Charter schools new grade level expansion, FY 2010

September 2, 2010

Dear County Superintendents of Schools, Chief Business Officials, and Directors of New Grade Level Expansion Charter Schools:

NOTICE OF SPECIAL APPORTIONMENT FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS NEW
GRADE LEVEL EXPANSION, FISCAL YEAR 2010–11

The California Department of Education (CDE) has made a special apportionment in the amount of $16,539,780 of general purpose state aid funds to charter schools that are adding at least one new grade level this fall and to school districts that transfer to charter schools funding in lieu of property taxes. This apportionment is, in effect, an advance apportionment.

The amount for charter schools for the months of July 2010 through November 2010 is $13,598,266 and equals 37 percent of the charter school's projected total general purpose state aid funding for the 2010–11 fiscal year. Also included in the special apportionment is $2,941,514 to school districts (the charter school sponsoring local educational agency) that transfer to charter schools funding in lieu of property taxes, for the months of August 2010 through November 2010, which equals 28 percent of the charter school’s projected total in lieu of property taxes funding for the 2010–11 fiscal year. The special apportionment is based on the charter school’s estimated current year second principal apportionment average daily attendance (ADA).

The general purpose state aid block grant amount of the special apportionment will be adjusted for the months of December 2010 through January 2011 for allocation in December and will be based on the actual first twenty (20) school days of attendance as reported by the charter school. The in lieu of property taxes amount of the special apportionment will be adjusted for the months of December 2010 through January 2011, also for allocation in December, and will be based on the actual first twenty (20) school days of attendance as reported by the charter school. The actual ADA counts must be reported to CDE no later than five business days immediately following the 20th school day in order to be eligible to receive the second special apportionment funding. We will provide notification for this attendance reporting process within the next few weeks.

Charter schools that are funded pursuant to the block grant funding model should receive that portion of their funding that is in lieu of property taxes from the charter school's sponsoring local educational agency (LEA). California Education Code (EC) Section 47632 defines the sponsoring LEA as the district that granted the charter, or in the case of a charter that was denied by a district and subsequently approved by a county office, the district that initially denied the charter. For a county office of education approved charter school whose students are referred by parental request pursuant to subdivision (b) of EC Section 1981 or for a county-wide charter whose students reside in a basic aid district, the sponsoring LEA is the district of residence of each pupil in the school. That means some county-approved charter schools will have multiple sponsoring districts if the school has students who reside in different districts. For a charter that was denied by an LEA and subsequently approved by the State Board of Education, the sponsoring LEA is the LEA that initially denied the charter or the LEA designated by the State Board of Education pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (k) of EC Section 47605.

The warrants should be mailed by the State Controller’s Office to the County Treasurer within three weeks from the date of this letter. The County Treasurer of each county is requested to immediately deposit the amount received into the appropriate fund or account of the participating LEAs or charter schools at the direction of the County Superintendent of Schools.

For charter schools that elect to receive funding directly, EC Section 47651 provides that “the warrant shall be drawn in favor of the superintendent of schools of the county in which the LEA that approved the charter or was designated by the State Board of Education as the oversight agency pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (k) of Section 47605 is located, for deposit to the appropriate funds or accounts of the charter school in the county treasury. The county superintendent of schools is authorized to establish appropriate funds or accounts in the county treasury for each charter school.” For all other charter schools, the funds shall be deposited in the appropriate funds or accounts of the LEA that granted the charter.

For charter schools using the standardized account code structure, use Resource Code 0000 and Revenue Object Code 8015 to account for the General Purpose Entitlement, and for charter school sponsoring LEAs, use Resource Code 0000 and Revenue Object Code 8011 for the funds in lieu of property taxes transfer.

The amount apportioned to each participating charter school and charter school sponsoring LEA is available on the CDE’s Web site under Principal Apportionments at http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/. Additional information about charter schools is available at that same Web site. If you have any questions regarding this apportionment or about funding for charter schools, please contact Byron Fong, Fiscal Consultant, Charter Apportionments and District Reorganization Office, at 916-323-0498 or by e-mail at byfong@cde.ca.gov, or Caryn Moore, Administrator, Charter Apportionments and District Reorganization Office, at 916-324-4541 or by e-mail at cmoore@cde.ca.gov [Note, the preceding contact is no longer valid please contact the Principal Apportionment and Special Education Office, at 916-324-4541 or by e-mail at PASE@cde.ca.gov].

Sincerely,




Scott Hannan, Director
School Fiscal Services Division

SH:bf