‘Common sense regulations’ or ‘an extended middle finger’—how far will California go on charter schools?
With new fast-tracked transparency rules for charter schools in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has fulfilled a January pledge to bring “long overdue” accountability measures to this growing sector of public schools.
But the open meeting and disclosure law signed Tuesday, March 5 — after Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed similar bills twice in prior years — may turn out to be the least controversial part of the Capitol push for tighter charter school regulation.
Several bills, introduced as teachers strikes have amplified the issue, would impose far more consequential and politically loaded restrictions on the state’s 1,300-plus charters, publicly-funded schools that operate outside of the control of school districts and are mostly non-union.
Among them:
- A cap on charter schools at their current level.
- Strict limits on charter school locations and the appeal of charters denied by local school districts.
- New rules that would let districts deny a charter based, at least in part, on the potential financial impact on traditional public schools.
Assembly Bills 1505, 1506, 1507 and 1508 would curb the growth of California’s charter schools, which educate about 10 percent of the state’s 6.2 million public-school students. Legislators pushing the proposals say they are long-needed revisions to laws that have gone mostly unchanged for decades.
But unlike Senate Bill 126, which Newsom signed Tuesday, and on which most charter advocates were neutral, the forthcoming proposals can expect vigorous and organized pushback.
More: Charter schools a flashpoint in California’s teacher strikes – here’s where and how they’ve grown
“These are the policy equivalent of an extended middle finger,” said Eric Premack, executive director and founder of the Sacramento-based Charter Schools Development Center. “This is not the type of legislation that is designed to engender constructive discussion.”
Unions were equally adamant.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Alex Caputo-Pearl, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said of the proposed bills, which he called “common-sense regulations.”
“The massive community support that was seen in both the L.A. and Oakland teachers’ strikes showed that parents and communities and the public are willing to fight for the sustainability of public schools,” Caputo-Pearl said. He added that the charter cap bill sponsored by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty of Sacramento was the “most important” CONTINUE READING: How far will California go on charter schools?
