AP16:025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 8, 2016
CONTACT: Sam Mahood
(916) 653-6575
Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation
Elimination of Charter Schools. Initiative Statute.
SACRAMENTO – Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced the proponent of a new initiative was cleared to begin collecting petition signatures today.
The Attorney General prepares the legal title and summary that is required to appear on initiative petitions. When the official language is complete, the Attorney General forwards it to the proponent and to the Secretary of State, and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponent and to county elections officials. The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the measure is as follows:
ELIMINATION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Repeals laws governing charter schools effective July 1, 2017. Requires charter schools to convert to traditional public schools or close, at local school districts’ discretion. Requires charter schools to return all unencumbered public funds to the state and to transfer all real property purchased with public funds to their local school districts. Authorizes state audits of school assets. Provides penalties for violations. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: About $5 billion in state funding and operational costs would shift from charter schools to school districts. Ongoing facility costs also would shift from charter schools to school districts, with the exact effect depending upon the decisions made by state policymakers and districts. Transition costs totaling hundreds of millions of dollars statewide for school districts to dispose of charter school property, recruit and train staff, replace textbooks, determine appropriate instructional placements for incoming students, and repurpose facilities. (15-0114.)
The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1774 and the Attorney General’s tracking number is 15-0114.
The proponent of the measure, Diana Mansker, must collect the signatures of 365,880 registered voters (five percent of the total votes cast for Governor in the November 2014 general election) in order to qualify it for the November 2016 ballot. The proponent has 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials by August 8, 2016. The proponent can be reached at (916) 391-3384.
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