democrat Sandre Swanson of Oakland would eliminate the state appeal, and make the county board the court of last resort.
The bill, AB 2320, passed the Assembly last week, on a 48-29 vote, with all Democrats for it, and all but two abstaining Republicans voting against it. The bill goes next to the Senate.
AB 2320 has the backing of teacher and school employee unions and the statewide administrators association. A spokeswoman for Swanson said that he thinks that decisions about charter schools should be as local as possible, and not left up to the state.
Zukoski said that most districts oppose independent charter schools. “The state looks objectively at what is the program, and do we have confidence in being able to provide education? It would be unfortunate to take that lens away,” said Zukoski.