Ridgecrest Charter School v. Sierra Sands Unified School District

The Charter Schools Act of 1992 (Ed. Code, § 47600 et seq. (the Act)), as amended by Proposition 39 in November of 2000, requires public school districts to make their educational facilities available to charter schools operating in the district. The facilities provided must be sufficient to accommodate all the charter school’s in-district students under conditions “reasonably equivalent” to those the students would have if they were attending a noncharter school in the same district. (§ 47614, subd. (b).) The facilities must also be “contiguous,” meaning they must be on or adjacent to a school site. (Ibid.; Cal. Code Regs., tit. 5, § 11969.2, subd. (d).) However, if the charter school’s students cannot be accommodated at a single site, “contiguous facilities” may include those “located at more than one site, provided that the school district shall minimize the number of sites assigned and shall consider student safety.” (Regs., § 11969.2, subd. (d).)

In this case, the Ridgecrest Charter School (RCS) submitted a request to the Sierra Sands Unified School District (the District) to use the District’s facilities for 223 students in kindergarten through eighth grade (K-8).…