The nation's first charter school support and advocacy organization, CSDC's advocacy work brought the charter schools concept to California in 1991, and has continued to be a consistent and trusted voice for the California charter school movement ever since.

Our Track Record

CSDC played a pivotal role in the California charter school movement, starting with the movement's inception in 1992.

• We helped write California's first charter school law.
• We assisted with a major overhaul to the Charter Schools Act in 1998.
• We are fiscal experts who fight for equitable charter funding.
• We were the architects of the "block grant" system.
• We help secure funding for new and growing charters.
• We play an important role in the state budget process.
• We led the charge against legislation that would have required charter schools to follow onerous siting requirements.
• We defend charter schools from legislative attacks.
• We vigorously support charters before regulators and state agencies.
• We represent charter interests in regulatory law.
• We spot unseen but critical bureaucratic issues.
• We have helped to win over 1 billion dollars in grant funding for California charter schools.
• We support innovative school models of all types.

Today, CSDC is known as a smart, tough charter school advocacy organization and we continue to be the "go-to" source for charter school support, technical expertise, and leadership development.

In 2022, with the help of our member schools, we pulled off a "legislative hat trick," sending nearly 30,000 emails to legislators and successfully defeating AB 2214, AB 2484, and SB 1343.