Legislation being considered that would subject charter schools to disclosure laws
By Kimberly Beltran
Friday, June 07, 2013
Charter schools would be subject to the same open meeting and disclosure laws as traditional public schools and other local government agencies under a bill now pending in the California Senate.
AB 913, authored by Assemblyman Ed Chau, D-Monterey Park, and sponsored by the California School Boards Association and the California Teachers Association, passed in the Assembly last month and now awaits action in the Senate.
The bill calls for charter schools to meet the mandates of the state’s landmark open meeting laws – the Brown Act and Bagley-Keene Act – as well as the California Public Records Act.
It also “expresses the intent of the Legislature” to require charter schools to establish conflict-of-interest policies – required under the Political Reform Act of 1974 – similar to those currently in place for school districts.
Chau’s legislation lays out a laundry list of regulations aimed at prohibiting governing officials or employees from having a financial interest in decisions made by them in their official capacity. The bill prohibits charter employees from voting on employment issues affecting themselves or relatives, and lays out specific rules board members mus