On Wednesday, CSDC presented the first installment in its Budget, Policy, and Leadership Update Webinar series.
Exclusively available to CSDC Member Schools and Authorizers, the webinar was joined by school leaders representing hundreds of charter schools from across California.
Team CSDC Coverage
Scheduled to coincide with the release of Governor Newsom’s 2024-25 state budget proposals, the webinar provided coverage of the issues, topics, and trends that Team CSDC is tracking for California charter school leaders.
CSDC Governance and Policy Specialist, Caitlin O’Halloran Hellar, provided a quick overview of the helpful governance resources CSDC will soon roll out for California charter school governing board members.
Laura Kerr, CSDC’s Legislative and Community Outreach Specialist, then provided a legislative and advocacy update, including the major issues set to shape the 2024 legislative season, and shared tips for engaging with CSDC’s advocacy work throughout the coming year.
With charter school renewals resuming this year, charter school accountability is of course a major topic of interest for California charter school leaders. CSDC’s Accountability and Development Specialist, Susanne Coie, also joined the webinar. Susanne shared more details about the CSDC Renewal Strategy Worksheet—a helpful, customized resource available to CSDC Member Schools at no additional cost and discussed the upcoming Ethnic Studies criteria while inviting CSDC members to participate in a PLN group that will aim to collectively develop this requirement. (Contact CSDC to join the group!)
Key Takeaways
The final segment of the webinar featured CSDC Founder and Executive Director, Eric Premack, who shared his extensive analysis of the governor’s budget proposals, including:
- CSDC’s take on the governor’s optimistic budget assumptions–are they plausible?
- Noteworthy proposals that could ameliorate cuts to schools—but also invite lawsuits
- What was conspicuously missing from the proposals thus far and how schools should prepare as a result
Recording & Index
A full recording of the webinar is now available to CSDC Member Schools and Authorizers on CSDC’s website:
To help navigate the nearly 2-hour presentation, CSDC has put together a helpfuln indexing of the webinar.
A brief excerpt is included below. View the full index here.
| Timestamp | Slide | Description |
| 00:37:00 | Slides 30-35 |
Economic Picture & State Budget Context CSDC’s Founder & Executive Director, Eric Premack, begins with high-level, macroeconomic trends and projections, including:
|
| 00:48:25 | Slides 36-38 |
Governor Newsom’s K-12 Education Proposals Eric discusses how the governor is proposing to address the Prop 98 gap but also cautions that many of the governor’s proposed solutions are unprecedented in recent history and could invite lawsuits. |
| 00:54:00 | Slides 39-42 |
Updated LCFF and COLA Rates CSDC’s estimates which can be helpful in refining your school’s budget models, plus tips for working with version 24.2c of FCMAT’s LCFF Calculator. |
| 00:57:56 | Slides 43-46 |
Noteworthy Proposals A run-down of some of the more noteworthy proposals put forth by Governor Newsom—and their potential impact on California charter schools, including:
|
| 01:10:10 | Slides 47-48 |
Universal Pre-K, Transitional TK, and “Early Enrollment TK” (EETK) Updates and guidance, including... |
What’s Next?
Many of the governor’s proposals are currently in summary form. More information will be made known as CSDC meets with staff from key state agencies/departments and as trailer bills are released.
Stay tuned to CSDC for updates throughout the 2024-25 state budget development process, including the next webinar in this series set for Thursday, May 16, 2024, just after the governor released his “May Revise” budget proposals.
2024 Budget, Policy, and Leadership Update Webinar Series:
Governor's January Budget Proposals
Live Webinar
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
10:00AM-12:30PM PST
Webinar Recording
The recording of this webinar will be made available to CSDC Member Schools and Authorizers on CSDC's website shortly after the event and does not require registration.
