In December 2021, NVUSD denied the Mayacamas application on several grounds, one of which included the community impact finding which allows a district to consider whether the charter would serve the interests of the entire community where the charter school is proposing to locate. In March 2022, the Napa County Board of Education upheld the denial based on the community impact finding.

In September 2022, SBE reversed the NVUSD and NCBOE decisions, citing an abuse of discretion at the district and county levels.

In November, NVUSD filed a lawsuit against the SBE over its approval of the Mayacamas school, saying the approval violated changes to state laws made by Assembly Bill 1505. That bill limited the scope of SBE’s ability to overturn charter application denials.

ACSA expressed concern about the SBE’s application of the abuse of discretion standard based on whether the district’s or the county office’s findings and decisions were unlawful and procedurally unfair.

In a letter sent to NVUSD in November, ACSA offered its support of the district and communicated that SBE did not apply the most deferential legal standard of review, the abuse of discretion standard, in overturning the denial of the petition. ACSA has been closely monitoring this case and is pleased with the court’s decision.

“The decision upholds the intent of Assembly Bill 1505, which respects local authority on charter petitions, unless there is a clear abuse of discretion,” ACSA Executive Director Edgar Zazueta said. “The decision from the court further clarifies the law, which we hope will prevent this from happening again.”