The seeming flood of charter schools that opened in the Sacramento City Unified School District last year has slowed to a trickle, on par with other large districts in the region that have only a handful of the alternative schools in the pipeline this year.

But while growth has waned locally, charter advocates hope for a boost from a report released last week that pushes for a statewide increase in the number of charter schools and a simplification of the complex funding formulas that pay for them.

The Legislative Analyst's Office on Tuesday released a report that said on the whole, charter schools have performed as well as traditional public schools, despite political hurdles and funding inequities. The report said that when serving poor students, charter schools often perform better than traditional schools.

There are currently 471 charter schools serving 170,000 students in California.

Caprice Young, CEO of the California Charter Schools Association, said she hopes the Legislative Analyst's support will prompt more school districts to see charter schools as a vital piece of the educational puzzle.

"Charters can help districts address certain needs," Young said. "It used to be that parents sent their kids to charters to escape the local school district. That is changing. Charters are now partnering with school districts to serve the same body of students."

Charter schools, which can open much more quickly than traditional new public schools because of streamlined administration, can help relieve overcrowding, Young said.

"Sometimes there are emerging populations of students that districts don't have a lot of experience serving," she said. "For kids who are at risk, charters can make a big difference."

In the Sacramento City Unified School District, 2003 was a tumultuous year in large part because of the burgeoning number of charters, which drew pointed criticism and now-defunct recall attempts from a group of parents and the teachers union. Critics charged that charters siphon money and other resources away from traditional schools and that a lack of oversight could lead to weak educational programs.

Despite that opposition, the district approved or opened nine new charter campuses last year and waged a protracted legal battle over one of them. This year, Sac City Unified has just one approved charter, the Learning Repertoire Charter Academy, waiting to open. It is currently scheduled to launch in August 2005.

One other charter group, the Language Academy of Sacramento, is awaiting a February vote by the school board on its proposed Spanish-immersion curriculum.

School board President Rob Fong said 2003 marked "a perfect storm" for a slew of charter applications to rain on the district. In the end, a legal settlement was reached that let Sacramento High become a charter run by the nonprofit St. HOPE Corp.; four district-backed small high schools opened their doors; an arts-themed charter broke away from the former Sacramento High; and three elementary charter schools were founded.

Although the school board is considering fewer charter petitions so far this year, Fong said he remains supportive of the alternative schools, which are publicly funded and open to all students but exempt from much of the regulation of regular schools.

Backers of the proposed Language Academy of Sacramento charter school are hopeful that a majority of the school board will approve its proposal to create a 500-student campus adjacent to Fruitridge Elementary, which currently houses a two-way Spanish immersion program. The charter would expand on that program, starting kindergarten instruction at 90 percent Spanish and 10 percent English; each year, the amount of English instruction would increase by 10 percent and by fifth-grade, the curriculum would be 50 percent English and 50 percent Spanish.

"Sacramento has changed over the years, and it's now one of the most diverse cities in the country," said Elena Soto-Chapa, a member of the group that developed and circulated the charter petition. "We want our students to become bilingual, biliterate and multiculturally competent leaders."

In the San Juan Unified School District, two charters are set to open in the fall: a second Options for Youth location, which is a home schooling-based charter; and the Humane Education Learning Charter, which will stress caring and compassion toward living things. San Juan has three active charter schools.

In the Grant Joint Union High School District, Futures Charter School and the School to Career adult program are two charters slated to open in the fall. Both will focus on at-risk students.

The Legislative Analyst's Office also has recommended that more entities, like nonprofits and universities, be allowed to authorize and oversee charters. Currently, only local, county and state school boards are allowed to approve charter petitions.

Bruce Fuller, a professor of education and public policy at UC Berkeley who has studied charter schools, said that expanding the number of authorizers will likely be a tough sell. The state Legislature has killed or postponed bills that would allow mayors and colleges to authorize and run charters, and proponents already have multiple avenues to pursue charter approval.

"I don't think that going to a chaotic system of authorization would lead to more high-quality charter schools," Fuller said.

Charter backers say that overhauling school financing is by far the most important step toward expanding charter schools.

The Legislative Analyst's Office recommended consolidating 24 categorical programs down to two. Categorical funds, or special pots of money that go toward specific programs, are currently doled out individually, and charters don't have the personnel or time to tackle the required paperwork, Young said. As a result, most charters don't receive as much funding as traditional schools.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed an overhaul of categorical funding, but it won't be an easy or straightforward battle, Fuller said.

Charters do receive a lot of money from certain categorical pots, like school construction and textbooks, he said. Rolling those pots into a larger pot might make it harder for charters to get that money.

"Charters will want some streams of money to be protected," he said. "Consolidating categoricals is not a silver bullet that will solve the financing woes of charter schools."