EPIPHANY PREP’S RENEWAL REJECTED BY BOARD

Charter school plans to appeal to state, county officials

The Escondido Union School District board unanimously rejected a five-year renewal for Epiphany Prep Charter School last week, concluding that the school failed to meet performance criteria required to stay in operation.

Epiphany Prep, however, is challenging that denial with county and state officials, claiming that the school district relied on narrow criteria to evaluate its achievements, and failed to account for growth in student learning.

“Our growth is dramatic, and they’re not recognizing that at all,” said Epiphany Prep President David Rivera.

Epiphany Prep opened in Escondido in 2016, with the aim of serving low-income students in the city center. It now serves 750 students in transitional kindergarten through eighth grade, and offers an extended eighthour school day, with additional before- and afterschool programs. About 53 percent of its students are English learners, at least 91 percent are from low-income families, and 98 percent are Hispanic, according to figures the school provided.

“It’s a high-risk population,” Rivera said. “It’s as high risk as it gets in San Diego County, and this is the population we seek out.”

The California Department of Education listed Epiphany Prep as “low performing,” based on academic results that fell below the state average for several years. New state education code, approved through Assembly Bill 1505, raised the

fiscal and educational criteria for charter schools, and authorizes school districts to deny their renewal if they don’t meet those.

“The intent of the new legislation, AB 1505, was to put in place rigorous accountability measures for charter schools,” Escondido Union Superintendent Luis Rankins-ibarra said. “The responsibility for oversight and accountability rests on the shoulders of the chartering authority and in this case, the Escondido Union School District. Based on the law and the relevant facts, the board had a duty to utilize the accountability measurement set forth and deny the petition for a fiveyear renewal.”

Under state law, the charter can be denied if its schoolwide academic performance levels are the same or lower than the state average, and a majority of underperforming student subgroups fall below the state average.

In 2018, Epiphany Prep students fell 86 points below state math standards, and 63 points below English language arts standards, compared to students statewide who scored 37 points below math standards and 6 points below English standards, Escondido Union officials stated in a presentation to the board. In 2019, Epiphany Prep students scored 75 points below state standards for math and 46 points below standards for English, while students throughout California fell 34 points short of math standards and 2.5 points below English standards.

In those years, English learners, Hispanic and socio-economically disadvantaged students all fell further below state standards than their counterparts in other schools throughout California. Escondido school officials concluded that “Epiphany Prep’s academic performance has resulted in a disparate impact” for those groups.

“There lacks clear and convincing evidence that the school achieved measurable increases in academic achievement, as defined by at least one year’s progress for each year in school,” the district stated in its presentation to the board. “Epiphany Prep is not taking meaningful steps to address the underlying causes of its low academic performance.”

Rivera said those performance figures represent only recent test results, and don’t take into account the trend of improving test scores over time. Officials with the charter cited figures showing that while their absolute scores were below state averages, their growth in student performance was above average.

In the 2018-19 academic year, they stated, Ephipany Prep elementary students were in the 61st percentile for growth in math scores compared to students statewide, and middle school students were in the 69th percentile for growth in math performance. For English language arts, its elementary students were in the 73rd percentile for growth that year compared to average statewide improvement levels, and middle school students were in the 93rd percentile for growth. He said the school district failed to recognize those improvements, when the board voted to deny its charter renewal.

“We’re pulling their lowest-income, highest-need students into our schools, and they’re penalizing us because of our distance from standard,” he said.

Rivera said Epiphany Prep is contesting its state ranking as a “low-performing school,” and asking officials with the California Department of Education to remove that designation. It is also appealing the charter denial with the San Diego County Office of Education, and will have hearings on that appeal in April and May.