CA Charter Facilities Ruling

From the Courthouse News Service:

Court OK's Law on Use of Public School Facilities
By JEFF D. GORMAN
(CN) - A California appeals court upheld a state law requiring public schools to share their facilities with charter school students.

The California School Boards Association and three other educational groups took the State Board of Education to court to challenge Proposition 39, which voters approved in 2000.

Among other things, Proposition 39 required public schools to share their facilities with students from charter schools.

A lower court upheld some of the state school board's challenged regulations while invalidating others. On appeal, Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye ruled that all of the regulations are valid.

The plaintiffs argued that the regulations would require public schools to provide duplicate furnishings for charter school students. Cantil-Sakauye ruled that this was not the case.

"The fundamental flaw in the school district association's argument and example is the assumption that section 47614 requires school districts to purchase anything for the charter schools," the ruling states. "Section 47614 requires school districts to share facilities, including furniture and equipment."