I’m a New York City school administrator. Here’s how segregation lives on. - Vox

I’m a New York City school administrator. Here’s how segregation lives on. - Vox:

I’m a New York City school administrator. Here’s how segregation lives on

The doors opened to our homemade banners and smiling faces. It was the first day of school ever for the Urban Assembly Unison Middle School in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. It was my first day ever as a leader in the school I co-founded. I was 27 years old.

The racial demographics of the 85 students arriving: 74 percent African American, 15 percent Hispanic, 9 percent Asian, and one white student. At the beginning of sixth grade these students, on average, read at a second-grade reading level. Nearly 40 percent of them had special needs, 35 percent had been left back once or twice, 10percent lived in temporary housing, 10 percent lived in foster care, and 92 percent lived in families whose aggregate family income fell below the federal poverty line.

My colleagues and I started this school in 2012 because we wanted to bring a progressive curriculum called Learning Cultures — which promotes collaboration and creativity and all the qualities that middle-class families want in their children's education — to a population of students that normally gets stuck with rigid, test-prep-oriented teaching. I'd seen Learning Cultures work at a school with both well-to-do and less well-off kids in downtown Manhattan. I wanted to see it work in a full-on high-poverty Brooklyn school, too.

We've had tremendous success in our three years as a school: Test scores are improving, and our students are getting better and better at reading. But our school, like so many others in New York City, remains segregated: by Christmas our first year, our one white student transferred out. Last year, white children made up just 2 percent of our student body.

My time in the New York City public school system —€” first as a student, then as a teacher, and now as an administrator —€” has shown me that segregation is unacceptable. No amount of curriculum magic, or experienced teachers, or school choice, can overcome the fact that to overcome educational inequality, white students need to be in school with minority students.

American schools are resegregating

Stories of resegregation in America's public schools are popping up everywhere, fromMissouri to Alabama to New York City. Nationally, racial segregation in schools hasreturned to levels not seen since 1968.

New York City is among the worst offenders. Among the city's 1.1 million public school students — the largest school system in the nation — children of color have an 80 percent chance of attending a school where the student body consists of fewer than 10 percent white children. Fifty percent of white students attending New York City public schools are concentrated in 7 percent of the schools.

Statewide, African-American and Latino students typically attend schools where 70 percent of the students are low-income, whereas white students typically attend schools where 30 percent of the students are low-income.

Bad as this appears from the outside, on the inside it's even worse. Teachers try to make separate equal. And policies push schools to make it more separate.

I've spent almost my entire life in New York City schools

I've spent 22 of my 30 years in the New York City public school system. In 1990, I started kindergarten at PS 321 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, the borough's best elementary school, I’m a New York City school administrator. Here’s how segregation lives on. - Vox:

Hillary Clinton's plan to undo the school-to-prison pipeline, explained - Vox

Hillary Clinton's plan to undo the school-to-prison pipeline, explained - Vox:

Hillary Clinton's plan to undo the school-to-prison pipeline, explained

At a speech in Harlem on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton will call for a $2 billion plan to help end punitive school policies that can push black children from schools to jails and prisons.

The new $2 billion plan, which goes after the so-called "school-to-prison pipeline," will incentivize the hiring of "school climate support teams" — made up of social workers, behavioral health specialists, and education practitioners — to work with school staff to reorient and develop comprehensive reform plans for school discipline policies.

Specifically, reform plans should try to establish "early warning systems" to identify and help at-risk students and provide training to school staff on conflict deescalation and other ways to defuse a situation without resorting to harsh discipline measures, according to Clinton's campaign.

RelatedWhy police so often see unarmed black men as threats

Clinton's staff said Clinton acknowledges that students who commit violent offenses should be removed from the classroom. But she also believes such incidents are very rare (they are), and that the rush to handle school discipline through the criminal justice system does more harm than good.

The proposal is part of a much broader plan — what Clinton's campaign calls the "Breaking Down Barriers" agenda — which would direct $20 billion to youth jobs, $5 billion to reentry programs for formerly incarcerated people, and $25 billion to support entrepreneurship and small business growth in underserved communities.

