Capistrano Schools Seek Own Course

What started as a longshot wish for more local control over educating children has blossomed into a state bill written for one local school system.

The bill would allow South County’s entire Capistrano Unified School District to seek charter status--essentially freeing it from a tangle of state regulations on how much time and money to spend on various subjects and programs.

Capistrano’s daring push to virtually secede from state Department of Education control, and its ability to find lawmakers willing to back the effort, are already attracting attention. In the days since state Sen. Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside) introduced the bill, it has drawn notice from several freedom-minded Southern California school districts, including massive Long Beach Unified.

The ability to manage finances without state strings could result in smaller class sizes, increased computer access or more Asian-language classes for Capistrano students, said Supt. James A. Fleming. Individual schools can already petition for such liberties, he reasoned, so why not a whole school district?

“We’re saying to the state, ‘If you will allow any group of people to have this kind freedom and flexibility to become a charter school, please be willing to grant that privilege to professional educators’ ” who want to form a charter district.

So far, three small districts in the Central Valley have converted all their campuses to individual charter schools--which gain more autonomy in exchange for promises of better student performance. But the 43,000-student Capistrano district seeks something slightly different: It hopes to free both individual schools and the district headquarters from onerous rules.

Appealing as more flexibility may sound, the bill, SB1705, could always stumble. It has dodged potential pitfalls so far by promising the district will not tinker with union contracts and will stick with the state’s high-stakes testing and accountability programs.

The bill could have a broad appeal among educators and legislators, said Teri Burns, the deputy state superintendent for government affairs. The legislation was introduced last month, so Burns’ office hasn’t yet taken a position, but she sees “no red flags” in the bill.

“They’re a fairly well-respected district looking for some more flexibility,” Burns said. “You hear that a lot in the education coalition: They’re happy to be accountable, but they want some flexibility getting there. I don’t think this would be seen as anything different.”

Problems could pop up, though, when the legislation gets a closer look, predicted Eric Premack, director of the Charter Schools Development Center at Cal State Sacramento.

If the school district comes out way ahead financially, it could raise equity issues, he said. (The district hasn’t yet done a financial analysis, but administrators expect the conversion would be cost-neutral.) If too many others seek the same option, there could be mass defections from the state Education Department.

“Wait until the bureaucrats read it,” he said. “My guess is some will say, ‘Great, go for it. We hate collecting all this compliance paperwork too.’ And others will say, ‘You’re eroding our little data empire.’ ”

Given the current push for education reform, however, Premack suspects the bill could well pass.

“I’m glad to see a biggie walking into that water,” he said. “It’s especially good to see a district with a reputation as strong as Capistrano’s.”

Charter status would free the district from having to follow much of the voluminous state Education Code, which rules everything from construction standards to directions for filling out paperwork.

Its passage would not automatically convert Capistrano to a charter district; rather, the bill sets parameters for application.

Under Morrow’s bill, Capistrano Unified would be able to get state funds for construction, something charter schools cannot do, said Mike Kilbourn, a lobbyist for the Orange County Department of Education who helped develop the bill.

What’s more, the district would not have to provide an alternative for teachers or students who don’t want to be in a charter environment, as charter schools must. However, students would still be able to transfer to other districts. As a charter district, Capistrano Unified would not be audited by state administrators as they were last month in the statewide coordinated compliance review.

The bill will probably receive scrutiny from the powerful California Teachers Assn., said Dan Chick, Morrow’s legislative director. The president of Capistrano’s union has previously voiced open-mindedness about the charter option, but he could not be reached for comment about the legislation.

“If this is the blueprint for future charter movements, [union officials are] very anxious to make sure this is to their liking--the main point being collective bargaining,” Chick said.

Charter status would allow the school board to decide how to spend state money now earmarked for certain programs such as tobacco prevention, textbook purchasing and reading, Fleming said.

“Instead of spending money on tobacco prevention education programs, we might want to spend that money on reducing class size in fourth grade, on providing guidance counselors in some of our elementary schools, or in establishing a badly needed program in our high schools on world geography,” Fleming said.

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The district could expand Asian-language courses, an area the school board has selected as a priority but which the state doesn’t, Fleming said.

Under the bill, which co-author Assemblywoman Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) will carry in the lower house, charter petitions could be granted by the state Board of Education for up to five years, and the board could renew the charter an unlimited number of times.

Before state officials could consider a charter petition, it would have to be approved by a majority of parents or teachers and a majority of school trustees. The trustees could revoke the petition by majority vote, according to the bill.

Administrators from the 92,000-student Long Beach Unified and some Riverside County school districts have already called in their interest to Capistrano Deputy Supt. Margaret LaRoe.

Long Beach officials plan to watch Capistrano’s progress. “It’s inconclusive how [a charter program] would work at a larger school district,” said Richard Van Der Laan, a Long Beach spokesman. “This [bill] gives us a better idea how this could work on a larger scale. We are intrigued by the concept.”

While the bill was written specifically for Capistrano, Chick does not object to possibly widening the legislation to include other districts.

But being singular is a plus, LaRoe said.

“Sometimes single-district bills quietly go through because you’re not raising a ruckus about it,” she said.