San Jose Unified Sch. Dist. v. Santa Clara Cnty. Office of Educ.

7 Cal.App.5th 967

213 Cal.Rptr.3d 241

SAN JOSE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents,

v.SANTA CLARA COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION et al., Defendants and Appellants;

Rocketship Education et al., Real Parties in Interest and Appellants.

H041088

Court of Appeal, Sixth District, California.

Filed January 24, 2017

John Yeh, Mountain View, Amy Eileen Hoyt, Riverside, Burke, Williams & Sorensen, Christopher E. Schumb, Law Offices of Christopher Schumb, San Jose, for Plaintiffs, and Respondents.

Andrew Scully Oelz, Akin Gump, Strauss Hauer & Feld, Los Angeles, for Defendant and Appellant.

Andrew Scully Oelz, Akin Gump, Strauss Hauer & Feld, Paul Christian Minney, Young, Minney, & Corr, Sacramento, for Real Parties in Interest and Appellants.

Winston Peter Stromberg, Daniel Jennings Aleshire, Latham & Watkins, Los Angeles, Ricardo Jesus Soto, California Charter Schools Association, Amicus Curiae on behalf of Appellant, California Charter Schools.

Raymond A. Cardozo, Reed Smith, San Francisco, Amicus Curiae on behalf of Appellant, League of California Cities.

ELIA, J.

Government Code section 53094, subdivision (b) authorizes "the governing board of a school district" to "render a city or county zoning ordinance inapplicable to a proposed use of property by the school district," under certain circumstances.¹ The parties to this appeal dispute whether a county board of education is a "governing board of a school district" for purposes of section 53094.

Appellants, the Santa Clara County Office of Education, the Santa Clara County Board of Education² , Rocketship Education, and Rocketship Eight Charter School, maintain that county boards of education may issue zoning exemptions pursuant to section 53094. Consistent with that position, the Santa Clara County Board of Education (County Board) approved a resolution exempting from local zoning ordinances property to be used by Rocketship Education for a charter school. Respondents, San Jose Unified School District (the District) and Brett Bymaster, contend that county boards of education have no authority to issue zoning exemptions under section 53094. Respondents successfully sought a writ of mandate to set aside the resolution.

We do not need to determine the precise meaning of section 53094 to resolve this appeal. We can and will limit our analysis to the narrower question of whether section 53094 authorizes county boards of education to issue zoning exemptions for charter schools. We conclude it does not. As a result, we will affirm the judgment.

I. BACKGROUND ³

A. The Public School System

The Legislature has a constitutionally mandated duty to provide a system of public education. (Cal. Const., art. IX, § 5 ; Wells v . One2One Learning Foundation (2006) 39 Cal.4th 1164, 1195, 48 Cal.Rptr.3d 108, 141 P.3d 225 (Wells ).) Traditionally, the Legislature carried out that mandate by establishing local school districts. (Today's Fresh Start, Inc. v. Los Angeles County Office of Education (2013) 57 Cal.4th 197, 205, 159 Cal.Rptr.3d 358, 303 P.3d 1140 (Today 's Fresh Start ); Butt v. State of California (1992) 4 Cal.4th 668, 681, 15 Cal.Rptr.2d 480, 842 P.2d 1240 ["Local districts are the State's agents for local operation of the common school system"].) Since 1992, the Legislature also has authorized the creation of charter schools, which are part of the public school system but offer an alternative to district-run schools. (Today's Fresh Start , supra , at pp. 205–206, 159 Cal.Rptr.3d 358, 303 P.3d 1140.)

The Constitution calls for the election or appointment of a superintendent of schools and a board of education for each county. (Cal. Const. Art. IX, §§ 3, 7.) Among other things, county superintendents and county boards of education are authorized to establish and maintain emergency elementary schools (Educ. Code, § 1920 ); community schools (id ., § 1980); juvenile court schools (id ., § 48645.2); child development programs (id ., § 8320); and regional occupational centers providing education and training in career technical courses (id ., § 52301).

The county superintendent is the head of the county office of education; the county board of education is its governing board. (Today's Fresh Start, supra , 57 Cal.4th at p. 207, fn. 4, 159 Cal.Rptr.3d 358, 303 P.3d 1140.) Each of the state's 58 counties has a county office of education. County offices of education support school districts by, among other things, providing or helping formulate new curricula and designing business and personnel systems.

