Supreme Court refuses MDUSD request to review unfavorable appeals court ruling in CVCHS lawsuit
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA (Feb. 22, 2022) — Contra Costa Superior Court has had the lawsuit pitting Mt. Diablo Unified School District vs. Clayton Valley Charter High School over the annual fee the District is entitled to charge the charter school land back in its lap following the announcement this month that the State Supreme Court will not hear an appeal submitted by MDUSD.
The charter school received a favorable ruling Oct. 1 from the California First District Court of Appeal concerning a 2019 ruling by Superior Court Judge Steven Austin. The Superior Court judge calculated then that the District was due $1.5 million for the 2013-2017 period in reimbursement to use the Alberta Way facility the charter school leases from MDUSD.
MDUSD immediately announced it would appeal that ruling to the California Supreme Court. This month that request was denied, and the case was returned to the Superior Court.
The case is named Mt. Diablo Unified School District v. Clayton Valley Charter High School, First Appellate District Case No. A158195.
Working toward a resolution
Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark reacted to the recent Supreme Court ruling by issuing a brief statement, “MDUSD will continue to work towards resolving this matter with Clayton Valley Charter High School.” It is unclear the last time District and charter school representatives had an in-person meeting to discuss a resolution to the ongoing financial dispute.
The charter school also commented on the favorable notice: “CVCHS is pleased the California Supreme Court has allowed the Court of Appeal opinion to stand — which resolved in our favor.”
The long running matter concerns the amount MDUSD is to receive as annual reimbursement from CVCHS for the use of the District-owned campus on Alberta Way in Concord.
In October 2019, CVCHS paid the district $925,256 for facility use in the 2013-17 school years. (The charter school says it has paid the District $2.2 million in reimbursement since 2013.) Both sides recognize their dispute on the calculation of fees can have far-reaching effects around the state where many public charter schools use facilities from public school districts.
Decisive victory
After the favorable Court of Appeals ruling last fall the charter school reported, “The California First District Court of Appeal issued a unanimous published decision in Clayton Valley Charter High School v. Mt. Diablo Unified School District that was a decisive victory for CVCHS and charter schools on the issue of how to properly calculate the pro-rata share. The case involved the interpretation of the regulation that defines which school district ‘facilities costs’ may be included in the calculation of the pro-rata share to be charged to a charter school.”
The District also issued a statement then which read, in part: “The impact of the court of appeal’s decision on the fees to be paid by the charter school remains to be seen, pending future proceedings before the Superior Court. The case involves interpretation of regulations that are based upon school district accounting and budgeting conventions from the California School Accounting Manual, and the court of appeal acknowledged that the legal issues were complex and involved interpretation of a regulation that had not yet previously been ruled on by a court.
The court of appeal also stated that CVCHS “shall recover its costs on appeal.”
Another byproduct of the dispute is that $1.448 million earmarked for facility improvements at CVCHS through the voter-approved $348 million general obligation bond Measure C of 2010 has been frozen pending resolution of the lawsuit. Measure C is projected to complete its few remaining projects this upcoming summer with will leave only the Clayton Valley Charter monies to be spent.
Projects originally targeted to be completed with those funds on the Clayton Valley Charter campus included multi-use room renovation, PE building improvements including boys lockerroom, stadium tech improvements, library tech upgrades, fencing, marquee and pathway improvements.
Jay Bedecarré
Jay Bedecarré is a long-time resident and writer in Concord and Clayton. He began his newspaper writing career while still a senior at Mt. Diablo High School and he has been part of The Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also operates Bay Area Festivals, presenting events around the San Francisco Bay Area including Bay Area KidFest annually in Downtown Concord.