HAYWARD — A judge has ruled in favor of a charter school that sued Hayward Unified, agreeing that the district wrongfully tried to take away some of the charter’s classroom space.
Key Academy, an elementary charter school, has occupied 13 classrooms on the campus it shares with the Faith Ringgold School of Arts and Science, 1570 Ward St., since 2013. But the district projected the charter school would have less enrollment this upcoming school year — 202 students compared with the charter’s projection of 330 students — and announced it would take five classrooms away.
The academy maintained the move violated the state education code, which requires the district to provide “facilities sufficient for the charter school to accommodate all of the charter school’s in-district students,” according to the lawsuit.
On Thursday, an Alameda County Superior Court judge said the district must provide “reasonably equivalent” space for the students that the academy expects it will serve based on a comparison with similar district schools.
“It’s a big victory,” David Ramirez, the charter school’s principal, said in an interview Monday. “If it didn’t happen, it would mean that we would have less classroom space and less teachers. We are very happy.”
Key Academy, which says it has a waiting list of about 120 students, filed the lawsuit on May 15. Its average daily attendance this past school year was approximately 322 students.
Hayward Unified is reviewing its legal options regarding the lawsuit, Superintendent Matt Wayne said Monday.
“Key Academy’s lawsuit sought to prevent the district from reviewing or taking into account deficient documentation submitted by the charter school in support of its request for facilities,” Wayne said in an email.
“For example, Key Academy submitted ‘Intent to Enroll’ forms that were duplicates, or were for students that did not live within HUSD boundaries and therefore not eligible to be counted under state law. HUSD believes that it is important for school districts to have the right to review deficient documentation submitted by charter schools, since school districts rely upon such documentation to allocate limited facilities to charter school and public school students,” he said.
Along with classrooms, the charter school would have lost its speech therapy and counseling rooms, as well as some administrative space and a playground under the district’s plan, Ramirez said.
The first day of school is Aug. 13, and the school will offer instruction remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic. But Ramirez said the school wanted to maintain its number of classrooms for when the health crisis eases.
“At least now we will have the classrooms we will need to manage kids correctly,” he said.
Layoffs at the charter school would have been likely if the district’s plan went forward, Ramirez said.
Key Academy pays approximately $166,000 in rent annually to the Hayward school district to operate on the Ward Street campus.
Key Academy also has a campus at 16244 Carolyn St. in San Leandro.
Charter schools are public schools that get funding from the state but operate independently from the school district where they are located.
Unlike traditional public schools that are run by school districts with an elected school board and a board-appointed superintendent, most charter schools are run by organizations with their own self-appointed boards, according to EdSource, which provides educational information, research and analysis.
California lawmakers passed a law in 1992 allowing charter schools in the state.