The Race to the Top educational bonus program part of the Obama stimulus plan if adopted in California means NO LIMITS on the number of charter schools and possible no restrictions or standards allowed which might limit the number of charter schools.
See: http://vistaschools.blogspot.com/2009/09/anti-poking-teachers-union-in-eye.html
Vista Unified school district trustees could not turn down requests for new non union low paying no standards charters in our district as they turned this one down last year.
VISTA: District says no to new charter school
Questions about proposal lead to split vote
STACY BRANDT - Staff Writer Posted: Thursday, September 25, 2008 12:00 am
VISTA -- The Vista Unified School District Board of Trustees voted Thursday to deny a petition for a new charter school in the district.
Officials with the Escondido-based Classical Academy had hoped to open a school in Vista next fall for about 200 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
The board split 3-2, with Trustees Jim Gibson and Stephen Guffanti voting in support of the charter proposal.
"I'm not prepared to approve this charter school with this many questions remaining to be answered," Trustee Steve Lilly said.
However, Guffanti said the success the Classical Academy has seen at its campuses in Escondido and Oceanside prove that the administrators there know how to run a school.
"It's pretty clear that the educational program is extraordinarily sound," he said.
Charter school officials asked the district to approve the charter in April, but district officials said they needed more information before voting.
When the petition came back before the board a month later, officials with the district and charter school agreed to postpone the vote.
District officials recommended that the board deny the petition for several reasons, saying they still have concerns about the proposed school's curriculum, budget and demographics.
The Vista campus would have been the fourth for the school, which has two schools in Escondido and the Coastal Academy in Oceanside. The schools are a hybrid of classroom learning and home schooling for parents who want more involvement in their children's education than typical public schools offer.
Officials with the charter school said they wanted to open a campus in Vista because of rapid growth at the program's Escondido and Oceanside campuses, which together have about 1,400 students.
More than 200 of those students are from Vista.
Before the meeting, district officials presented certificates to 156 students in the district who got perfect scores on at least one portion of the state tests they took last spring.
Board President Jim Gibson said he thinks the students' high scores represent the work the board and superintendent have done over the last couple of years to improve academics at the district's schools.
"I'm really thrilled to be on the board of a school district that's turning around," he said. "It makes me proud to be here."
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Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 901-4009 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_d280ad5a-65f5-56cf-8062-617ac48fd864.html
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