<p>Phil Simmons</p>

For the second time, the Seaside School District Board has rejected an application from the Cannon Beach Academy to establish a charter school within the school district.

Twenty days after the academy submitted its revised charter proposal June 3, the board sent the academy a letter of denial that largely reiterates concerns expressed in its first letter of denial: a lack of long-term financial stability, safety issues regarding the proposed school site and the possibility of causing an adverse impact on the existing district schools.

Originally, the academy planned to appeal the school districts decision to the State Board of Education if the district denied the charter proposal again. But Phil Simmons, the academys board president, said the board will probably go to the district a third time to address some of the concerns raised in the denial letter, particularly the safety of the proposed school site.

Simmons doesnt expect to take very long to resubmit the proposal.

In a few weeks, we should be able to turn this around, he said. If they deny it again, then well go to the state.

The Cannon Beach Academy has now been in development for almost a year. After the school district closed Cannon Beach Elementary School in June 2013, community members, believing that a grade school was vital to the health of their town, began collaborating on a charter school proposal for the district board to evaluate.

Last February, the academy leadership submitted the first proposal, outlining how the school would operate, its funding sources and potential location.

The board denied the proposal, in part, on the grounds that the academy hadnt identified a viable location, lacked the financial wherewithal to open and operate in the black and would force the school district to make cuts to programs and personnel after some of its funding had been diverted to sponsoring the charter school. If the charter school is approved, the school district would be forced to hand about $528,000 over to the charter school to educate 108 Seaside School District students whose parents have signed up for the school.

Funding streams

Following the first denial in February, the academy launched a pledge drive to address the dual defects of inadequate funding and a perceived lack of sustainable community support. By the end of May, the academy had raised more than $340,000 in pledges from 120-plus individuals and businesses. Supporters intended to remove both criticisms with a single show of grassroots fundraising.

In addition, the academy plans to apply for several public and private grants that, coupled with the donations, would help pay for the schools start-up and operating expenses during its first three years.

But the fact that the charter schools budget, as proposed, is so heavily dependent on volunteer fundraising and competitive grants is a serious problem, according to the denial letter, written by Jim Green, the school districts attorney from the Oregon School Boards Association. Both sources of funding account for more than 33 percent of the proposed schools budget for the first year.

Unfortunately, these funds are not funds that you currently have within your possession to operate your school according to your budget, Green said.

Though (m)ost philanthropic entities do raise funds via a pledge and pay process, the academys budget does not consider the attrition rate between the amount pledged and the amount actually received, wrote Green, who noted that nonprofits experience at least a 10 percent loss in pledges.

Whats more, he added, there is no guarantee that the charter school will be awarded the grants it applies for.

The school district, therefore, does not believe that (the academys) resubmitted application demonstrates the necessary financial stability, Green said.

Simmons said that he and the rest of the board will continue looking at the budget to see where they can make improvements.

Site safety

Finding a temporary location for the charter school, which may have to operate out of portable classrooms in its early years, has been an ongoing obstacle for the academy.

In its revised proposal, the academy said it is focusing on a city-owned site within the Cannon Beach RV Park in midtown. The site, however, may pose safety hazards in the event of a major seismic event, according to the districts letter. In addition, the City Council hasnt given the school permission to use the site.

It is not clear whether the property you are currently investigating is within the tsunami inundation zone, Green said. Also, he noted that a previous study indicated that the RV site is built out of fill material and under certain situations could become liquefied and cause major structural damage and collateral implications to human life if structures were placed on the site.

They made it seem that were putting peoples lives at risk, and we take offense to that, Simmons said. I take that allegation very seriously.

First, the location were proposing is not in the inundation zone, he said. Second, though the soft soil issue does need to be explored, were not planning on putting large buildings there but portable classrooms, Phillips added.

Soon, the academy board will meet with local geologist Tom Horning to gather more information. Simmons anticipates that Horning is going to tell me what I believe to be true, which is (that) us putting portable classrooms in that location isnt going to endanger the academys students or faculty.

The district has raised what, on its face, seems a legitimate issue, he said.

When the academy resubmits the proposal for Round Three, Simmons said he will include Hornings findings.

Money matters

As in the first denial, the school district argued that setting up a charter school in the Seaside School District will have a negative impact on the districts overall quality of education.

Under the current proposal, the charter school would open with roughly 108 students, which would require the district to provide over $528,000 to the charter school on an annual basis, Green said. This reduction in funding would require the district to make (reductions) in its current programs or staffing levels. The reduction could affect middle and high school students as well as those who continue to attend the districts two elementary schools, he noted.

Simmons finds this reasoning specious.

Every school district could use that argument. Thered be no charter schools if they did that, he said. I believe the state will agree that thats not a valid reason to deny our proposal.

While the academy revises its charter proposal, it will continue its fundraising efforts.

Working with several volunteers and the Manzanita-based business, Malias Grill, the academy raised more than $3,000 ($4,200 gross) with a concession stand during the 50th Sandcastle Contest in Cannon Beach June 21.

Even though we continue to be denied by the district, we still have a lot of energy in the community to make this school a realty, and Im not going to give up as long as the energy remains, Simmons said.