SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday vetoed a bill that would have increased charter school accountability and transparency.
Championed by an alliance of community groups and state leaders who banded together in the past month to urge the Governor to sign it, Assembly Bill 709 would have required that charter schools comply with the same state laws governing open meetings, open records and conflict of interest laws that traditional public schools do.
Sponsored by Assemblymember Mike Gipson, D-Carson, the bill would have required all charter schools to disclose how they spend taxpayer money, including budgets and contracts. It also prohibits charters’ board members and their families from profiting from their schools.
Supporters of the bill, which launched what has been dubbed the “Kids Not Profits” campaign, expressed disappointment on Friday afternoon.
“With so much evidence documenting the waste, fraud and abuse by privately-managed charter schools, which have cost taxpayers millions at the expense of our students, we hoped the governor would have signed such an important bill,” said California Teachers Association President Eric Heins in a statement.
Brown said he vetoed the bill because he felt it went too far.
“Starting a charter school requires the strong commitment of dedicated individuals willing to serve on a governing board,” he wrote in a statement. ” While I support transparency, this bill goes further than simply addressing issues of potential conflicts of interest and goes too far in prescribing how these boards must operate.”
The bill’s advocates said that recent news reports about waste, fraud and abuse at charters such as Livermore Valley Charter School, underscore the need for increased accountability of charters. A recent ACLU report, “Unequal Access,” that found that more than 20 percent of California’s charters deny access to students with disabilities, English learners, or students who have lower grades and test scores, they said.
“The impact is far too widespread,” Heins said. “Educators, parents and civil rights groups will continue to support and push legislation to ensure accountability of all charter schools, transparency of taxpayer dollars and equal access for all students.”
