Bullis Charter School’s Failure to Address The Needs of Underserved Students

The Santa Clara County Board of Education issued a notice of concern on May 5, 2021 to Bullis Charter School for failing to address the needs of underserved student populations in the Los Altos School District. (See the notice here.)

The board found that Bullis has continually failed to adequately represent four specific student groups within the district: English learners, Hispanics, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, and those with disabilities. How far off is BCS in addressing these groups?

The bar chart below looks at BCS enrollment versus what would be a proportionate representation of various student populations within the district. The horizontal black line represents 100 percent proportionate enrollment. BCS is significantly below parity with LASD across all of the groups cited by the SCC Board of Education.

 It’s worth noting that, while the school’s enrollment of all students with disabilities is under 75 percent of proportionate representation, its enrollment of students with severe disabilities falls much farther below proportionate representation. A severely disabled student represents a far larger cost to educate. (See our letter to county board of education on severely disabled students here.)