As the the LAUSD charter schools conflict escalates, here’s what you need to know
Tuesday’s L.A. Unified school board meeting was unusual. What made it out of the ordinary, charter school supporters said, is that school district staff is recommending the denial of charter school petitions much more often than now.
In 2013, the advocates said, school district staff recommended approval of nearly 90 percent of charter petitions. This year, that rate is half of what it was.
Both advocates and even some LAUSD officials say that the shift is a response to the plan, first floated by wealthy philanthropist Eli Broad, to rapidly expand the number of charter schools in Los Angeles, with the eventual goal of enrolling up to half of LAUSD's current students. What's at issue is whether or not that increased opposition to new charters is appropriate.
Here's a look at why this week looks like an escalation in the conflict between the forces for and against charter schools in Los Angeles.
Here’s what was unusual about this week’s board meeting.
The board had seven charter petitions to consider at Tuesday's meeting. Staff recommended denial for three based on lackluster performance, faulty financing, and unsound academic plans.
Those recommendations for rejections prompted charter school supporters to cry foul. They said the school district is exercising unwarranted scrutiny because of their opposition to a plan by philanthropist Eli Broad to double the number of charters in LA.
Here’s how the plan unveiled last year by philanthropist Eli Broad to rapidly expand the number of charter schools in Los Angeles is shaping the struggle over charters.
School board president Steve Zimmer said that he is now scrutinizing charter applications more than he was before, but he said that's the right thing to do to protect the well-being of the school district. When the plan was unveiled, he said he became more concerned that if expansion continues at the current pace, L.A. Unified would cease to exist as we know it.
“I didn’t put that plan on the landscape," he said. "I’m not the one who is continuing to open more and more charters in LAUSD when there are districts surrounding LAUSD with lower or comparable student outcomes where there are no charters."
At Tuesday’s meeting, Zimmer and his colleagues on the board eventually did go against one staff recommendation and gave the Excel Charter Academy in Los Angeles, run by Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC), another chance. As the the LAUSD charter schools conflict escalates, here’s what you need to know | 89.3 KPCC:
