Los Angeles Asks For a Charter School Pause
– LAUSD Board Member Scott Schmerelson
– California Charter School Association
The resolution before the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) School Board was relatively benign. Its passage would not actually change any policy. Instead, it would ask the state to impose a temporary moratorium on new charter schools within the District while state education leaders “conduct a comprehensive study to inform future policy considerations for charter authorization reform.”
The California Charter School Association (CCSA) described the resolution in completely different terms. According to them, this resolution was an all-out assault on their publicly funded private schools. Instead of attending class, hundreds of charter school students took buses to protest in front of the LAUSD headquarters on Beaudry. Some students cried as they pleaded with the Board to not shut down their schools.
Although the Board meeting was not set to begin until 1:00 PM, the line curved around the building and halfway up 4th Street by 8:20 AM in the morning. By some reports, the charter industry supporters had been lining up as early as 6:30 AM in order to ensure access to the meeting. After waiting for almost five hours, I gained access to the meeting and a chance to speak:
I am going to follow up with the last speaker. He said that “a moratorium is a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist.” I disagree.
“Kids First” is the motto of this Board.
That to me would mean a charter school, North Valley Military Institute, CONTINUE READING: Los Angeles Asks For a Charter School Pause
