Are Charter Schools Getting Passing Grades*

R1

Orange County school districts and Orange County Superintendent of Schools continue to offer expanded choices for educational opportunities, as required in the State Education Code, by utilizing charter schools as an option to provide additional choices, especially for at-risk and academically low-achieving students. We agree with the finding. We uphold the provisions of the Education Code and Response: individually evaluate every charter request against the approval criteria provided in state law, regulations and case law. \mathbb{R}-2: The chartering authorities should follow the intent of the legislature by encouraging the establishment of charter schools by granting more charter school petitions provided they meet the State requirements. We agree with the finding. We evaluate each charter petition against the Response: approval criteria provided in state law, regulations and case law. To date, the charter proposals submitted to N-MUSD have not met the criteria necessary to obtain Board approval. One proposal was appealed to the Orange County Department of Education and the California Department of Education. Both agencies denied the petitioners appeal. |R-3|: Local school districts provide adequate oversight of charter schools even though State law does not allow for full reimbursement for such oversight. We agree with this finding, however, there are no charter schools within Response: Newport-Mesa's boundaries for us to properly gauge this issue with our own experiences. A copy and an electronic format of these responses are being mailed separately to the Orange County Grand Jury. Respectfully, Jeffrey Hubbard, Ed.D. Superintendent . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -