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Health & Fitness

Sacramento, Once Again, Goes After California Charter Schools

The assault from state politicians and the California Teachers Association continue to dog the California Charter School movement.

Sacramento is at it again.   He continues to show his ambivalence towards charter schools.  The CTA helped to finance the governor's campaign, and now it looks like Gov. Brown is working to pay back some of the debt.   Coming down the pipeline is a slew of new CTA supported legislation aimed at removing the teeth out of current charter school law.  These bills, if passed, could have a major impact on all charter schools in San Mateo County.  

The most destructive bill under consideration is AB 1172.  This bill drastically restricts charter school appeal rights, gives districts the authority to deny a charter school based on fiscal costs, and removes the statewide and countywide benefit options.

Alice Miller, from the California Charter Schools Association, commented  that should AB 1172 pass, "it would fundamentally compromise charter school's ability to succeed with its students."  This bill contains many elements meant to "gut" the core values of California charter school law.  School districts could deny a charter school petition if it finds that the school would have a negative fiscal impact on the school district.  Charter school petitioners’ right to appeal the denial of a charter would be effectively eliminated.  So, if a school district manufactures a reason to deny the petition and follows every procedure diligently, the petitioner would have no basis for an appeal.  Finally, if a school district denied a charter petition, this bill would eliminate the right of a charter petitioner to appeal to the county or the state.  

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This bill drapes itself around the state's fiscal crisis as a way to deflect attention from the real intent of this bill:  to disenfranchise the very families who desire a different education for their child other than the local public school option.   CTA wants to regain control of the public tax dollars to protect their own interests at the expense of the children and their families.  

AB 1172 would makes it very easy for any school district to deny a charter school from opening by claiming a negative fiscal impact.  The reality is that charter schools already are obligated to offer preference registration to students living within the school district where the charter school is located.  

Find out what's happening in San Carloswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Let's look more closely at this negative fiscal impact because it is not entirely accurate.   Right now, parents in California have the right to make a choice about how and where their school tax dollars will be spent to educate their child.  Should a parent want to attend a charter school within their own district, they have the right to do so provided there are enough spaces available.  Right now, the difference is that parents are empowered to make the choice of what kind of public school they would like their child to attend.  If they  choose to attend the local charter school in their community, those public dollars will then follow that same child to the charter school.  This bill would strip parents of their right to choose what kind of education they want for their child.  

It is important that the politicians in Sacramento hear from you about how they feel about this legislation:

19th District - Jerry Hill 
1528 S. El Camino Real #302, San Mateo 94402 
650 349-1900 Fax: 650 341-4676 
State Capitol room 2170, P.O. Box 942849, 
Sacramento, CA 94249-0019 
916 319-2019 Fax: 916 319-2119 
assemblymember.Hill@assembly.ca.gov

1th District - Joe Simitian 
160 Town & Country Village 
Palo Alto, CA 94301 
650 688-6330 Fax: 650 688-6336 
State Capitol P. O. Box 94249, Sacramento, CA 94249 
916 688-4011 Fax: 916 323-4529 
senator.simitian@sen.ca.gov

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