February 2025 ACCS - Item 1 Public Comment 2
Public Comment 2 received for Agenda Item 1 of the February 4, 2025, Advisory Commission on Charter Schools meeting.The following information was provided on California Charter Schools Association letterhead. Except when needed for accessibility purposes, no corrections to spelling, grammatical, or typographical errors have been made.
To receive a copy of the below communication in its original format, contact the Charter Schools Division by email at charters@cde.ca.gov.
January 31, 2025
RE: Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (ACCS), February 4, 2025, Agenda Item 01
Dear Chair Walsh and ACCS Commissioners,
On behalf of the California Charter Schools Association (“CCSA”), I am writing to support the renewal petition of Altus Schools South Bay (“ASSB”). CCSA strongly agrees with the recommendation of the California Department of Education (“CDE”) that the State Board of Education (SBE) approve ASSB’s renewal petition for a term of five years.
ASSB has consistently met all Local Indicators on the California School Dashboard, and has outperformed comparable Dashboard Alternative Status Schools (DASS) in the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) Smarter Balanced Assessments, in English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics, in both distance from standard and proficiency rates.
For DASS schools like ASSB, the California Education Code provides that in determining whether to grant or deny a renewal, the chartering authority shall consider, in addition to the charter school’s performance on the state and local indicators, the charter school’s performance on alternative metrics applicable to the charter school based on the pupil population served. As described succinctly in the CDE staff recommendation, ASSB meets all of the criteria for renewal established by CDE for ASSB.
As further described in the staff report for this item, ASSB has consistently been in good standing with its authorizer. The CDE has determined that ASSB has been in compliance with the school’s charter petition and the Memorandum of Understanding between the SBE and ASSB since its establishment in 2017. Moreover, ASSB is serving all students that wish to attend the school, and there are no fiscal or governance factors that would hinder ASSB’s ability to successfully implement the program set forth in the petition.
CCSA has worked with the leadership at ASSB since its opening in 2017. During this time ASSB has provided students and families a high-quality school choice through a personalized and individualized instructional program. ASSB has established itself as a vital educational option in the community, providing a unique, student-centered model that serves high-risk students effectively, as demonstrated by the school’s consistent performance on alternative measures for this DASS school.
CDE staff is correct in recommending that the SBE approve the renewal of this charter school. We thank you for your careful consideration of this item and urge you to vote in support of the CDE recommendation. If you have any questions regarding our position on this matter or would like to discuss it further, please feel free to contact me at (nwatson@ccsa.org).
Best Regards,
Nicolas Watson
Managing Director of Regulatory Affairs
California Charter Schools Association
Return to February ACCS Meeting Agenda