Inglewood Unified Schoot Dist. v. Lennox School Dist. CA2/5

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. Facts

A. The school districts Inglewood and Lennox are suburbs of Los Angeles, California. Lennox is very small, with an area of only 1.3 square miles. Each of these cities has its own school district.

2 B. The charter school 1. Establishment of its charter In 2004, Century Community Charter School, Inc. (Century) petitioned the Inglewood Unified School District (Inglewood) to establish a charter school under the Charter Schools Act of 1992 (the Act) (Ed. Code, § 47600 et seq.)1 in a facility rented from a church on Maple Street in Inglewood. The charter school was to educate approximately 450 middle school students. Inglewood denied the petition. Later that year, Century petitioned the neighboring Lennox School District (Lennox) to establish its charter school at the same location on Maple Street in Inglewood. Although this location is outside Lennox’s geographic boundaries, the Act at that time authorized one district to establish an out-of-district charter school in the same county as long as an in-district location was “unavailable” and advance notice was given to the district in whose boundaries the charter school would…