Charter schools call proposed L.A. moratorium illegal
Charter school advocates are mounting a campaign against a proposed moratorium on new charters in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The moratorium is one provision of a resolution, by school board member Steve Zimmer, that is scheduled for discussion on Tuesday.
Any moratorium would violate state law, according to the California Charter Schools Assn., in a Friday letter to L.A. Unified. The proposal “very clearly violates the Charter Schools Act,” wrote the group's general counsel, Ricardo J. Soto. “The Board of Education must continue to accept, hear, and take action on all charter petitions.”
Charter schools are independently operated and free from some provisions that govern traditional public schools. Most are non-union. L.A. Unified has more charters, 186, than any other school system in the country. The school district oversees and authorizes charter schools within its boundaries.
Zimmer has frequently decried the loss of students to charter schools. His proposal calls on all schools to share