But the proposal to tackle the school-to-prison pipeline in particular, while somewhat vague, is the latest major salvo against a system that has gotten more attention over the past several years as the Black Lives Matter movement protests the massive racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

The school-to-prison pipeline, explained

When lawmakers and politicians — including Clinton — began calling for and enacting tough-on-crime policies in the 1970s through '90s, some of the concepts trickled down to schools, which began outsourcing discipline to police through school resource officers Hillary Clinton's plan to undo the school-to-prison pipeline, explained - Vox:

Michigan: The Poster Child for How Not to do Charter Schools

Michigan: The Poster Child for How Not to do Charter Schools:

Michigan: The Poster Child for How Not to do Charter Schools

 Behind the Detroit schools crisis lies a troubling charter school sector.

As Detroit Public Schools' teacher sick-outs and mounting debt capture the attention of press around the world, it might be easy to conclude money alone will solve the Motor City's educational woes. The truth is, its school landscape is complex -- and its solutions don't all come down to money.

One of the city's greatest challenges comes down to something that's free, but demands strong state leadership and political will: accountability.

That might sound simple, but in Michigan it's an incredibly difficult political challenge, especially when it comes to some of the most powerful actors who have greatly shaped Detroit and Michigan communities' school markets over the last two decades: charter school authorizers.

This is a story about what happens to a state when its leaders lift a charter school cap and open the state's doors to massive charter school growth -- supported by billions of taxpayer dollars -- without thinking through how they will hold charter authorizers accountable for their decision-making. And it has national implications, as a growing number of states consider whether to open the doors to charter school growth.

In states such as Massachusetts, where state leaders developed an admirably strong system of performance standards, accountability mechanisms and safeguards to ensure their charter sector would well serve all students -- especially vulnerable children -- the story is quite different than Michigan's narrative.

Consider: Students in Boston Public Schools far outperform students in Detroit Public Schools on the national assessment in every subject and all grades tested. What's more, over 90 percent of Boston charter schools are showing greater math learning gains than the local traditional district, according to Stanford University research.

In comparison, Michigan's overall charter sector performance is a national embarrassment. To be sure, there are some terrific charter schools in my state -- and more of them are needed to serve the thousands of poor children who lack access to great public schools.

The problem is, there simply aren't enough strong Michigan charters. Michigan has failed to put into place any real performance standards or accountability for its charter authorizers and operators, despite the fact that the sector has been open in the state for more than two decades.

The result: Roughly half of Michigan's charter schools ranked in the bottom quarter of all public schools for academic performance, according to state accountability data from 2013-14. Recent research from Stanford University also found that about eight in 10 Michigan charter schools have academic achievement below the state average for both reading and math.

The challenge is particularly acute in Detroit, where the traditional public school district had already failed children for decades. Detroit Public Schools (DPS) has been among the lowest performing urban school districts for years in many subjects; it's an incredibly low bar to beat for student achievement. Yet among charter districts with significant African American enrollments, two-thirds actually performed below DPS for African American students on the state's 2013 8th grade math assessment. Moreover, roughly 70 percent of charter schools located in Detroit ranked in the bottom quarter of all Michigan public schools in 2013-14 for academic performance.

That's nothing less than remarkable -- and truly heartbreaking. Instead of providing better school options to low-income parents, as the charter sector promised here, too often Michigan charter leaders are replicating failure.

Indeed, according to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Michigan's no-accountability approach has wreaked havoc in the city and caused about 80 percent of all schools -- both charter and traditional -- to open or close over the last seven years. That's not good for high-performing schools of any kind. Further complicating the accountability conversation is the fact that well over three-quarters of Michigan charter schools are run by for-profit management companies.

As an organization committed to improving outcomes for all Michigan students, we support all high-performing schools, whether they are run by charter operators or traditional districts. For us, what matters is student outcomes.

Michigan's charter sector problems are simply too great to ignore. With about 60 percent students of color and 70 percent low-income, persistent underperformance is not just a topic of major concern -- it's a pressing civil rights issue. It's also a taxpayer issue. Some of Michigan's large charter school authorizers are trusted public universities, such as Northern Michigan University and Eastern Michigan University, which have collectively taken in millions of taxpayer dollars over decades.

Lately my organization has documented better decision-making by some authorizers -- as we highlight in our new report -- but marginal improvement is simply not enough. Charter authorizing should be a privilege earned and maintained through strong performance -- not an entitlement, as it's become in Michigan.

