By Sara Ballenger

The Los Altos School District Board of Trustees delayed voting on whether it wanted to be the chartering agency for the Bullis Charter School at its board meeting Sept. 8, because it had yet to receive the formal resolution from the Santa Clara County Board of Education.

The county board conditionally approved the charter, Sept. 3, by a 6-1 vote. The district was given 40 days from that date to make a decision on whether to become the sponsoring agency for the charter. The K-6 charter school hopes to open in fall 2004.

A charter school is an independent public school supported by public funds and held accountable by a public authority. Charter schools have a written legal agreement with the sponsoring agency, usually a school district.

Although the board took no formal vote, board members did discuss their opinions on the issue.

Each board member, except for Jay Thomas, stated that they think the county should be the chartering agency and not the district. Thomas, didn’t publicly state his opinion, but said the board needs to see the county’s resolution in writing before voting.

If the Los Altos School District denies the charter after the 40-day deadline, the county board of education will automatically become the sponsoring agency for the charter. The sponsoring agency is responsible for fiscal and curricular oversight, negotiations of details of the charter petition and special education.

The school district will be responsible for the approximately $5,000 in Average Daily Attendance Revenue Limit funding from the state for each student who attends the charter school. The charter school projects 155 students in its first year.

The district is required by law to offer an acceptable facility to the charter school even if the county is the chartering agency, if the charter has 80 or more district students attending. The charter school does not have to accept the district’s facilities offer.

Efforts to start a charter school came after the district voted to close Bullis-Purissima School this June. The charter school has expressed serious interest in occupying the surplus site. Under the education code, the district must offer the site first to a child-care agency or for special education before considering another potential option like renting to a private or charter school.

The district adopted its 7-11, or surplus site committee’s recommendations Sept. 8, to look into leasing the site to a day-care facility.

Board members mentioned the possibility of having multiple day-care tenants at the site, similar to Covington Elementary’s use before being renovated and reopened as a school. The board agreed to look for a tenant that might not bring the highest rental income, but would be a better fit for the district’s long-range plans of keeping the site available for district use.

The board’s next meeting is scheduled 7 p.m., Monday, at the Board Room, at Covington School, 201 Covington Road.