The recent defeat of legislation that would make charter schools accountable and transparent, AB 1478, established definitively that charter schools are private businesses, not public schools.
All public schools must comply with the Brown Act, the California Public Records Act (PRA), or the Political Reform Act of 1974, which make their spending and operations transparent to the public. The charter lobby insists that there are merely bureaucratic burdens and that charters must be free to operate without any public transparency, as private businesses do.
Carl Petersen writes about this issue here.
As recipients of public funding, one would expect that organizations running charter schools would be subjected to the same open government regulations that other government entities, including elected school boards, must follow. While it is not always convenient to conform to the Brown Act, the California Public Records Act (PRA), or the Political Reform Act of 1974, these provisions of California law help ensure transparency to the taxpayers. Unfortunately, under the state Education Code, the charter industry is currently exempt from following these requirements, leaving parents of students in these schools blind to their operations…open government laws help to protect students and ensure that public funds are spent correctly. However, the California Charter School Association (CCSA) considers them to be part of a “bureaucracy” from which families need to be “protected” as if having access to information harms students and their parents.
The charter industry doesn’t want to be bothered complying with state laws that public schools must comply with.
If California State AB 1478 had passed, parents and students in Los Angeles and across the state would have had the same protections enshrined into the education code that are found in the LAUSD’s District Required Language. This bill expressly stated that charter schools and entities managing charter schools are subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act, the California Public Records Act, and the Political Reform Act of 1974. Unfortunately, the CCSA was able to use its vast lobbying power and campaign donations in Sacramento to ensure that the business interests involved in running charter schools can receive public funds without any public oversight. AB 1478 failed by what the CCSA called “a historic margin”. You can thank those who voted “no” and those who lacked the courage to take a stand (and whose abstention counted as a “no”) for impending charter school scandals that will not see the light of day until children have been harmed:
- Ayes: Bonta, Calderon, Carrillo, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Gloria, Gonzalez Fletcher, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O’Donnell, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Reyes, Rodriguez, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wood, Rendon
- Noes: Acosta, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Chávez, Chen, Choi, Cunningham, Dahle, Flora, Fong, Gallagher, Harper, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, Melendez, Obernolte, Patterson, Steinorth, Voepel, Waldron
- Abstentions (counts as a “no”): Aguiar-Curry, Arambula, Berman, Bloom, Burke, Caballero, Cervantes, Cooley, Cooper, Daly, Eggman, Friedman, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gray, Grayson, Holden, Irwin, Limón, Low, Muratsuchi, Rubio, Salas, Weber
What the charter industry proved beyond a shadow of a doubt is that charter schools are private businesses. They insist on the rights and privileges of private businesses. They are not public schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Since when were private business not subject to transparency requirements? There are regulations galore, tax requirements, laws covering business practices, and many other things requiring public disclosure.
“Another PRA resulted in uncovering a Notice of Violation issued to the school as a result of unsafe construction projects that had been undertaken on the LAUSD owned campus without the knowledge of the District.”
Ugh. Someone better look into that. I know they won’t want any regulation but they probably don’t want a tragedy either.
Charter schools don’t require regulation because the people who run charter schools are inherently better people than those who run public schools.
Their innate goodness is the only regulation required.
They’re not “self interested” like those icky, dirty labor union members. They operate on a higher plane of pure data, rigor and self-sacrifice.
So what you’re really saying the only real requirements are a pulse, deep pockets and a mind for dishonesty.
I didn’t know that California was suffering from “oppressive bureaucracy.” As someone whose job was unwritten by both federal and state funds, I was required to fill out numerous forms and was subject to state inspectors from time to time. I just considered that the government was being good stewards of public money. If I can handle it, I fail to understand why charter operators that are handed a lot more public money, call any oversight “oppressive bureaucracy.” Maybe they have something to hide?
Please read Carl’s whole article. It references violations at the largest charter school in the country, Granada Hills Charter HS. These violations were discovered only through Public Records requests which LAUSD requires their charters to abide by. But, the school failed to mention these violations at any of their board meetings, leaving the students and parents unaware. It’s even possible that their board members were also in the dark which is exactly what happened at El Camino Real Charter High which had been issued a Notice to Cure on fiscal issues detailing questionable use of the school’s credit card. You may recall that the CEO was the one responsible for these illegal expenditures which lead to his departure from the school in order to avoid a revocation of the school’s charter.
This.
The CA Charter School Association just blocked a bill that would make all charters in the state subject to open meetings and open records.
Too much bureaucracy to expect transparency and accountability.
Diane,
Just wanted to let you know that the CA Democratic Party just endorsed a bunch of these people. Most of the abstentions, and one no, are getting an A or B grade from the California Teachers Association. I. Just. Can’t.
I can’t even begin to tell you how f***ing mad I am right now. Thrown under the bus AGAIN by the Dems, and my union is in San Diego licking their rear ends. State Council meets in April and will endorse at that time. What are the odds they’ll endorse (some of) the NOES and (most of) the ABSTENTIONS? I’d say the odds are pretty good.
I have at least 5 years until retirement. And now I have to count my union as a hurdle to public education. I’m seriously considering becoming a fee agency player, if CTA endorses these clowns.
Socolaura,
Outrageous.