We strongly believe that high-quality charter schools can be an effective tool for closing Michigan's -- and America's -- unacceptable achievement gaps.

Sadly, my home state has become a national poster child of how not to do charter schools.
Leaders elsewhere should take notice: Michigan's charter school path is a tragic one to be avoided.

Amber Arellano is the executive director of The Education Trust-Midwest, a nonpartisan research, policy, practice and advocacy nonprofit organization committed to making Michigan a top ten education state for all students.

Follow Amber Arellano on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Arellanotweet

Charter schools bristle at Wolf proposal to give unspent cash to districts | TribLIVE

Charter schools bristle at Wolf proposal to give unspent cash to districts | TribLIVE:
Charter schools bristle at Wolf proposal to give unspent cash to districts

 When City Charter High School invited state police to do a safety inspection of the building Downtown, the agency recommended adding bullet-proof glass at the entrance for extra security.

The school followed that advice, CEO and principal Ron Sofo said, and used about $80,000 from its reserves to pay for the project.

Those unassigned funds, which aren't earmarked for specific yearly expenses, are necessary to help cover unanticipated costs, Sofo said. That's why he and other charter school leaders are against Gov. Tom Wolf's proposal to make charter schools reimburse districts for the tuition money they doesn't use.

“It's not to buy private jet planes,” Sofo said. “It's all related to the school.”

Charter schools are privately operated but funded by taxpayers in the form of tuition payments from public school districts.

Wolf says he wants to prevent charter schools from “collecting more in tuition revenue than they actually spent on students,” according to his 2016-17 budget outline. His proposal for next year includes cuts to cyber charter schools because they don't have the same facility costs as their brick-and-mortar counterparts and would change the formula used to calculate reimbursements for special education students.

Charter school advocates contend that the reimbursement plan discriminates against charters, a notion Wolf's office disputes.

“Governor Wolf is fighting for a historic investment in education, and he introduced tougher measures designed to hold charter schools to the same accountability standards as public schools,” Wolf's spokesman Jeffrey Sheridan wrote in an email. “The governor's proposal proposes a reconciliation process to ensure districts are refunded the money they paid out, but was not spent on students.”

Bob Fayfich, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, said reserves are “an insurance policy in case there is some unexpected issue that you have to address, like a budget impasse.”

School districts “dwarf” charter schools in the amount of money they have in reserve, he said.

Pennsylvania charter schools collectively had about $148 million in unassigned funds at the end of the 2013-14 school year, the most recent available. The state's 499 school districts collectively had about $1.6 billion in unassigned funds, data show.

Of the 18 charter schools in Allegheny County that reported data to the state that year, City Charter had the most money in unassigned funds with $1.3 million. Manchester Academic Charter School followed with about $1.1 million, and Environmental Charter School at Frick Park ranked third with about $998,000.

In Pennsylvania, cyber charter schools collected the most in reserve funds, with Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, based in Midland, taking the top spot overall with close to $8 million. Several charter schools in Philadelphia also had millions of dollars in unassigned funds. Some charter schools, like Pittsburgh's Urban Pathways 6-12, had none.

Jon McCann, CEO of Environmental Charter School, said his school's reserve funds are “negligible.” It's responsible accounting for any district, charter school or other organization to have some money in reserve in case of emergencies. Environmental has just enough to cover two payroll cycles, McCann said.

“To hold charter schools to a different standard where they would have zero funds, it's just unthinkable,” he said. “It's very irresponsible to put an organization in that kind of situation.”

Both school districts and charter schools have tapped into their reserve funds during this school year because of the budget impasse in Harrisburg.

Districts including Penn Hills, Sto-Rox and Elizabeth Forward were forced to take out loans to pay their bills after they used what they had in reserve. Last week, Agora Cyber Charter Charter schools bristle at Wolf proposal to give unspent cash to districts | TribLIVE:

Teachers Union Organizes ‘Walk-In’ Protests Over CPS Budget Cuts « CBS Chicago

Teachers Union Organizes ‘Walk-In’ Protests Over CPS Budget Cuts « CBS Chicago:

Teachers Union Organizes ‘Walk-In’ Protests Over CPS Budget Cuts

CHICAGO (CBS) — Students, parents, and teachers at nearly 200 schools across Chicago were staging a series of “walk-in” demonstrations, to protest budget cuts by the Chicago Public Schools.