B. The Santa Clara County Office of Education and the Santa Clara County Board of Education

The Santa Clara County Office of Education (County Office) provides support services to Santa Clara County's 31 school districts. The County Office also operates preschool and child development programs, provides environmental education to fifth and sixth graders, partners with districts in running their own special education programs, provides regional occupational program services, coordinates services for foster and homeless youth, monitors County-approved charter schools, and provides educational programs for children of migrant families. The County Office operates 144 school sites, which have a total enrollment of 6,789 students.

The County Board is the elected governing body of the County Office. According to the County Office's 2012 Annual Budget Report, the County Board's responsibilities include, but are not limited to, conducting regularly scheduled public meetings, reviewing and adopting the annual budget of the County Office, appointing the County Superintendent of Schools, resolving school district attendance and expulsion appeals, adopting textbooks for instructional programs operated by the County Office, and ruling on charter school petitions received by the County Office.

C. Charter Schools

In 1992, the Legislature enacted the Charter Schools Act (Educ. Code, § 47600 et seq. ) "to provide opportunities for teachers, parents, pupils, and community members to establish and maintain schools that operate independently from the existing school district structure...." (Id ., § 47601.) In authorizing the creation of such charter schools, the Legislature intended "to improve learning; create learning opportunities, especially for those who are academically low-achieving; encourage innovative teaching methods; create new opportunities for teachers; provide parents and students expanded choices in the types of educational opportunities available; hold the charter schools accountable for meeting quantifiable outcomes; and provide ‘vigorous competition within the public school system to stimulate continual improvements in all public schools.’ " (California School Bds. Assn. v. State Bd. of Education (2010) 186 Cal.App.4th 1298, 1306, 113 Cal.Rptr.3d 550, citing Educ. Code, § 47601.)

Charter schools "can be created in one of five ways: By application to a school district ( [Educ. Code,] § 47605 ), by application for a county charter to a county board of education (§§ 47605.5, 47605.6), by appeal of a denial by a school district to a county board of education (§ 47605, subd. (j)(1) ), by appeal of a denial by a county board to the [State] Board [of Education] (ibid .), or by application for a state charter to the [State] Board [of Education] (§ 47605.8)." (California School Boards Assn. v. State Bd. of Education (2015) 240 Cal.App.4th 838, 852–853, 193 Cal.Rptr.3d 545.) Charter schools operate independently. (Today's Fresh Start, supra , 57 Cal.4th at p. 206, 159 Cal.Rptr.3d 358, 303 P.3d 1140.) However, the chartering body (i.e., the school district, county board of education, or State Board of Education) is obligated to oversee each charter school under its authority. (Wilson v. State Bd. of Education (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 1125, 89 Cal.Rptr.2d 745 (Wilson ); Educ. Code, § 47604.32.)

Charter schools are part of the public school system. (Wilson, supra , 75 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1139–1140, 89 Cal.Rptr.2d 745 ; Educ. Code, § 47615, subd. (a)(2).) As such, "they are eligible equally with other public schools for a share of state and local education funding." (Today's Fresh Start, supra , 57 Cal.4th at p. 206, 159 Cal.Rptr.3d 358, 303 P.3d 1140.) Charter schools receive funding " ‘based on the number of students they recruit and retain at the expense of the traditional system.’ " (Id . at p. 207, 159 Cal.Rptr.3d 358, 303 P.3d 1140.) Thus, charter schools and district-run public schools are in direct competition for students and dollars.

"In 2000, California voters enacted Proposition 39, which requires school districts to share their facilities with charter schools so that charter school students have access to facilities ‘reasonably equivalent’ to those available to other public school students." (California Charter Schools Assn. v. Los Angeles Unified School Dist. (2015) 60 Cal.4th 1221, 1226–1227, 185 Cal.Rptr.3d 556, 345 P.3d 911 ; Educ. Code, § 47614, subd. (b).)

D. Rocketship Education, Rocketship Eight Charter School, and the Resolution

Rocketship Education (Rocketship) is a network of elementary charter schools targeting low-income students and those who are below basic proficiency on state exams. The County Board has granted Rocketship a countywide charter to operate up to 25 charter schools.

Rocketship proposed to locate one of its charter schools on property (the Property) owned by the City of San Jose (the City). The Property is located in the District and in the County Office's jurisdiction. Use of the Property for a school is not permitted by the City's General Plan (which designates the Property as open space, parklands, and habitat) or its zoning ordinance (which zones the Property light industrial). Therefore, Rocketship requested that the County Board and the County Office exempt the Property from the City's General Plan and zoning ordinance. On January 23, 2013, the County Board approved a resolution (the Resolution) exempting the Property from the City's General Plan and...