Charter schools by definition are autonomous institutions. Why then do charter schools have to submit the Language Census and why do they have to submit it in conjunction with a particular LEA?
Although charter schools have exemptions from some sections of the Education Code, English learners (also referred to as limited-English-proficient [LEP] students) have federal protections, including the ruling in several federal court cases, such as Castaneda v. Pickard & Gomez v. Illinois State Board of Education. In addition, pursuant to the No Child Left Behind Act, the U.S. Department of Education provides financial assistance to state educational agencies and LEAs based on enrollments of English learner students. Although a charter school may be autonomous, it is still legally linked to its host/sponsoring LEA and its operation is totally dependent upon the continued legal authorization by the LEA. Consequently, the Language Census form for charter schools is administered through the authorizing LEAs.