The Chicago Teachers Union said the protests are part of a national demonstration to show support for public schools.

Supporters will meet before school to rally and show unity before walking into the building together, and then breaking up so students can go to class.

The CTU said the walk-ins show the collective power of the community. The protest is designed to show Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Board of Education that the teachers’ union and its supporters will act together to protect teachers’ jobs and the educational opportunities of students.

Protesters want the mayor and CPS Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool to find sources of funding that force the wealthy pay to makeup the system’s budget gaps.

“Why you make swap deals with banks, why you protect developers with TIFs, why you pass property taxes for everyone else except the schools, and we can’t fund our schools. They have to fund the schools, or else we’re going to start doing permanent damage to the public education system, and they’re going to provoke a strike,”CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said.

WBBM 780’s Bernie Tafoya

WBBM 780/105.9FM

play

Kelly High School senior Evelyn Solis was among about 75 students, parents, and teachers taking part in a walk-in at her school at Archer and California avenues.

“I love it how Kelly is like a huge family, you know? If it wasn’t for the teachers and staff, I wouldn’t have been a straight A student. I wouldn’t know how important my education can be, and how it can affect my future,” she said.

The walk-ins are part of a nationwide protest demanding more money for public education. In Chicago, where CPS recently imposed $120 million Teachers Union Organizes ‘Walk-In’ Protests Over CPS Budget Cuts « CBS Chicago:

Frank Cagle: Beware the money behind vouchers

Frank Cagle: Beware the money behind vouchers:

Frank Cagle: Beware the money behind vouchers

 The school voucher bill isn't dead, but it is lying in a coma on the clerk's desk, unlikely to rise for the rest of this session. The pros and cons of public school money being given to private schools aside, the fate of the bill is a hopeful sign for our state House of Representatives.

The out-of-state special interest groups trying to get their hands on taxpayer money are still lurking out there, assembling a war chest from the eccentric idle rich, with which to threaten House members with thousands of dollars if they don't toe the line. House members are to be commended for not running scared and, instead, following the wishes of constituents back home.

Legislators are wising up to the fact that there are forces out there who realize America spends billions on education and they want a big chunk of it.

During the upcoming legislative races, if your representative is being hammered with hundreds of thousands of dollars in negative ads, consider where the money is coming from. Well-meaning education reformers have had various of these groups latch onto them — parasites who see a pot of gold in taxpayers' pockets. Not to mention well-meaning people with a lot of money who are being led around by smooth-talking charlatans who have convinced them to give up on public education.

I'm sure Students First will be around this campaign season spending money and trying to dictate educational policy through fear and intimidation. But at least we don't have to put up with Michelle Rhee anymore. When Rhee got run out of the District of Columbia, she decided to come down here and help us reform education, I suppose because her ex-husband, Kevin Huffman, was our education commissioner and their children were in a suburban Nashville private school. She has moved on to "reform" Sacramento, California.

Rhee married NBA star Kevin Johnson, who is now mayor of Sacramento. (Fun factoid: They got married at Blackberry Farm.) She has turned over the reins of her non-profit to Johnson and joined the board with fellow members that include Bill Cosby. Johnson was such a success as president of the National Conference of Black Mayors that the organization went out of existence at the end of his tenure.

Pearson, a company that has had state contracts, is a billion-dollar conglomerate based in London that sold off its media properties to invest in textbooks, testing and other education activities – 'cause that's where the money is.

A lot of these pressure groups are being funded by Betsy DeVos, who married the heir to the Amway fortune. The Walmart heirs have taken Sam Walton's money and have spent $700 million to "transform" education. (You reckon Sam Frank Cagle: Beware the money behind vouchers:

10 million California student records about to be released to attorneys - San Jose Mercury News

10 million California student records about to be released to attorneys - San Jose Mercury News:

10 million California student records about to be released to attorneys

California public-school records on about 10 million students -- including their Social Security numbers -- will soon be handed over to attorneys for a parent group suing the state, with both parties blaming the other for the impending release of private information.

