Politics & Government

Bullis Charter School Hands Over Donations Data

LASD's president said he was disappointed at BCS' decision to appeal to the higher court, to the same effect as the lower court, after the district had made an effort to address BCS' privacy concerns.

 

The Bullis Charter School began providing financial donation information this week, as it had been ordered in November, and following the state appeals court's declining to review that order. 

In a written statement on Tuesday, the Los Altos School District said BCS "produced the first part of the information Superior Court Judge Patricia M. Lucas ordered produced, and is producing the rest of the information this week."

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The district had requested the donation information as part of the discovery process, which it had invoked when Bullis moved to ask for $1.3 million in attorneys' fees stemming from a previous lawsuit successfully challenging the 2009-2010 facilities allocation. The District sought information about donations  to challenge whether a broader public good was being served and to preserve public education funds.

Bullis (BCS) had balked at discovery, saying that the donation information was too intrusive and violated fundamental privacy rights. In response to those concerns, the district had scaled back its requests during conference sessions with the judge, so that donor identity was not requested and offered to subject the information to a protective order so that only a limited set of individuals could see it. BCS responded that it believed it was still possible to apply some kind of forensic techniques to discover donors' identities.

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Los Altos School Board President Doug Smith said that the district had made a "good-faith effort to resolve the issue without further litigation," and that he was disappointed BCS had taken it up to the court of appeal.

BCS’ legal memorandum in support of its petition, and the District’s opposition, are available on the LASD website at http://www.lasdschools.org/District/News/5211-LASD-BCS-CourtUpdate.html   


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