Charter school parents, students and administrators packed the meeting room at the Los Angeles Unified School District board meeting Tuesday to voice opposition to state legislation they said will hurt charter schools.
But despite their large presence, the board narrowly voted later in the day in favor of a resolution to support three bills: Assembly bills 1360 and 1478 and State Senate Bill 808.
Supporters say the three will increase oversight of charter schools. But State Senate Bill 808 was especially galling to those who turned out to speak to the board. That bill would give local school districts, like LAUSD, sole power over whether to approve petitions to create new charter schools or renew those petitions so charter schools can keep operating. Currently, charter schools can appeal to the California State and county boards of education if their charter petitions are denied by local districts.
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School board members Scott Schmerelson and George McKenna put forth the resolution in support of the three state bills. The two board members said in their resolution that the number of charter schools has grown 287 percent in the district in the last 10 years. Current rules about transparency, accountability, equity and school access haven’t been enough to effectively oversee charter school operations, they said. These three bills would address that.
All bills are weaving their way through legislative committees, and the Senate bill will have a public hearing on April 26.
Board member Monica Ratliff introduced an amendment to McKenna and Schmerelson’s resolution to take out reference to State Senate Bill 808, but leave the other two. She said that although she supports the idea that the district should control approval of charter schools, she objected to language in the bill that said districts can deny a charter school petition if they can show that the charter would put a financial hardship on the district.
“To now say that the school districts can just decide not to allow a charter school, including a charter school that already exists, … based on that line, ‘granting a petition would impose financial hardship on the district,’ I have a problem with that. Because I think that we’re going to be able to say that on every single charter school that comes before this board.”
“It is a fact that the loss of enrollment is a hardship on this district,” McKenna answered. Charter schools draw students from district schools, he said. “The district has an obligation to protect its stability.”
In the end, there weren’t enough votes to pass Ratliff’s amendment, and the board passed the original resolution, with reference to State Senate Bill 808 intact, with a 4-to-3 vote. Board President Steve Zimmer and Board Member Richard Vladovic joined McKenna and Schmerelson to support the resolution.
Parents of charter school students told the board Tuesday morning that supporting the bills would equate to playing politics with their children’s education.
“Most of our families are low-income, and they don’t have access to prep schools. They don’t have the money to pay for private school,” said Irlanda Gonzalez, parent of a charter school student and parent engagement coordinator for Ingenium Charter Schools. “I’m here to ask you … to stop playing political games and focus to give our children the best education.”
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The three bills have support from the California Teachers Association, which says the bills will bring more accountability, oversight and equal access for charter schools.
But Zenzontl Kuauhtzin, director of a group called Parent Empowerment for Public Schools and parent of a charter school student, was not impressed.
“Our parents have been clear. We want quality public schools in our neighborhood,” said Kuauhtzin. “Our parents understand the theory that that could be a traditional public school or it could be a public charter school. … We do not need to be spending our energy on this type of Senate bill, Assembly bills, that are only dividing us.”
Status of charter school bills in the State Legislature:
• State Senate Bill 808 is in committee and a hearing date is set for April 26. The bill would give local school districts, like LAUSD, sole power over whether to approve petitions to create new charter schools or renew those petitions so charter schools can keep operating.
•Assembly Bill 1360, which deals with charter school admissions and suspensions, is in committee. No hearing date set. •Assembly Bill 1478, is in committee with no hearing date set. It deals with charter school information disclosure and transparency.
