Gulen Charter School Pacific Technology School DENIED the move to Costa Mesa

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/school-601606-charter-santa.html

BY ELYSSE JAMES and JESSICA TERRELL

COSTA MESA – The county Board of Education on Wednesday denied a charter school appeal that would have allowed the school to move 175 students in Costa Mesa to a new campus in Santa Ana.

Magnolia Educational & Research Foundation’s charter petition is unusual because it impacts roughly 175 students enrolled in a science, technology, engineering and math-focused charter school in Costa Mesa operated by the organization.

The school, Pacific Technology School-Santa Ana, may have to close in June if the group cannot get new approvals.

The five-member board voted 2-2-1, with member David Boyd abstaining.

“Now it’s the state’s turn to make the decision,” Magnolia CEO Mehmet Argin said. “We want the community not to lose this high quality STEM education in Orange County.”

Board members questioned Magnolia’s leaders about financial and enrollment projections, including those for other charters the organization has closed.

“We rarely have approved charter schools, and in my opinion, at least with respect to my vote, it’s always come down to one issue and that’s finances,” Boyd said.

In the months since the application was submitted, financial and enrollment projections have improved, Lisa Corr, an attorney representing Magnolia Educational & Research Foundation, told the board.

Administrators hoped to get authorization in Santa Ana, where the organization purchased land at 2840 W. First St. Magnolia has an $18 million grant to build the school. Other grant funds hinge on approval from a local or state board.

“I am extremely, extremely disappointed with the outcome of what happened,” said parent Dante Torres of Santa Ana. Torres plans to keep his son, Dante, 12, with the organization even if the Costa Mesa campus closes. “I’ll take my son to an L.A. campus or do homeschooling for the next year.”

Magnolia has eight schools in Los Angeles County, and one each in San Diego and San Francisco counties.

“It’s a wonderful school,” Torres said. “It’s helped my son grow so much.”

Jim Bush of Sacramento-based School Site Solutions, a school facilities consulting firm, said the 2-acre campus could open as early as fall 2015 if the school receives state funds by fall 2014. The new site would allow the school to increase enrollment to a projected 660 students, officials said.

Santa Ana Unified in October denied Magnolia’s charter application in a split 3-2 vote, saying the plans lacked key curriculum information and were based on inflated enrollment numbers.

When school districts turn down new charter schools, the organizations can appeal to the Orange County Board of Education and then to the state. The OCDE has yet to approve a charter application that was denied by a local district.

Pacific Technology – located in Costa Mesa but within the boundaries of Santa Ana Unified – operates under a rare state authorization set to expire in June. Because the charter organization no longer runs enough schools to qualify for the “statewide benefit” authorization, it is seeking local approval.

The proposal calls for transforming the 6-12 grade charter school in Costa Mesa to a K-12 charter school in Santa Ana. Like Pacific Technology, Magnolia Science Academy would serve predominantly low-income students and focus on preparing them for careers in math, science, engineering and technology, known as STEM fields.

Pacific Technology posted an Academic Performance Index score of 850 in 2013; Santa Ana Unified’s district average is 743.

The high projected enrollment of the new school was unlikely, both OCDE and Santa Ana Unified staff wrote in their recommendations. Additionally, the current school was one of five state-authorized charter schools last May deemed to be in “poor financial condition,” according to the California Department of Education.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7949 or ejames@ocregister.com

 

 

-----Charters@cde.ca.gov
916-322-6029

That is the department that managed the original Statewide Benefit Charter granted by the CA State Board of Education (SBE).

From: http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/pn/im/documents/memo-dsib-csd-oct13item01.doc

·         Pacific Technology statewide benefit charter school must submit their renewal as per the conditions set forth in the MOU with the SBE. Currently, the Santa Ana campus is the only school site open for the 2013–14 school year...

The conditions of the MOU are what you need to know.

Until then, it will be unclear why Magnolia needed to seek local authorization.