Fewer than 10 people will receive the student data, and their review will be overseen by a court-ordered special master in electronic discovery. The attorneys reviewing the records are required to keep the data private and confidential, and will have to return or destroy it afterward. Parents also may request by April 1 an exemption from the court order to release their students' information, which will include addresses, test scores, disciplinary records, health and mental health records and more.

(ThinkStock Photo)

But privacy advocates worry about potential for the data to escape.

"Where does that software sit, where does that data sit?" asked Steven Liao, a Danville parent and IT professional. Once data has left the Department of Education, he said, there's no way to confirm control over it. The data will migrate to where it's backed up, he noted, and even if the analysts then destroy it once they're done, he asked, "where is confirmation it's been destroyed?"

Parents in the Morgan Hill Unified School District filed the lawsuit, which contends that the California Department of Education does not force school districts to provide appropriate special-education services for children needing them.

California Concerned Parents Association, a group with members in 80 school districts throughout the state, has sought statewide data to prove its case that students with identified needs are not being provided adequate services. To do that, it needs to survey student school records.

But the group said it wasn't seeking kids' private information.

"We asked repeatedly, many times, for the data without identifiable information," said the group's president, Linda McNulty, whose son formerly attended Morgan Hill schools. She said the state Education Department refused.

But state officials insist they're not at fault.

"The California Department of Education has been fighting vigorously to defend the privacy rights of students throughout California, but we are required to comply with the court order in this case," department spokesman Peter Tira said.

It was not immediately clear why Social Security numbers and other sensitive information couldn't be redacted.

Judge Kimberly J. Mueller of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California has required the state to turn over data on all students in K-12 schools since January 2008. The data will go to the plaintiff's attorneys, Sagy Law Associates of San Francisco, sometime 10 million California student records about to be released to attorneys - San Jose Mercury News:

Are Standardized Tests the New Hunger Games? – Welcome to the Testing Games

Are Standardized Tests the New Hunger Games? – Welcome to the Testing Games:

Are Standardized Tests the New Hunger Games? 

 Are our children being used in a new, horrible form of the Hunger Games? Are the odds ever in their favor?

Are you willing to be a tribute for your child? Listen in to learn how …

. #Mockingjay

Are Standardized Tests the New Hunger Games? – Welcome to the Testing Games:

Reunión Comunitaria, 25 de febrero de 2016- Optar-Fuera las Pruebas del sector Urbano - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform

Reunión Comunitaria, 25 de febrero de 2016- Optar-Fuera las Pruebas del sector Urbano - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

Reunión Comunitaria, 25 de febrero de 2016- Optar-Fuera las Pruebas del sector Urbano

La división de clase/color en nuestras escuelas públicas urbanas es sostenida mediante una maquinaria de desigualdad y racismo que al fin le proporciona a las corporaciones una oportunidad lucrativa mediante la privatización de las escuelas públicas y en la gentrificación de las comunidades de color. “United Opt Out National” se une a “Opt Out Philly” para convocar una reunión que sirva para levantar conciencia sobre el secuestro de nuestras escuelas públicas y de nuestras comunidades por la corporaciones. Invitamos a las comunidades de Filadelfia y Camden a que se unan a nosotros mientras compartimos importante información y discutimos acciones directas que puede ayudarnos en construir un “movimiento de optar fuera” en un esfuerzo de reclamar las escuelas y nuestra comunidad.

Estaremos reuniéndonos a las 7:00 pm en la New Visions United Methodist Church (La Iglesia Metodista), que queda en el 3259 N Broad Street, Philadelphia, PAReunión Comunitaria, 25 de febrero de 2016- Optar-Fuera las Pruebas del sector Urbano - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

 Philadelphia Community Town Hall, February 25, 2106– Opting Out in the Urban Core



The class/color divide in our urban public schools is propped up by an inequitable and racist high-stakes testing machine that ultimately provides for corporate profiteering through the privatization of public education and the gentrification of communities of color. United Opt Out National is partnering with Opt Out Philly to host a town hall to raise awareness about this take-over of our schools and our communities. We invite the greater Philadelphia and Camden communities to join us as we share information and discuss direct actions that can help build the “opt-out movement” in effort to reclaim our urban cores. We will gather on Thursday, February 25, 7:00 pm, at New Visions United Methodist Church, 3259 N Broad St, Philadelphia, PA.Philadelphia Community Town Hall, February 25, 2106– Opting Out in the Urban Core - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

