MDUSD Board Set to Make Final Charter Vote Tuesday

There will be a vote.

Clayton Valley charter supporters have been frustrated that the Mt. Diablo Unified School District board has yet to make a final determination on their charter petition, but by the end of Tuesday's meeting, there should be a final decision.

On the agenda for Tuesday, the first action item is: "Final acceptance or denial of Clayton Valley Charter High School Petition."

District staff has yet to make a recommendation to the board but say they will by Tuesday. Staff does say that they do foresee at least a $1.8 million loss to the district if Clayton Valley becomes a charter school.

Expecting a large crowd for the vote, the district will hold the meeting at Monte Gardens Elementary School, which holds a much larger capacity than the Dent Center in the district offices. The meeting starts at 7 p.m.

It was in Monte Gardens Elementary School on Sept. 13 that the board originally approved the charter petition, . The board asked for a number of specific details to be added to the petition, ranging from a detailed fiscal analysis to how educational goals would be met.

The board originally asked for the conditions to be met by February 2012, but charter leaders said that wouldn't work with their timeline. Even though charter supporters believed the conditions weren't necessary according to state law, they quickly tried to meet the conditions and announced in October that .

Even if the board rejects the petition, it doesn't mean the charter effort is dead.

Charter supporters say they will appeal the decision to the Contra Costa Office of Education and to the state Board of Education, if need be. The goal to is open Clayton Valley as a charter school for the 2012-13 school year.