Viewfinder: Charter School Protesters Occupy the Small School Building Lawn

Saying it would take as much as $500,000 to a $1 million a year from the rest of the public schools in the Santa Cruz School District, dozens of protesters held up signs and solicited support for a petition asking the district not to approve the new charter proposal.

See more about both sides of the issue here.

If approved the school would start with 65 students in 2013 and increase to 100 students three years later. Its founders plan to lease space for it, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

The school district of 7,000 students can charter the school and maintain some control over it, or be forced to pay for it and provide space if the County Board of Education approves an appeal, according to the Sentinel.

Protesters claim the school, which uses a looser style of all age classrooms for its K-6 students, without tests or standardized curricula, will cater largely to more affluent families and abandon poorer ones or immigrants who desire a more traditional kind of education.