Will The LAUSD Take on Its Parasite Problem?

“The co-location of charter schools, pursuant to Proposition 39, is often detrimental to District schools and the students they educate”

– Proposed LAUSD resolution

Since 2016, I have been covering stories of LAUSD parents who have been fighting to protect the resources at their children's public schools from the encroachment of charter schools. These publicly funded private schools have demanded space on LAUSD facilities using Proposition 39 without concern for the students already enrolled on these campuses. Like parasites, co-locating charters have depleted the space available leaving the “host school” weakened and disadvantaged in the competition for students in an era of declining enrollment.

Individual schools have been left to fend for themselves because the School Board that is supposed to represent LAUSD students has been dominated by members loyal to the charter school industry. The millions of dollars charter schools have spent on School Board elections have ensured that the needs of LAUSD public school students have been neglected. As a result, these students are less safe, have had space for music and art programs taken away from them, and have had to receive IEP services in broom closets.

With the election of Dr. Rocio Rivas last year, board members representing the interests of public education achieved the first clear majority in decades. In the biggest move yet to protect their constituents, this new majority has introduced a new resolution to finally address this crisis. Authored by Rivas and Board President Jackie Goldberg, the "Creating a Charter Schools Co-Location Policy to Mitigate Impacts Caused by Proposition 39" would:

• Enumerate clear guidelines that allow the District to focus on supporting its most fragile students and schools, key programs, and student safety by avoiding Proposition 39 co-locations that:

Are on school sites with the District’s 100 Priority Schools, BSAP schools, and Community Schools.

Compromise District schools’ capacity to serve neighborhood children.

Result in grade span arrangements that negatively impact student safety and build charter school pipelines that actively deter students from attending District schools.

• Guide District decisions related to both all new school co-location requests and to situations where existing co-locations change, including cases where the amount of available space changes or there is a material revision to the charter of the co-locating school.
• Require staff to visit the District school site before recommending a co-location.
• Ensure more frequent verification of charter schools’ average daily attendance.
• Require a Board vote to approve all Alternate Agreements.
• Improve monitoring, enforcement, and reporting of charter schools’ payment of facilities costs and overallocated space reimbursements.
• Require that the District’s annual preliminary co-location proposals, final offers, and Alternative Agreements all be accompanied by a report to the Board on how the Policy was adhered to in the process.

The Board was scheduled to consider this resolution at its August 22, 2023, meeting. Prior to its consideration, I delivered the following comments:

On this afternoon's agenda is a resolution to finally address the many problems faced by the implementation of PROP-39. While this proposal represents an important first step, I hope that the following will be addressed in the final policy:

1) Currently rooms used to provide Special Education services, music classes, and parent centers are considered to be "empty" when determining the space a public School must give up to the charter school. This prevents families from getting the services that they deserve.

2) The District has a policy of providing charter schools that are co-locating with brand-new furniture and computers. Where is this mandated by the proposition? It seems to go against the wording in the proposition that says a district cannot be made to create space that it does not have to fulfill the requirements of the law.

3) District bond funds are used to prepare rooms that are being given to charter schools. PROP-39 was simply supposed to ensure that public space was shared. Why isn’t the space provided “as is?”

4) The North Valley Military Institute's (NVMI) co-location on the Sun Valley/VOCES campus highlighted the safety issues that are caused by co-locations. NVMI had an administrator who was accused of sexual offenses against a student, but it appears that the host school was never informed. Another staff member who left due to the same incident later returned to the school's payroll without any warning to the host school. Public school principals need to be given the information needed to protect the students under their care.

5) Charter schools currently owe $3,708,006 in overdue over-allocation fees. Why has the District not insisted on immediate payment? Why are schools with debt allowed to operate and continue to take space on public school campuses?

6) The above amount does not include the $7,678,022 that was suddenly wiped off of the balance sheet in April of last year without any explanation to the public. The OIG should be directed to investigate this write-off to determine if it was legal and proper.

Without explanation, the consideration of the resolution was delayed and will now appear on the agenda of the Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled to be held on September 19, 2023. The format of these Meetings will provide an opportunity for a more in-depth conversation. It will also allow affected students, parents, and teachers from host schools to comment. You can provide your opinion to your representative using the following contact information:

Board District 1: (213) 241–6382 [email protected]

Board District 2: (213) 241–6020 [email protected]

Board District 3: (213)241–8333 [email protected]

Board District 4: (213) 241–6387 [email protected]

Board District 5: (213) 241–5555 [email protected]

Board District 6: (213) 241–6388 [email protected]

Board District 7: (213) 241–6385 [email protected]

____________________________

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.