{"id":4873,"date":"2026-07-19T11:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T11:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4873"},"modified":"2026-07-19T11:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T11:12:17","slug":"oakland-school-closure-raises-statewide-questions-over-charter-renewals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4873","title":{"rendered":"Oakland school closure raises statewide questions over charter renewals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A state decision that will force an Oakland charter school to shutter has raised questions about vague standards and left charter advocates concerned that it could have far-reaching implications.<\/p>\n

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Last week, the 18-year-old Oakland charter school Aspire Golden State College Preparatory Academy requested that the State Board of Education overturn the decisions by Oakland Unified School District and the Alameda County Office of Education to not renew its charter in the first state-level appeal since new charter school legislation, Assembly Bill 1505, passed in 2019.<\/p>\n

But the state board voted to \u201ctake no action\u201d on the appeal in a 7-2 vote, with one recusal and one abstention, exhausting Aspire GSP\u2019s options for reversing the decision and avoiding closure without litigation \u2014 and leaving many charter school leaders across the state with even more questions.<\/p>\n

The decision gives the first indication of how the board may treat similar appeals and could influence how hundreds of charter schools are evaluated as they face renewal in the coming years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis hearing today is about more than one school. It\u2019s about the message this board sends to every charter school authorizer in California,\u201d said the managing director of regulatory affairs at the California Charter School Association, Nicolas Watson, during the hearing of Aspire GSP\u2019s appeal. \u201cThe question today is new to this board and one for which there is no precedent: When is closing a middle track charter school in the best interest of students? Your decision will help define what that standard means for every future renewal.\u201d<\/p>\n

in October in a 4-3 vote, determining that students would be served better in neighborhood schools. The district cited students\u2019 declining math and English language arts proficiency and a drop-off in the number of graduates attending college \u2014 despite Oakland Unified Office of Charter Schools staff recommending renewal.<\/p>\n

Oakland Unified used the California School Dashboard data to point to a \u201csignificant decline\u201d in the charter\u2019s math proficiency and \u201cinconsistent\u201d English language arts proficiency.<\/p>\n

According to the dashboard data, Aspire GSP students were 92.6 points below the math standard in 2019 and 144.6 points below the standard in 2024, and students were 36.8 points below the English language arts standard in 2019 and 69.8 points below the standard in 2024.<\/p>\n

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But Aspire GSP countered that the district\u2019s decision relied on a narrow interpretation of academic performance data and selectively compared the school to other schools that would make Aspire GSP seem weaker. Advocates argued that among socioeconomically disadvantaged youth \u2014 95% of the school\u2019s student population \u2014 the charter school actually outperformed Oakland Unified in 5 of 6 metrics, including English Language Arts test scores, English learner progress, college or career readiness, chronic absenteeism and graduation rate.<\/p>\n

Under AB 1505, charter school performance is evaluated using the California School Dashboard, which displays the performance of local schools and student groups across a variety of metrics, including academic performance, graduation rates, chronic absenteeism and English learner progress.<\/p>\n

The new legislation splits charter schools into three \u201ctiers\u201d \u2014 high-performing schools, which are generally streamlined for renewal; low-performing schools, which are generally not renewed; and middle-performing schools, which may be renewed or denied renewal. Local school boards must provide evidence showing the school has failed to make academic progress and that closing the school is in the \u201cbest interest of pupils.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aspire GSP is one of 916 \u201cmiddle-performing\u201d charter schools in California, which make up more than 75% of the state\u2019s charter schools.<\/p>\n

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Former Gov. Jerry Brown criticized AB 1505\u2019s heavy reliance on the California School Dashboard \u2014 which Brown helped create and launch in 2017 \u2014 as the primary basis for evaluating a charter school\u2019s academic performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis dashboard was to help teachers and families and parents make better decisions and was intended to help schools and help the kids,\u201d Brown said in a phone interview. \u201cNot act as a form of capital punishment. \u2026 That\u2019s a complete abuse of the dashboard and totally against what was intended by its authors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown said the dashboard\u2019s explicit design was to ensure that no single data point can fully capture a school\u2019s impact on students.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is an organic institution that has grown up in Oakland, is supported by hundreds of parents and kids, and to abolish it like that, it\u2019s a disgrace. It\u2019s a real tragedy,\u201d Brown said. \u201cA key element in the public school system is charter schools. Both the charters and regular districts should work together in honest and creative competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon denial by Oakland Unified, Aspire GSP appealed the decision to the Alameda County Board of Education, <\/p>\n

Running out of options, Aspire GSP turned to the State Board of Education to overturn both denials. But AB 1505 also significantly shifted charter oversight and renewal authority to local school districts, curtailing the power of the State Board of Education to only be able to overturn a local district or county board denial if it finds that local boards \u201cabused their discretion\u201d in denying a charter renewal.<\/p>\n

State board members, facing a narrow legal scope and a lack of guidance on how to determine students\u2019 best interests, ultimately voted to take no action on Aspire GSP\u2019s appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we know what\u2019s in the best interest of students? Because that\u2019s at the heart of the criteria for not renewing a charter school,\u201d said board member Sharon Olken. \u201cAnd at the same time \u2026 we have a narrow lane of jurisdiction and one that maybe doesn\u2019t sit well with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need to raise the questions for those who will be thinking about this down the road about the need for clarification of what really does constitute a fair, open, transparent, evidence-based process,\u201d state board President Linda Darling-Hammond said.<\/p>\n

Daniel Soleimani, general counsel for Aspire Public Schools, which operates 32 schools, said the company is considering a lawsuit against Oakland Unified to reverse the decision and hopefully provide guidance for other charter schools that could soon face a similar fate.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany other charter schools have reached out to us, very concerned,\u201d Soleimani said. \u201cThey don\u2019t know what to do to prepare for renewal. Some of them had actually called in and said, \u2018There\u2019s no way for us to predict if we\u2019re going to be renewed or not based on this law.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Myrna Castrej\u03ccn, president and CEO of the California Charter Schools Association, argued in a letter to the state board members earlier this month that the statutory requirement that closure of a school be \u201cin the best interest of pupils\u201d lacks specific guidance or a statewide precedent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis appeal presents an important statewide policy question that extends far beyond a single school,\u201d Castrej\u03ccn wrote. \u201cAcross California, we are seeing an increasing number of non-renewal decisions involving middle-track charter schools. In many of these cases, local authorizers have interpreted the required finding that \u2018closure is in the best interest of pupils\u2019 so broadly that it risks becoming little more than a restatement of the authorizer\u2019s concerns about the school itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Created in 2008, Aspire GSP serves about 403 students in East Oakland in grades 6-12. Many of those students spoke out in support of the charter school at last week\u2019s State Board of Education meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt GSP, teachers and staff don\u2019t just support our academics; they support us as a whole person. For many students in East Oakland, access to opportunities and supported communities can change the trajectory of our lives,\u201d Michelle Hernandez, a recent graduate of Aspire GSP, said at the meeting. \u201cWhen decision makers close schools like GSP, it sends a message to students that spaces where we find belonging, encouragement and opportunities can be taken away at any moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aspire GSP will not reopen in the fall, and families will now have to find a new school for their children, Soleimani said. He said if the charter school decides to pursue litigation, it could be a \u201cmultiyear fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A state decision that will force an Oakland charter school to shutter has raised questions about vague standards and left charter advocates concerned about implications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nOakland school closure raises statewide questions over charter renewals - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4873\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oakland school closure raises statewide questions over charter renewals - 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