Philadelphia Community Town Hall, February 25, 2106– Opting Out in the Urban Core - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform

Philadelphia Community Town Hall, February 25, 2106– Opting Out in the Urban Core - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

Philadelphia Community Town Hall, February 25, 2106– Opting Out in the Urban Core

The class/color divide in our urban public schools is propped up by an inequitable and racist high-stakes testing machine that ultimately provides for corporate profiteering through the privatization of public education and the gentrification of communities of color. United Opt Out National is partnering with Opt Out Philly to host a town hall to raise awareness about this take-over of our schools and our communities. We invite the greater Philadelphia and Camden communities to join us as we share information and discuss direct actions that can help build the “opt-out movement” in effort to reclaim our urban cores. We will gather on Thursday, February 25, 7:00 pm, at New Visions United Methodist Church, 3259 N Broad St, Philadelphia, PA.Philadelphia Community Town Hall, February 25, 2106– Opting Out in the Urban Core - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

Reunión Comunitaria, 25 de febrero de 2016- Optar-Fuera las Pruebas del sector Urbano

 

La división de clase/color en nuestras escuelas públicas urbanas es sostenida mediante una maquinaria de desigualdad y racismo que al fin le proporciona a las corporaciones una oportunidad lucrativa mediante la privatización de las escuelas públicas y en la gentrificación de las comunidades de color. “United Opt Out National” se une a “Opt Out Philly” para convocar una reunión que sirva para levantar conciencia sobre el secuestro de nuestras escuelas públicas y de nuestras comunidades por la corporaciones. Invitamos a las comunidades de Filadelfia y Camden a que se unan a nosotros mientras compartimos importante información y discutimos acciones directas que puede ayudarnos en construir un “movimiento de optar fuera” en un esfuerzo de reclamar las escuelas y nuestra comunidad.

Estaremos reuniéndonos a las 7:00 pm en la New Visions United Methodist Church (La Iglesia Metodista), que queda en el 3259 N Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 

Reunión Comunitaria, 25 de febrero de 2016- Optar-Fuera las Pruebas del sector Urbano

NEA BAT Caucus – BATS

NEA BAT Caucus – BATS:

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Feature: With ‘walk-ins,’ national teachers union spotlights LA charter fight | 89.3 KPCC

Feature: With ‘walk-ins,’ national teachers union spotlights LA charter fight | 89.3 KPCC:

With ‘walk-ins,’ national teachers union spotlights LA charter fight

We hope you can join us on February 17! 

Walk-In Resources:

Check out the Resources page for walk-in resources you can use!

Teachers union sympathizers will rally at public school sites in more than two-dozen cities across the nation Wednesday morning — including at more than 170 Los Angeles Unified school sites — as part of a national demonstration of support for traditional public school districts.

Among those expected to be in attendance in Los Angeles: the president of nation's second-largest teachers union. And that she's in L.A. specifically is no accident.

Randi Weingarten, who heads the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), said she chose to attend a Los Angeles rally to demonstrate her concern with plans to drastically expand charter schools in the city.

Countering those plans, Weingarten said, is "amongst [her] highest priorities." She added AFT has been working "hand-in-glove" with its local union affiliate, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), to organize opposition to a plan from the Broad Foundation that calls for enrolling 130,000 new students in charter schools by 2023.

The foundation's leaders say parents are hungry for more options, pointing to long waiting lists at Los Angeles charter schools. But L.A. Unified leaders have said the plan could throw the district into financial peril.

"Why wouldn't we do everything in our power to give parents a lot of alternatives, including the neighborhood public school?" Weingarten said. "Why create this false choice?"

"It's a zero-sum game for funding," she added, "because of the attempts to create more and more and more charters at the expense of fixing local public schools."

National organizers have dubbed Wednesday's rallies "walk-ins," since community members will have the chance to walk into school buildings before classes begin as a show of support. But UTLA leaders also say their concerns about charters will feature prominently during Wednesday's rallies.

Weingarten will attend a walk-in alongside L.A. Unified Schools Superintendent Michelle King at Hamilton High School, the West Los Angeles building where King was once principal.

