Past Time for a Charter School Moratorium in California
In December 2015, elected officials and education professionals in Orange County, California joined a growing number of voices across our state calling for a charter school expansion moratorium:
“So today, we are asking Orange County residents to stand with our children and call for an immediate temporary moratorium on charter schools at all levels until there is transparency and accountability on par with public schools.”
Michael Matsuda, Superintendent, Anaheim Union High School District
Al Jabbar, Board member, Anaheim Union High School District
Annemarie Randle-Trejo, Board member, Anaheim Union High School District
Brian O’ Neal, Board member, Anaheim Union High School District
Anna Piercy, Board member, Anaheim Union High School District
Kathy Smith, Board member, Anaheim Union High School District
In their joint declaration, they pointed to concerns about lack of transparency in the use of money by publicly supported charter schools. They also worried that charter schools laws do not sufficiently protect students; stating this example, “The USA though, because of lax charter laws that favor privatization, is the only country in the world that allows public taxpayer money to fund schools operated by foreign nationals.”
To this last point, in January, a notice in the San Diego Union about Magnolia Public Schools piqued my interest enough to investigate. To my surprise, I found that Magnolia Public Schools were part of the Gulen charter school empire, the schools governed by the Turkish Imam, Fethullah Gulen. I found that California already has eleven of these schools including one here in my hometown, San Diego.
A Little Charter School History
In 1974 Ray Budde, who taught educational administration at the University of Massachusetts, presented the Society for General Systems Research some ideas for the reorganization of school districts in a paper he titled “Education by Charter”.
Ted Kolderie, one of the original designers of the nation’s first charter school lawin Minnesota tells us:
“Ray Budde’s proposal was actually for a restructuring of the district: for Past Time for a Charter School Moratorium in California | tultican:
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Petition REPEAL Charter School Act of 1992 in CA Ballot Initiative http://bit.ly/1Gt6Nu3
California’s charter school law repeal movement update http://bit.ly/1P1Evv9
Schools Matter: California's charter school law repeal movement update http://bit.ly/1YtorCJ
