The county school board’s decision last month to give priority enrollment at Bullis Charter School to residents in the Bullis-Purissima attendance area continues to draw fire from board members of the Los Altos School District, who say they are moving ahead with litigation and recently filed a legal complaint against the county.
According to LASD board member David Pefley, he and fellow board members were united during their meeting Monday night in their stance against the county board decision.
“We think it’s unfair for families in one part of the district to have priority access,” he said, adding that “Everyone shoulders the financial burden for Bullis Charter School equally.”
A hearing on the matter is scheduled in Superior Court for late February, Pefley said.
While he and other board members still question the legality of BCS’s enrollment policy, which sets aside a certain number of seats for children living in the former Bullis-Purissima attendance area, others say the charter school is fully within its rights.
Gary Larson, spokesperson for the California Charter Schools Association, said that an enrollment policy which favors a certain group of constituents is “absolutely” within the law, so long as the school can prove it is oversubscribed.
“Charter law is pretty clear. If the school is oversubscribed, they can have a policy where students of the founders and their siblings are given a little bit more priority,” he said.
He also said there are other examples of charter schools in the state with similar enrollment policies.
Recently, BCS board president Ken Moore said the school was “enormously oversubscribed,” with only one applicant in six allowed in.
Bullis Charter School has only 288 students. Its new enrollment policy gives first priority to returning students and the siblings of current students, and then allocates 50 percent of the remaining spots to students in the former Bullis-Purissima attendance area, which mainly covers parts of Los Altos Hills.
Larson — who said he has “no vested interest” in the controversy either way — said BCS’s popularity is due to the fact that it is widely acknowledged as one of the best charter schools in the state.
“It is a highly reputable public school, very innovative and accountable. The staff it has attracted is unprecedented,” he said. “Parents are clamoring to get their kids in.”
Larson said it was one of the only charter schools in the state with a Mandarin language immersion program.
Currently there are 687 charter schools in California serving over a quarter million students. One hundred new charter schools opened up in the state this year alone, Larson said.
Larson said the incentive behind opening a charter school is the chance to create more innovative programs in the public school setting, and to address students’ educational needs in more varied and creative ways.
“We understand that different students learn in different ways,” he said.
Larson thinks that instead of spending considerable time and resources suing the county board, the district would do better to “learn from what Bullis Charter School is doing right.”
E-mail Alexa Tondreau at atondreau@mv-voice.com
