"The State Board of Education is the latest to weigh in with a proposal to weed out low-performing charter schools. It joins the Senate and the Assembly, whose Race to the Top bills differ on the right approach.
Even charter school advocates, including the California Charter Schools Association, agree that mediocre charter schools are undermining the case for expanding successful charters. Their low test scores feed arguments of charter opponents, who cite numbers showing that, on average, charters aren’t outperforming district schools."
The issue has gained importance, because U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is using the $4.3 billion Race to the Top competition as leverage to push the expansion of high-performing charter schools. In response, both Senate and Assembly bills – SBX5-1 and ABX5-8 – would remove California’s limit of 100 new charters per year. While doing so would have no practical effect – the annual cap has never been reached, and unused numbers accumulate – its elimination would earn a few points on California’s Race to the Top application.
Assuming there are no financial irregularities and other problems, charter schools are entitled to have their charters renewed if they satisfy one of several criteria. They include reaching their API targets for the previous year; ranking in the fourth decile or higher for schools with similar demographics; or having API scores that are as high as those of neighborhood district schools. In a district like Los Angeles Unified, that last criteria can be a very low bar.
Chartering authorities – mostly local districts and county offices of education – have the responsibility for renewing and revoking charters. At its Dec. 15 meeting, the State Board of Education will take up proposed regulations would allow the board to intervene and revoke a charter of a school that fails to meet