Cal. Charter Schs. Ass’n v. L.A. Unified Sch. Dist.

In 2000, California voters enacted Proposition 39, which provides that school districts must share their facilities with charter schools so that charter school students have access to facilities “reasonably equivalent” to facilities available to other public school students. Two years later, the State Board of Education issued regulations on how to implement this requirement. This action concerned the meaning of a Board regulation that governs the allocation of classrooms to charter schools. In allocating classrooms to charter schools, the Los Angeles Unified School District used “norming ratios,” which purported to establish throughout the District a uniform student/teacher ratio in a given grade level. The California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) sought declaratory relief, contending that the District violated the regulation governing the allocation of classrooms to charter schools by, inter alia, using these norming ratios rather than counting classrooms in comparison group schools to determine the allocation of classroom facilities. The Supreme Court agreed with CCSA and held that the District’s use of norming ratios, rather than counting classrooms in comparison group schools, violated the applicable regulation. In responding to future facilities requests, the District must count classrooms in a manner that conforms to the regulation. View "Cal. Charter Schs. Ass’n v. L.A. Unified Sch. Dist." on Justia Law