News

Thursday, November 6, 2008

American Charter High School

A petition to have the State Board of Education charter the proposed American Charter High School has been withdrawn and will not be considered by the state board.

The petition to the state to charter the school was recently reviewed independently by the California Department of Education (CDE), which found that the proposed charter did not meet the standards in most of the required areas. The CDE recommended denial of the charter petition to the Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (ACCS). The ACCS advises the State Board of Education on charter matters and charter petitions.

The ACCS considered the petition for the school to be chartered by the state board last week. The majority of the commission indicated at the hearing that they were disappointed at the American Charter High School petitioners’ responses to the many concerns about the viability of the program. The ACCS offered the petitioners the opportunity to withdraw the petition and remove it from consideration by the State Board of Education. The petitioners opted to withdraw the petition rather than risk a negative recommendation by the ACCS to the State Board of Education.

The proposed charter school was initially denied by the Santa Barbara School Districts’ Board of Education in May 2007. Subsequently, an appeal to the Santa Barbara County Education Office was denied in November 2007.

Substantial revisions of the proposal would be necessary before resubmission of the charter petition to the Santa Barbara School Districts’ Board of Education.