OAKLAND — A lawsuit filed against the Oakland Unified School District by the California Charter Schools Association over the district’s compliance with Prop. 39, which requires that school districts provide space for charter schools that request it, has been put on hold.
An agreement was reached on Thursday between the district and the association in response to the association’s lawsuit filed in March, both parties announced. The suit alleged that the district was not complying with Prop. 39, passed in 2000, which requires that school districts provide to charter schools that request it, school space that’s reasonably equivalent to district-run school sites in the area. It claimed the district offered inadequate facilities to charter schools, often spread across multiple sites.
“The case is essentially on hold, and no further legal action is going to happen,” said Patrick Walsh, regional director of Alameda County for the California Charter Schools Association, a charter advocacy group.
During the charter school application process for Prop. 39 facilities this school year, which starts in November, no legal action will be taken, but the association will be closely monitoring the school district’s compliance with the law and the district’s final offers in May to charter schools, Walsh said.
“After the final offers, we’ll meet again in mediation, and then decide if we are going to continue with the lawsuit,” he said.
“OUSD will work collaboratively with CCSA and its local charter schools to provide a transparent Prop. 39 process that ensures equity and fairness for all Oakland students,” said Oakland school district spokesman John Sasaki in a statement.
