Bullis Charter School

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Bullis Charter School (BCS) is a public charter school located in Los Altos, California teaching kindergarten through grade six. As of 2006, the school's enrollment is about 230 students and has οa stated limit of 310.[1]

As a charter school, it is operated independently of the Los Altos School District (LASD), which officially rejected its charter on May 5, 2003; after much controversy. LASD rejected the charter on the grounds that it was a thin pretext to subvert the school board's decision to close the Bullis-Purissima Elementary School for budgetary reasons. The Bullis Charter School's charter offered nothing new or innovative; in fact, the original charter as filed vowed to continue to teach the existing curriculum of the Los Altos School District. The charter also proposed several illegal procedures, such as granting special admissions privileges to out-of-district students who resided in Los Altos Hills.

On September 3, 2003 the Santa Clara Office of Education overruled the recommendations of its own staff and lawyers and approved the school charter. It thus became the sponsoring agency. [2]

During the approval and start up process, the district claimed it would lose $480,000 per year in funding for regular public schools, but it lacked legal freedom to deny the charter for reasons such as that. However, the district is not obligated to pay the full amount of state funding provided for each Los Altos District student attending Bullis (parcel taxes are not passed along), so the exact amount of the financial impact is unclear. [3]

BCS claims that it was founded to "bring a choice in public elementary education".[4] However, the actions of BCS show that the primary goal was gaining access to a school site in Los Altos Hills, preferably the Bullis-Purrisima site.

  1. BCS was created immediately after the LASD announced it was closing the Bullis-Purissima site.[5]
  2. BCS used the name of the closed school (Bullis) as the name of their charter.
  3. BCS specifically asked the LASD for the Bullis-Purrisima site as soon as they reached their enrollment requirement.[6]
  4. BCS sued the LASD after they were given portable classrooms on the Egan school grounds instead of the Bullis-Purissima.[7] The charter claimed these portables did not meet the "reasonably equivalent" requirement described in section 6b of Proposition 39. The Egan site is 2 miles away from the Bullis-Purrisima site and located in Los Altos, not in Los Altos Hills.
  5. LASD determined the unrennovated Bullis-Purissima site did not meet Prop 39's "reasonably equivalent" requirement. However, BCS offered to drop the lawsuit and waive the requirement if they were given the Bullis-Purrisima site.[8]
  6. BCS offered to lease the site from the district, and also attempted to buy the site outright.[9]
  7. The Los Altos Hills city council considered spending $2.5 million to help BCS purchase a site in Los Altos Hills.[10]
  8. The Los Altos Hills city council, representing the wishes of BCS, is attempting to create their own school district unless LASD gives BCS use of the Bullis-Purrisima site.[11]

In June 2006, LASD unanimously voted to re-open the Bullis-Purrisima site as a public school in the district,[12] further thwarting BCS's hope to occupy the site.

[edit] References

  1. ^ About Us. Bullis Charter School. Retrieved on 2006-06-19.
  2. ^ Ballenger, Sara. "LASD to decide on charter by mid-October", Los Altos Online, Los Altos Town Crier, 2003-09-10. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
  3. ^ O'Shea, Julie. "Charter school scuffle continues", MountainView My Voice, Embarcadero Publishing Company, 2003-03-28. Retrieved on 2006-06-19.
  4. ^ About Us. Bullis Charter School. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
  5. ^ Ballenger, Sara. "Bullis Charter School hopes to open in fall of 2004-05 school year", Los Altos Town Crier, 2003-03-12. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
  6. ^ Acuff, Kathleen. "Charter school board formally requests Bullis-Purissima facility", Los Altos Town Crier, 2004-01-21. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
  7. ^ Acuff, Kathleen. "Charter school lawsuit saga continues", Los Altos Town Crier, 2005-11-02. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
  8. ^ Acuff, Kathleen. "Hills wants Bullis plan before meeting with Los Altos School District", Los Altos Town Crier, 2004-10-13. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
  9. ^ McSherry, Lauren. "Hills council and charter school to pursue buying Bullis site", Los Altos Town Crier, 2005-06-08. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
  10. ^ "Bringing the Bullis Charter School to Los Altos Hills subject of forum", Los Altos Town Crier, 2005-07-27. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
  11. ^ Ridgeway, Sara. "LAH council goes to county with redistricting bid", Los Altos Town Crier, 2006-06-14. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
  12. ^ Newell, Traci. "Los Altos School District votes to reopen school at Bullis site", Los Altos Town Crier, 2006-06-21. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.

[edit] External links

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