At its meeting on November 7, the LAUSD board showed who is boss: the California Charter Schools Association.
Carl J. Petersen reports here on the meeting.
http://thewire.k12newsnetwork.com/2017/11/10/the-lausd-continues-to-reward-failure/
He begins:
“The California Charter School Association (CCSA) paid millions to purchase the LAUSD School Board, but their narrow majority is in danger. Not only is Ref Rodriguez, one of their hand-selected Board members, facing criminal charges related to his campaign, but the charter school chain he founded has accused him of having a conflict of interest while he was their Treasurer. This, in turn, exposed the charter organization’s lax financial controls. All of this has caused a rare sense of unity across the education divide; both the Los Angeles Times and United Teachers Los Angeles have both called for Rodriguez’ resignation.
“Having reintroduced the chaos back into the District that has been missing since the departure of Deasy, the charter industry played their next hand by blackmailing the District in an attempt to remove language that the LAUSD requires in each charter. If they did not get their way, 13 charters would move to the county or state where even less oversight is provided. Judging by the line of news trucks lined outside the Boardroom on Beaudry, the media was prepared for the November 7, special Board meeting to be full of drama.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If you read Carl’s blog, you will learn about public comment given by Bennett Kayser, the incumbent board member defeated by Rodriguez. In the history of LAUSD elections, that was the most horrendous campaign ever. The attacks on Kayser were not just lies, but were outright attempts to make fun of his disability due to Parkinson’s. Shame on the CA Charter School Association(CCSA) and on Rodriguez and all other candidates who gleefully accepted CCSA donations to the tune of millions of dollars. This is exactly why campaign donors must be identified, which is exactly what Rodriguez is accused of circumventing.
Yes, Ref ran a scurrilous campaign against Bennett Kayser. I recall the ad with a shaky hand dropping a coffee cup, intended to mock Bennett’s disability. Once in a while, there is a sort of cosmic justice in the universe. Ref’s dirty campaign tactics got him elected but may land him in the slammer.
I like the snarky opening of Bennett Kayser’s address to the board:
“Good Morning, honorable school board members … and Ref Rodriguez.”
Oooh, snap!
Jack,
I noticed that.
The revelations of how charter schools are absconding with and squandering public tax dollars increase every day. How bad is it? Just look: The Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education has issued a report that, because of their lack of accountability to the public, charter schools pose a risk to the Department of Education’s goals. The report finds that “Charter schools and their management organizations pose a potential risk to federal funds even as they threaten to fall short of meeting the goals” because of financial fraud and the artful skimming of tax money into private pockets.
If nothing else is required of charter schools, one thing must be required so that charter schools are accountable to taxpayers and inform taxpayers as to how taxpayer money is actually being spent; that one key thing is: Charter schools must be required to file the SAME detailed, public domain financial reports under penalty of perjury that public schools file.
Charter schools will cry out that this is “too burdensome” — yet public schools file such reports. What would the outcry be if public schools were “freed” of this “burden”? Why, the outcry would rattle the very heavens! So, why is it that private charter schools are allowed to get away with taking public tax money and not have to tell the public on an annual basis how those public tax dollars are spent?
Even the strongly pro-charter Los Angeles Times pointed out in an editorial that “the only serious scrutiny that charter operators typically get is when they are issued their right to operate, and then five years later when they apply for renewal.” Without needed oversight of what charter schools are actually doing with the public’s tax dollars, hundreds of millions of tax dollars that are intended to be spent on educating the public’s children is instead being siphoned away into private pockets and to the bottom lines of hedge funds.
The charter school opposition to any genuine effort to require charter schools to reveal what they are actually doing with tax money would be ferocious because it would eliminate the real reason for why charter schools exist: To siphon huge ongoing streams of public tax money into private pockets.
Forget every other strategy to stop charter schools: If you can force them to file the SAME detailed, public domain annual financial reports under penalty of perjury that public schools file — and why not? — the public school industry will dry up and move on to other privatization scams in other areas to divert public money into private pockets.
If accountability of how public tax dollars are being spent can’t be “sold” to the public taxpayers by pro-public school advocates, then those advocates should find something else to do. So, get out there, unite, set aside other objectives, and sell this common sense idea to taxpayers. Be single-focused and relentless. Achieve this fundamental objective first and all the other objectives will fall into place.
Be relentless, relentless, relentless…..
I’m surprised that charter school isn’t doing well since we’re told again and again that charter schools “outperform” public schools and are vastly superior to public schools in every way.
Another of the many, many “outliers” I suppose.
Why are the failing charters never mentioned when ed reformers promote privatized systems all over the country?