Broad Foundation defends charter plan after concerns about public school impact
Speaking at an invitation-only panel discussion, the executive director of the Broad Foundation on Thursday defended his organization’s plan to lead a doubling of charter schools in Los Angeles over eight years.
“We’ve got over 50,000 students on wait lists in charters. Why is that? It’s because parents want different choices, they want something different,” Broad's Gregory McGinity said, speaking publicly on the plan for the first time since it was leaked in September.
The education reform advocacy group ABC sponsored the panel discussion held at the L.A. County-USC Medical Center before a gathering of about 70 invitees.
The event focused almost entirely on the charter expansion plan and featured a tense discussion with McGinity and Los Angeles Unified School Board President Steve Zimmer on the proposal's financial impact on the public schools.
The plan’s stated goal is to increase the charters’ “market share” of Los Angeles' public education. That approach, Zimmer said, is contrary to the founding mission of charter schools.
“The idea was to use these networks, these schools, as incubators for change and then spread that change throughout the system so all kids could be part of that change,” he said.
Instead, Zimmer said, the plan to enroll 130,000 new students in charter schools could push LAUSD into bankruptcy because state funding would follow the students.
McGinity said he doesn't believe that will happen.
“I have a lot of faith in the school board and the team at LAUSD, but we also know we’ve seen a lot of school districts around the country with a high percentage of charter schools and they’re thriving,” he said.
The plan proposes spending $490 million to secure school sites around Los Angels and hire charter school staff. Because many charter schools are nonunion, the plan is opposed by the UTLA, the teachers union, which was not invited to the event.
McGinity said the charter school plan is a work in progress and the Thursday discussion would help shape the final proposal. He didn’t say when that might be completed.
Just where the charter schools would be located is still up for discussion. “Is it just a few isolated communities? Is it the broader city? Is it the greater Los Angeles area as we think about access to high-quality education for families?” he asked.
After the discussion, McGinity, and the other panelists went table to table, taking questions from participants.
Rob McGowan, an associate director at CADRE, a parent support group, said what he’s heard so far from the Broad Foundation assumes inner city kids will enroll in the charters and automatically benefit. But he said “it takes something more than that, it takes a belief in that black child, that this black child is a human being and is capable.”
He said his group pushes LAUSD to create disciplinary policies and instructional approaches that address the learning needs of African-American children. He said he'd like to see those goals included in the charter expansion plan.
Support or opposition to Broad’s charter school plan has become a litmus test in L.A.’s public school community to determine alliances, according to Claremont Graduate University’s Charles Kerchner.
“Clearly the Broad plan has started something which I call the Charter School Wars in Los Angeles that’s going to be with us for some time,” he said.
To bring the battle to a peaceful end, he said a coalition is needed that includes representatives from City Hall, the school district, the business community, labor unions and charter supporters. But he added he didn't think it is likely the groups would sit down together any time soon.Broad Foundation defends charter plan after concerns about public school impact | 89.3 KPCC:
