The California Charter Association has put its heft and money behind a bill to limit the authority of the Los Angeles Inspector General for charter schools. The CCSA knows that neither the state nor the district have the resources to audit hundreds of charter schools. The bill is intended to remove accountability and transparency from charters, leaving them free to cherry pick students, exclude children with disabilities, inflate their enrollment numbers, and–well–steal public money. Charter school nirvana: No checks, no balances, no monitoring.
Robert Skeels commented on this article.
“It is in the public interest that charter schools be subject to a modicum of oversight. One would think that it would be public policy that any organization that takes public money should be subject to public scrutiny. AB 2806 would severely hamper the OIG’s already minimal ability to investigate an industry that essentially runs with no other public oversight or control. The charter industry’s attempts to eliminate this one mechanism for holding them accountable is unconscionable, but not unexpected.
“The irony of well-heeled charter school executives like Caprice Young decrying the OIG should not go unnoticed. In defense of her beleaguered Magnolia charter chain, Young has written several Op-Eds. In them she discusses a 2015 audit of the schools claiming it was “financially solvent”, but omits that scores of previous audits found the chain insolvent. For instance, the 2014 audit revealed them “operating on a $1.7 million deficit” and that there multiple instances of “missing, misused funds” (SPRC, 2014). This misrepresentation by omission alone impeaches Young’s credibility beyond any reasonable standard. Moreover, it demonstrates why public agencies like the OIG and OIG are so critical. AB 2806 is further evidence of the lucrative charter school industry’s revenue-first agenda, and their ongoing efforts to avoid any oversight is another example of how they harm both their own students, and the students in our public schools.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is nothing short of an attempt to legalize fraud of public funds.
What you said.
😒
What is totally ludicrous about this is that Cole-Gutierrez who is in charge of LAUSD charter schools oversight, used to work for Young and CCSA. He is close to charter lawyer, Ms. Angel,, and BoE member and charter owner of 16 schools, Ref Rodriguez, as well. What is really going on here?
The Bill was amended on March 29, 2016, however myself and several other people have called Scott Wilk office in Sacramento and were inform it’s going to be edited several more times and is up for many discussions. If any of you have 5-10 minutes you should call his offices and specifically mention why you believe the bill to be bad for California taxpayers. Here is the bill with the red lines through it but there will be more edits relative to language asking for better transparency between the LAUSD board and the LAUSD OIG who need to work together on issues involving theft of Tax dollars. http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2806
I urge all Californian’s to contact their assembly persons immediately and express their vehement opposition to AB 2806. We need to insure this bill never leaves committee. Feel free to use this K12NN article as a reference http://thewire.k12newsnetwork.com/2016/04/01/california-charter-school-industry-bill-attempts-to-eliminate-only-source-of-public-oversight/ and be sure to sign the petition opposing AB 2806 https://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/defeat-ab-2806-empower-the-lausd-inspector-general-s-office which was created by Dr. Cynthia Liu.
Here’s another excerpt from the commentary Professor Ravitch cites above:
> “As a legal scholar whose research into the various misrepresentation and malfeasance perpetrated by the charter sector, I depend on access to information gathered by the [Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Office of the Independent Monitor (OIM)]. I would find impossible to discover facts that would otherwise remain undisclosed by the secretive charter industry without these bodies. I am not alone in this regard. The United States Census Bureau is on record for not being able to report information on charter schools because of their private nature (US Census Bureau. (2011). “Public Education Finances: 2009 (GO9-ASPEF)”. Washington, DC: US Government Printing O ce. Print. vi).”
This bill would allow the charter industry to operate with no oversight or accountability whatsoever.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but AB 2806 would have to pass in the Assembly, then pass in the State Senate and then be signed by the Governor for it to become law. Is there a simliar bill working its way through the state senate?
I just signed the petition listed at the link in Robert’s article. Hope everyone else does the same.
It is beyond shocking that Patrice Young, who has grown wealthy in the charter school industry and who now runs the California Gulen Charter Schools known as the Magnolia Schools, would continue her onslaught to do away with ALL oversight and regulations on these dubious schools which have been investigated by the FBI for fraudulent financial behaviors.
The greed and tenacity of these CCSA members is untenable. Young headed that group before getting her current gig running the Imam’s local schools. Gulen schools are being investigated nation wide and this latest intrusion into California law must be published across America so that the tax paying public is kept informed as to the cult-like activities of the foreign national, Fettulah Gulen, using public funding to run his Turkish-based schools in America. I hope Howard Blume and the LA Times immediately writes an in-depth article on these shady actions.
It is typical that Ms. Angel supports and works with Ms. Young and her lackeys to keep all this hidden from the public view.
taxation without representation – your education tax dollars going to charters/privitazation with no oversight and without representation from stakeholders – parents, teachers, students, support providers, community – oh yes they have no real say at a charter because that is when they pull the private card. Now over at your public school, if you don’t like how the money is being spent, you have the principal,the school site council, the district school board, the district superintendent, and you can bump it up to the county board of ed. It is called democracy, It is taxation with representation. Free, local and public schools are a bedrock of our democracy.
