Olive Grove Charter School is fighting another legal battle, and this time the charter is suing two Santa Barbara County public school districts for payments it claims are required by state law.
In the lawsuits, which Los Angeles-based attorney Gregory Bordo filed on Olive Grove’s behalf on March 18, the charter school alleges that Lompoc Unified School District and Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District owe them hundreds of thousands of dollars each in required in-lieu property tax payments for the 2018-19 fiscal year.
The lawsuits are the latest in the controversy that has surrounded Olive Grove since 2016, when an appellate court ruled that charter schools can’t operate resource centers outside of the geographic boundaries of their authorizing school districts. That ruling reversed the previous interpretation of a law dictating how charter schools are operated and put charter schools across California out of compliance with state law—including Olive Grove.
In order to continue offering services to students in Santa Maria, Lompoc, Buellton, and Santa Barbara, Olive Grove had to apply for and receive authorization from a district in each area. That means a district will agree to help fund a charter school.
Olive Grove’s applications for authorization were denied twice by the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District, Lompoc Unified School District, Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District, Santa Barbara Unified School District, and the Santa Barbara County Education Office, and once by the California Department of Education.
Then in July 2018, the California Department of Education authorized Olive Grove’s petition appeal, overriding the previous rejections and making all denying districts fiscally responsible for the charter.
Those Santa Barbara County school districts, according to the complaint, are now required by state law to provide Olive Grove with funds “in lieu of property taxes,” which are funds given to government entities (like school districts) by sources that own tax-exempt properties (like the federal government) that nonetheless enjoy the benefits of public services.
Involved districts received the California Department of Education’s official cost estimates on Dec. 28, 2018, and since then, the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District has been vocal about its inability to help fund Olive Grove. The districts in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara have paid their shares to Olive Grove.
In a previous interview with the Sun, Santa Ynez Superintendent Scott Cory said his district would have to pay Olive Grove an estimated $696,586 for the 2018-19 school year, an amount that could be adjusted—and even increased—based on Olive Grove’s official year-end enrollment count.
“We can’t afford this,” Cory told the Sun in January. “It literally would eviscerate our people and programs.”
Now Olive Grove is suing the Santa Ynez district for more than $400,000, and the Lompoc district for more than $260,000 that the charter school claims the districts have failed and refused to pay. Olive Grove is seeking damages and a judicial declaration that the districts are required by law to pay.
District officials from Santa Ynez and Lompoc, and Olive Grove school representatives did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
This article appears in Apr 4-11, 2019.