Dear Los Altos School District Parents,

Last night the Los Altos School District (LASD) Board voted unanimously to approve a 2-year interim agreement for facilities with Bullis Charter School (BCS).   The Board also tabled (decided not to vote on) the Proposed 10-Year Agreement until a public engagement process is concluded.  The interim agreement houses the charter school at its current locations at Blach and Egan junior high schools with an enrollment cap at 1,111 students.  We hope the BCS Board will approve the 2-year interim agreement so we can move another step forward together to achieve long term facilities stability and peace in our community outside of the Proposition 39 process.

As you know, LASD and BCS have been working for over a year to negotiate a long term agreement to avoid the historically contentious Proposition 39 process, which is the California law that governs facilities allocation to charter schools.  Through mediation, members of each of the boards reached a proposed 10-year agreement that would, in the long term, relocate the Egan school community to a brand new school in Mountain View and provide 16 acres of the current Egan campus to BCS.  

To be clear, our vote last night was not a rejection of the proposed 10-year agreement.  Rather, after weeks of Board Office Hours, school site forums, Board meetings, and hundreds of emails, we understand that the community needs more time and more information to be able to support a long term solution. As such, the LASD Board found it critical to approve a shorter 2-year interim agreement to allow the community the time and information they need. The 2-year agreement implements the first 2 years of the proposed 10-year agreement.

We believe that a 2-year agreement makes sense for both LASD and BCS so that we are not forced back into Proposition 39 before we complete a full community engagement process on the 10-year agreement. Without the 2-year agreement, Proposition 39 would begin again November 1, 2019.  Proposition 39 consumes an entire year of staff time for both LASD and BCS, and has been historically contentious and litigious for our community. 

In addition to our vote, the Board gave staff direction to present a plan for an inclusive community engagement effort to be conducted in the fall.  As stated in my prior letter to you, I envision that the engagement process will involve members of both the BCS and LASD boards and will include a representative cross section of the community.  This process must begin as soon as possible and end no later than January 2020 so that our community can go back to focusing on what we all care about:  excellent education for all of our children.

The Board of Trustees must make all of its decisions based on what is in the best interest of all students and their education and must strive to create a plan that is best for the entire community.  This is an amazing opportunity to work together to envision and create the educational future for all of our community’s children. 

As I said in my last update, our excellent public schools benefit every resident of the district, whether they send their children to BCS or LASD and whether or not they have school-aged children.  BCS and LASD must continue to partner with our community to ensure we protect academic excellence for all students. 

The Board thanks you for your partnership and appreciates your thoughts.  Please contact us at trustees@lasdschools.org with your comments, questions and ideas.

Sincerely,

Jessica Speiser
President, Los Altos School District Board of Trustees