Brown vetoes bill requiring charters to comply with conflict of interest, open records laws
Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill Friday, pushed hard by the California Teachers Association, that would have required charter schools to comply with the state’s open meetings, public records and conflict of interest laws.
Brown’s rejection of Assembly Bill 709, authored by Mike Gipson, D-Carson, was expected. Brown vetoed an almost identical bill two years ago, and, as aSenate Education Committee analysis noted, the bill “does not include any substantive changes that seek to address” the issues Brown raised then.
In his veto message on Friday, the deadline for acting on hundreds of bills, Brown quoted from his 2014 veto letter: “While I support transparency, this bill goes further than simply addressing issues of potential conflicts of interest and goes too far in prescribing how these boards must operate.”
“That’s still my view,” Brown concluded. A longtime advocate and, as governor, protector of charters, Brown started two charter schools in Oakland before his re-election as governor in 2010.
The California School Boards Association, the Association of California School Administrators and other school management groups supported the bill, but the CTA made it a high-profile campaign as part of its escalating opposition to charter schools. On a new website, Kids Not Profits, it highlighted incidents of mismanagement and fraud by charter schools and their administrators, as well as discriminatory admission policies by some charters that violated the state charter school law. Gipson’s bill would extend vital requirements for accountability and transparency to charter schools, it argued.
CTA President Eric Heins expressed disappointment on Friday. “It is unfortunate that given all the reports showing fraud, waste, mismanagement and unequal access to students, Governor Brown would veto such important legislation that simply required the same standards of accountability and Brown vetoes bill requiring charters to comply with conflict of interest, open records laws | EdSource:
Big Education Ape: Governor Jerry Brown Vetoes Bill to Establish Minimal Charter Accountability | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/09/governor-jerry-brown-vetoes-bill-to.html
