Proposed Package of Bills Would Increase Oversight, Curb Growth of California Charter Schools

A package of four bills introduced by a group of state legislators on Monday would ramp up restrictions on charter schools in California and likely curb their growth.

Two of the bills would place an unspecified cap on charter school growth and enable school districts to more closely consider the financial impacts of new charters when deciding whether or not to approve them. Another bill would prevent charters that are rejected by local districts from appealing their applications to the county or state. A fourth would block charter schools that can’t find facilities in their authorizing district from moving into schools in an adjoining district.

Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, D-Long Beach, who chairs the Education Committee and introduced two of the bills, said the legislation would collectively “provide school districts the ability to make responsible and informed decisions regarding authorization and renewal of charter schools, which are critical for student success and taxpayer accountability,”

The California Teachers Association, which endorsed the new bills in a press release Monday, said the legislation was also backed by a number of local teachers and school employees unions, and the California chapter of the NAACP.

The bills coincide with an ongoing districtwide teachers strike in Oakland, which is now in its fourth day. District teachers and their union are blaming charter school growth for weakening the district’s financial strength.

Not surprisingly, news of the legislation was not received warmly by many charter school supporters. Eric Premack, head of the nonprofit Charter Schools Development Center in Sacramento, called the bills a “full-frontal” assault and “scorched earth” approach to charter schools.

Charter schools are publicly funded schools that have greater flexibility in hiring, curriculum and other aspects of their operations. Unlike traditional public schools run by elected school boards, charter schools in California are nonprofit organizations with self-appointed boards, although most have been approved by local or county school districts.

Another bill, Senate Bill 126, that would require charter schools to comply with the state’s open meeting, public records and conflict of interest laws, passed overwhelmingly in the state Senate last week and, is scheduled to be heard in O’Donnell’s Education Committee on Tuesday.

Many charter schools already adhere to these rules, but the new legislation would make enforcement universal. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who campaigned for more charter school transparency, encouraged the bill’s quick passage.

If all the bills on the table are approved as written, said Premack, the charter school advocate, it could effectively bring charter growth to a standstill or only allow for charter schools that serve “dropouts and students who are difficult to serve.”

With 1,323 charter schools — double what it was a decade ago — California has by far the largest number of charter schools of any state. The 600,000 students who attend them make up 10 percent of California’s students and one-fifth of the nation’s charter school population.

But the departure of Gov. Jerry Brown, who thrice vetoed charter transparency bills like SB 126, and for years staunchly protected the state’s charter school law, has created opportunities for the CTA and other charter school opponents to seek new restrictions. The CTA has capitalized on the strikes in Los Angeles Unified and Oakland Unified, which have the largest percentages of students in charter schools in the state, to press the case that charter schools are placing serious financial strain on districts.

The CTA has escalated its rhetoric against charter schools over the past year in campaign ads and on its website Kids Not Profits.

“It is clear that Californians want significant changes in the decades-old laws governing charter schools that have allowed corporate charter schools to divert millions away from our neighborhood public schools [and] allowed for waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars at the expense of our students,” said California Teachers Association President Eric Heins.

In response, Carlos Marquez, senior vice president of government affairs for the California Charter Schools Association, said, “CTA’s extreme policy proposals undermine the unified case we must all make to fairly and adequately fund all of California’s public schools. Instead, they’re choosing to pit public school families against one another. California’s charter public schools will remain focused on sponsoring legislation that will support all public schools and our most vulnerable students.”

In introducing the bills now, O’Donnell and the co-authors may be moving ahead of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who Newsom has asked to create a panel of experts to look at the financial effect and other impacts of charter schools. Newsom was responding to the Los Angeles Unified school board’s request for a moratorium on new charters in Los Angeles while the state considers changes to the state charter law. The panel is slated to recommend its changes by July 1.

Staff writer Diana Lambert contributed to this story, which was originally published by EdSource.