By Town Crier Staff

The League of Women Voters of the Los Altos-Mountain View area directed the following questions to Los Altos School District Superintendent Marge Gratiot in regard to Bullis Charter School. The Los Altos School District Board of Trustees was scheduled to make a decision to either grant or deny the charter at its May 5 meeting, after the Town Crier deadline. Look for an update in our May 14 issue and online at www.losaltos online.com.

The district has until May 11 to make a decision.

What are the state’s criteria for establishing a charter elementary school? Would the school have any direct relationship with the Los Altos School District?

Charter schools were established to enable parents and teachers to provide an alternative, publicly-funded educational program for students whose public schools were failing them. A charter school approved by the Los Altos School District would be independent of the school district except for some fiscal and academic oversight responsibilities to be provided by the district according to state law. If the county of Santa Clara or the state of California were to be the approving agency, then they would have these oversight responsibilities.

Would the funding for a charter school come exclusively from the state? If not, what funding would be expected from local tax revenues?

In a revenue limit district (which LASD currently is), funding for charter school students comes directly from the state, bypassing the district. The district loses the state revenue it earlier received for those students. After the district becomes a Basic Aid district (projected for 2004-05), all costs for the charter school, including the costs for students who reside in the Palo Alto Unified School District, would be borne by the Los Altos School District.

To what extent did reduced state funding play a part in the school district’s decision to close Bullis-Purissima School? Were there, or are there, any plans to renovate the school in the future?

The Citizens’ Advisory Committee for Finance, after looking at a long-range financial projection, recommended that the district operate six rather than the hoped-for seven elementary schools as a means of keeping the academic program intact. The decision on which school would not be used was based largely on demographic and capacity criteria. The district will not make decisions on renovations until it receives a recommendation from our Bullis Site Disposal (7-11) Committee.

Given that the student population of the charter school would be notably less than the 4,000 students presently enrolled in the LASD, how would the charter school address special opportunities and/or special needs?

The needs of special education students are of great concern, but so too are art, music and athletic programs.

The answers to these questions are not spelled out in the charter school petition, which we are currently analyzing, so the charter school petitioners would have to answer this question.

How many students from outside the LASD would be expected to attend the charter school? From what districts could they come? Which district would be expected to cover their costs, and would that funding match the funding for the Los Altos Hills students?

The charter school petition had signatures from the parents of approximately 195 current LASD students. If the charter school enrollment goal is 310 students, then we can assume that 115 students would come from outside the district. Since the charter school petition specifies enrollment priority for students from Los Altos Hills, it is safe to assume that the bulk of those 115 students would come from the part of Los Altos Hills in the Palo Alto Unified School District.

Those are the students for whom the LASD would get no additional funding after the district becomes a Basic Aid district. That means the district will have to pay $500,000 per year to the charter school for those students, with no reimbursement from any other entity. These numbers are purely speculative; clearly they will go either up or down depending on the enrollment patterns.

It’s important to point out that the financial impact of a charter school on the district is not a reason to deny the charter application.

Would the LASD bear any of the financial burden?

In the above scenario, the money paid to the charter school for students from the Palo Alto Unified School District would come directly out of funds available to educate other students in the district.

Can charter schools limit the number of children who may be enrolled? If so, is there a legal basis for defining such a limit?

Charter schools are allowed to specify a “capacity” and must accept all applicants until they reach that capacity.

The current petition specifies a capacity of 310 students after the first year.

If a charter school were permitted to use the current Bullis School property, would the use of the school property be reserved exclusively for school activities?

If the current Bullis buildings are used by a child-care center, a private school or a community center, or for any other educational use, the board has stated its intention to allow the recreational areas to be available to the community exactly as they are now. However, they will take no formal action until they receive a recommendation from the 7-11 committee.

What location besides the current Bullis School property could meet the needs of the parties interested in establishing a charter school?

Any public school classrooms within the general geographic area should meet their needs. In addition, a charter school is not constrained by the same health, safety and seismic facility requirements as public schools, so they would be allowed to use space in a church, a home or a commercial or retail space.

What plans have been developed by the district to address safety concerns associated with having youngsters cross Foothill Expressway at El Monte?

The district is working with a traffic consultant and the city/schools traffic committee to identify “safe routes to school” for walking and biking, and also to identify where to put an additional crossing guard. If there is enough parent interest, we may try to institute a shuttle bus (at no expense to the district) between Bullis and Covington. However, since many parents already drive older siblings to Egan or Los Altos High School, there has not been much enthusiasm expressed for the idea so far.