Charter School Petition Withdrawn

Backers of a new Elk Grove charter school are going back to the drawing board after what one major supporter called a "public shellacking" at Tuesday's Elk Grove Unified School District board meeting.

The Grove Leadership Academy lacked a sound financial strategy or adequate plans to meet the needs of special education and ethnically diverse students, district staff argued in recommending board members deny the school's petition for recognition.

(The full board presentation is attached to this article.)

"The biggest area [of concern] was the budget," said district spokesperson Elizabeth Graswich. "Their budget for staff members did not reflect who they could actually hire for that amount."

Elk Grove City Councilmember Gary Davis, one of the school's co-founders, said supporters would immediately rework their petition and resubmit it.

"We’re optimistic about the petition getting better and stronger and looking forward to seeing our school become a reality," he said.

School board members had until Feb. 21 to make their decision on the proposed school, which would focus on civic leadership and be located in Laguna West. But in an email to supporters Thursday, The Grove organizers said they'd seen the writing on the wall.

"It has become obvious that the Elk Grove School Board is not going to approve our petition," the email reads. "And, honestly, they have helped us uncover a couple of key changes that need to be made to the petition."

The move will delay the planned opening of the school by at least a year, to August 2013, organizers wrote.

If the petition is ultimately denied, supporters could appeal to the Sacramento County Board of Education.