LAUSD Candidate Karla Griego on Charter School Accountability

“Charter accountability is critical to ensuring that our students and families are not taken advantage of by charter schools”

– LAUSD Candidate Karla Griego

Of the seven board districts in the LAUSD, Board District 5 has the second-highest number of charter schools with 47.25* charter schools operating within its boundaries. This is 21.28% of the total number authorized by the District. Only Board District 2 has more with 49.25 schools representing 22.18% of the total.

This oversaturation affects not only public schools but also the charters, especially when the number of available students is declining. Finances are stretched thin as schools are forced to fight Hunger Games style for the dwindling number of school-age students. Eventually, a point of no return is reached and schools are forced to close, wasting all of the public funds that were used to build up their infrastructure.

In this competitive environment ensuring a level playing field is imperative. Schools not meeting their responsibilities to students in return for the public funds they receive need to be held accountable by the school district that authorized the charter. The LAUSD School Board has assigned this task to the Charter School Division without ensuring its leadership does the job.

To help voters determine how LAUSD candidates would address these issues, each was asked questions about Charter School accountability. Additional background about this issue can be found in the article LAUSD Candidate Forum: Charter School Oversight.

Karla Griego has answered many questions in the Candidate Forum series including those about Special Education, PROP-39 Co-Locations, Student Safety, The Budget, and Inclusion and Diversity. Her responses about how she would address Charter School accountability are as follows:

• The Charter School Division (CSD) is responsible for ensuring that charter schools authorized by the LAUSD comply with the law. Can this mission be fulfilled if the CSD is staffed with employees who used to work for the California Charter School Association (CCSA)? NO

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS: LAUSD needs to tackle the lack of accountability and transparency for charter schools, and any conflict of interest is going to be an additional barrier towards that end.

• Before Russian hackers infiltrated the LAUSD’s computer systems, the public had access to the petitions of every charter school that applied to the district. The links to this information are still on the website but are broken. As a Board Member would you commit to restoring access to this information? YES

• According to the Ed Code, the financial records of Charter Schools are supposed to be audited yearly by an independent accounting firm. As a Board Member would you work to ensure that these yearly audits comply with the law and are truly independent? YES

• Some delinquent charter schools were given payment terms that allowed them to stretch payments for over-allocation fees, which are supposed to be paid immediately, over several years. It does not appear that interest is being added to these balances for the privilege of extending the payment terms. As a Board Member, would you cancel these sweetheart deals and negotiate terms that are more favorable to the District’s students? YES

• As a Board Member will you introduce the proposed “Improving LAUSD Performance as a Regulatory Agency for Charters” resolution and work to ensure its passage? NO COMMITMENT at this time but willing to explore this with you further.

* Fractional numbers are caused by four charter schools having campuses that are divided between multiple Board Districts.

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Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs, who serves as the Education Chair for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.