Hamilton students prepared for the visit last week by crafting a giant yardstick quilt, featuring nearly 100 panels decorated to represent the school’s academic programs and clubs.

Ariel Davis, 16, is a junior at Hamilton High School in West Los Angeles. She says funding and support for the school's diverse array of academic and extracurricular programming 'is something that we need to protect.'KYLE STOKES

Ariel Davis, 16, a junior at Hamilton, said she has no problem with charter schools as an option for students seeking specialized attention or alternative curriculum. But Davis said she fears aggressive expansion of charters will harm her district school, which she says has served her well.

“This is something that we need to protect,” Davis said of her school. “If we don’t, it’s going to fall into ruin and it’s not going to be the same."

Charter school advocates have said that many L.A. Unified schools are already in rough shape. But on Tuesday, the California Charter Schools AssociationFeature: With ‘walk-ins,’ national teachers union spotlights LA charter fight | 89.3 KPCC:

Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis’(director for CCSA) plan to open a charter school may be postponed.

Elk Grove Citizen : News:

Proposed charter school’s status being decided

Charter group to review district’s concerns

Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis

In addition to being Elk Grove’s mayor, he is the director for the California Charter School Association.

Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis’ original plan to open a charter school in Elk Grove this late summer may be postponed.

He is collaborating with Tri-Valley Learning Corp. (TVLC), a Livermore-based nonprofit, to operate Golden State Charter School, a pre-K-8 school. They have managed charter schools in Livermore and Stockton for the past decade.

“This is purely about providing an alternative and another choice for Elk Grove families,” Davis said.

In addition to being Elk Grove’s mayor, he is the director for the California Charter School Association.

Tri-Valley’s leaders decided to withdraw their petition on Feb. 2 to address a 10-page review from Elk Grove Unified School District staff that heavily critiqued their school plan. The staff recommended to the school board to not accept the petition.

Tri-Valley’s withdrawal gave them 30 days to address the concerns and report back to Elk Grove. Their board will decide on their next move at their Feb. 17 meeting, Tri-Valley’s charter development director Lynn Lysko told the Citizen.

Davis said the petition’s withdrawal was a good move.

“(Elk Grove Unified) took a pretty hard stance against the petition,” he said. “Tri-Valley now has an opportunity to fix the petition and bring it back for consideration. At that point, the district should have all of their issues addressed.”

Elk Grove School Board President Bobbie Singh-Allen told the Citizen she found her district’s review of Golden State Charter School to be “eye-opening.” She said that as per district regulations, her district will not accept any more charter school petitions for the 2016-17 school year.

The Elk Grove school district staff reported 29 concerns when they reviewed the plans from Tri-Valley. They doubted the TVLC staff could successfully implement their education programs due to a lack of solid funding plans and inadequate means of serving all students.

Plans are to open the Golden State Charter School near Interstate 5 in the Laguna West area. The district staff discovered the school’s proposed site actually lies within the Sacramento City Unified School District’s jurisdiction.

Staff also reported that Tri-Valley would also need Elk Grove city approval to rezone the school site from a “general commercial” use to house Golden State Charter.
Other concerns focused on Tri-Valley’s budgeting, which is mainly based on bonds such as a $25.5 million bond they issued last year. The nonprofit was reportedly unable to provide audited financial statements for their 2014-15 school year.

District staff also noted that the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District raised concerns over Tri-Valley’s practice of charging tuition fees upwards of thousands of dollars a year to foreign students. Such a practice violates the state regulation that prohibits charter schools from charging tuition.

The Elk Grove district also questioned Golden State Charter School’s staff development practices, budget plan and projections, approaches to teaching students from different groups such as English language learners, and its plan to charge fees for after-school programs.

“Relying on ‘fee-based’ programs to provide before- and after-school programs will dissuade families without the means to participate in these programs from seeking to enroll their children at the school,” the Elk Grove district report stated.

Questions of how many local educators and parents were interested in joining Golden State Charter were also raised. The district staff reported that Tri-Valley claimed that 40 local people including educators expressed interest but the charter petition did not disclose their names, due to “professional reasons.”

Golden State Charter is the second charter school that Davis has tried to open in Elk Grove. He earlier led an effort to open the Grove Leadership Academy in 2013 but his staff withdrew their charter petition following a critical reaction from the Elk Grove district staff and teachers union.

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