For heaven’s sake, why when bills were passed that legitimized charters wasn’t $$ also appropriated for oversight? It’s absence is, by itself, suspicious and is worth a court challenge. There a few places in the Federal Gov. where accountability is not part of the budget passed, even if more honored in the breach than in the custom. Curiouser and curiouser.
JVK
The charter assoc. has also tried to shut down independent charters whose scores are lower than the assoc. deems high enough even though the scores are higher than feeder home schools and they accept special education students, which may lower their scores.
If your info is accurate—
Campbell’s Law.
With a vengeance.
😡
There is a tinge of ALEC in this move to assert the absolute “autonomy” of charter schools so that oversight is limited to whatever is in the authorized and approved charter contract. This closed loop puts the responsibility for “oversight” on the authorizer.
Lest there be any doubt, Skeels provides a super-good reason to reject the claim that charters are public schools. Here it is. I would like to see other publications added to the list, exposing the many ways that charter schools ARE NOT PUBLIC.
The United States Census Bureau is on record for not being able to report information on charter schools because of their private nature (US Census Bureau. (2011). “Public Education Finances: 2009 (GO9-ASPEF)”. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Oce. Print. vi).”
Laura H. Chapman: stunning confirmation that, regardless of misleading labels, charter schools are treated in important ways as being private entities.
Wonder how Non Sequitur is going to spin this…
😎
Please do not overlook that at least 3 Speakers of the Ca.
Assembly have been under the thumb of Eli Broad and his wallet, starting with Nunez, Villaraigosa who is a Governor wannabe, his cousin Perez, and even the current head of the Senate, de Leon.
And you thought it was only the Rheeformer sexual predatorSacramento Mayor was on the take.
I was wondering who was really behind this bill as well.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-teacher-tenure-20160405-story.html
Here’s a video from the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) where they share “CHARTER SCHOOLS 101” — and my responses to the CCSA:
( 00:15 – 00:28)
( 00:15 – 00:28)
NARRATOR: ” … charter schools are held accountable by their authorizing body, usually a school board, the County Office of Education, or the State Board of Education.”
Right now, those bodies have only minimal powers of oversight. Should AB2806 pass, that power of oversight would be effectively NILL.
( 00:07 – 00:15)
( 00:07 – 00:15)
NARRATOR: “But what IS a ‘charter school’ ?
“Charter schools are innovative PUBLIC schools designed by educators, parents, or civic leaders … ”
——
Oh NO, they’re NOT, you lying sacks o’ sh%#!
That is most certainly NOT what your CCSA lawyers argued in court last December in your attempts to crush the teachers trying to organize at the Alliance chain.
You argued that they are “private actors” exempt from any jurisdiction of either PERB or the court system,
———
( 00:15 – 00:28)
( 00:15 – 00:28)
NARRATOR: ” … charter schools are held accountable by their authorizing body, usually a school board, the County Office of Education, or the State Board of Education.”
——
Oh NO, they’re NOT, you lying sacks o’ sh%#!
That is most certainly NOT what your CCSA lawyers argued in court last December in your attempts to crush the teachers trying to organize at the Alliance chain.
In court, you argued, that when it comes to teachers unionizing, those same political bodies mentioned — local/County/State Boards of Ed. — have the same authority to protect or support charter teachers’ right to unionize as they do over that same right for fast food workers, or for retail clerks at Best Buy or Target. No right whasoever.
———
( 00:28 – 00:31)
( 00:28 – 00:31)
NARRATOR: ” …and (charters are held accountable) by the parents who choose to send their parents to those schools.”
——
Oh NO, they’re NOT, you lying sacks o’ sh%#!
Even if 100% of the parents vote, or sign petitions supporting the goals of their teachers to form a union, THOSE SAME PARENTS HAVE ZERO SAY INTO WHETHER OR NOT THAT UNION IS FORMED.
———
———
( 00:53 – 00:101)
( 00:53 – 00:101)
NARRATOR: ” … (charters) are places where adults work together to BUILD A PROFESSIONAL CULTURE, a place where TEACHERS and parents HAVE A STRONG VOICE IN SCHOOL DECISIONS.”
—————-
Ha!
If those teachers even attempt to exercise that “voice,” they are either fired, or, should they try to unionize to protect their right to exercise that voice, are met with union-busting tactics right out of the 1800’s.
If the charter operators deem it so, that school has the same “professional culture” as the kitchen at McDonalds… and there’s nothing that the workers/teachers can do about it … or so the CCSA argued in court last December.
exactly ! The Charter folks flip and flop between – should we use the public card or the private card ? well depending on which card gives them more money and power that is what they go with. The general public has no idea that it is actually one big money and power grab.