ELA sues over mandates, statewide benefit charter

Wrapping up the year with vigorous activity on behalf of the state’s public schools, CSBA’s Education Legal Alliance has gone to court twice recently—most recently to contest the state government’s authority to defer repayment to schools of state-mandated expenses and, before that, to challenge the California Board of Education’s approval of a statewide benefit charter.

Five local education agencies—the San Diego County Office of Education and the San Diego, Riverside, San Jose and Clovis unified school districts—joined the Alliance in November to file a lawsuit challenging the state of California’s authority to defer compensation to schools for programs that the state requires them to perform but does not fund.

The case seeks to compel the state to comply with its constitutional obligation to fully reimburse school districts and county offices of education for all new programs or higher levels of service imposed upon them by the state. The case also seeks to set aside as unconstitutional those provisions of law by which the state has justified the “deferral” of its debt to school districts and COEs.

“The state expects schools to foot the bill for millions of dollars in mandated costs that they do not fund and rarely pay back,” said CSBA President Kathy Kinley. “Although the cost of the K-12 mandates for 2007-08 is estimated at $160 million, this year’s state budget appropriates only $38,000, or $1,000 per mandate statewide. The carry-over debt from prior years is approximately $415 million.”

For a number of years, CSBA and its Education Legal Alliance, as well as other education associations working on the state budget, have questioned the authority of the state to essentially defer compensation for 38 reimbursable state-mandated K-12 programs.

Since the 2002-03 fiscal year, the Legislature has failed to include an appropriation in the budget to fully fund the mandate claims submitted by districts and county offices. Instead, the Legislature has included in the budget acts, and the governor has approved, only $1,000 per mandate—even though the costs of these mandates, and the claims submitted, far exceed that amount. The carried-over debt is known as the “credit card debt.

The 2006-07 state budget appropriated some $900 million to fund the accumulated debt and added some funding for 2006-07 mandates. However, this appropriation failed to pay off the past debt and was inadequate to cover the current-year obligation. In the 2007-08 budget, the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have again pulled out the “credit card,” Alliance Director Richard Hamilton charged: “Thus, deferred payments are a reality—along with a continuation of previous debt incurred.”

Statewide benefit charter suit

Earlier this fall, the Alliance—along with the Association of California School Administrators, the California Teachers Association and the Stockton Unified School District—filed a lawsuit challenging the state Board of Education’s approval earlier in the year of Aspire Public Schools’ petition to operate as a statewide benefit charter.

Aspire’s petition failed to document the unique circumstances required, so the finding on which the SBE based the charter approval was without factual support, according to the suit. A letter to the SBE from CSBA, its Alliance and the other plaintiffs last spring asked the state board to rescind its approval. No action was taken in response, so the lawsuit challenges that refusal to act, according to Hamilton.

“Our concern is that the SBE has been derelict in its duty to enforce the unique characteristics allowing it to approve statewide benefit charters that bypass local district approval and avoid needed local oversight,” the Alliance director said.

Related link:

Read more about the Education Legal Alliance’s work @ www.csba.org/LegislationAndLegal/Legal/EducationLegalAlliance.aspx