Canec Provides Legal Support to Charter School Under Siege by School District

Business Wire, July 11, 2002

Business Editors/Education Writers

Lawsuit by Silicon Valley School District Seeks to Skirt Prop. 39

Obligations, Could Force Aurora High School to Shut Down

The California Network of Educational Charters (CANEC) announced today that it will provide financial assistance to Aurora High School, a Redwood City charter school, for its legal battle with Sequoia Union High School District. "As California's charter school association we believe the lawsuit filed by Sequoia to avoid its responsibility to provide Aurora High School a facility is outrageous," said Sue Bragato, executive director of CANEC. It is required by law, under Proposition 39, for charter schools like Aurora, be provided with a school facility.

"Since charter school law was enacted in California in 1993, the largest single impediment to the creation and growth of quality charter schools has been the lack of adequate facilities," said Bragato. "Prop. 39, passed by California voters in 2000, mandates that charter school students receive equitable treatment with regard to facilities."

Aurora High School, which opened in 1999, serves a student population of working class families, two-thirds of whom are minority children and over 40 percent of whom fall below the federal poverty guidelines. Aurora High School is facing eviction from its present facility in downtown Redwood City next week. "These families, in good faith, were depending on the Sequoia district to work within the law and provide a facility for its students by July," said Bragato.

Sequoia, a basic aid school district with four high schools, has an annual budget of over $56,000,000, and an additional $110,000,000 in money for facilities development and modernization. It claims that it is not required to provide facilities for Aurora High School.

Sequoia put on the ballot and the voters passed an $88,000,000 bond measure last November, making it one of the first local bond measures passed with a 55 percent vote threshold under Proposition 39. Proposition 39 mandates equitable facilities for charter schools serving in-district students.

"The families that attend Aurora High School pay property taxes and many of them voted for the very bond measure that this district is suing to withhold from this school," said Bragato. "Sadly, this district publicly campaigned on providing charter schools with facilities. Now it is spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on a lawsuit against Aurora High School, essentially undermining its promise."

About CANEC

The California Network of Educational Charters (CANEC) is California's premier charter school networking and service organization and is the public voice of its members for the charter school movement in California. CANEC represents its members through networking, advocacy and public awareness.