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Commentary: How California’s legislation targeting public charter schools shows that blue states can oppress black people too
Blue states oppress black people too. Nowhere is this more obvious than in policing and public education in California. California’s Legislature is grappling with these issues this session. Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), a progressive voice and chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, is authoring AB 392, which seeks to change the use of...
By Margaret Fortune | May 6, 2019
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3 California NAACP chapters break with state and national leaders, calling for charter moratorium to be overturned
*Updated May 9 NAACP branches in three California cities that have some of the state’s largest populations of black students are calling to end the charter school moratorium adopted by their national board in 2016. The San Diego, Southwest Riverside and San Bernardino branches have submitted separate resolutions to NAACP’s state board saying they oppose...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | May 3, 2019
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86% of L.A. charter school graduates are eligible for state universities — two dozen points higher than LAUSD grads. Here’s how varying data and school policies complicate comparisons.
Eighty-six percent of independent charter school graduates in L.A. met college eligibility standards for the state’s public universities last year, according to data from the California Charter Schools Association — 24 percentage points higher than L.A. Unified reported for its traditional schools. About 8,400 independent charter school students graduated with C’s or better in their college prep...
By Taylor Swaak | April 30, 2019
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Analysis: Charter schools yield 53% greater return on investment than traditional public schools
Charter schools are the object of intense national debate. They shouldn’t be. The data show that public charters are a good investment. In five studies that we’ve conducted during the past several years, we’ve compared traditional schools and charter schools in a diverse roster of U.S. cities where a substantial portion of families are choosing...
By Corey A. DeAngelis, Patrick J. Wolf, Larry D. Maloney and Jay F. May | April 29, 2019
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Californians hold split views on charter schools, but most are in favor of them as options for low-income children, survey finds
Californians are divided in their general views on charter schools, according to a new statewide survey. Most are in support of parents having the option to choose charters, but there’s also a high level of concern that charters divert state funding from traditional schools. Nearly half — 49 percent — of all adults surveyed said...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | April 25, 2019
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Commentary: Instead of calling for a charter pause, Los Angeles needs to leave labels behind and put students first
Los Angeles faces many serious educational challenges that require immediate solutions, including a declining student population, inadequate funding and an expensive housing market that makes it difficult for families to stay in L.A. These are all real issues that require careful planning to solve. Unfortunately, we fear these problems will take a backseat to the...
By John Ildefonso and Ana Ponce | February 4, 2019
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After charter moratorium vote, families voice anger, betrayal, disappointment — and vow to fight back
*Updated Feb.1 Families, teachers and students from Los Angeles’s independent charter schools turned out by the thousands Tuesday to urge school board members to reject a resolution calling for a moratorium on new charters in L.A. Unified. After the resolution passed with only one dissenter, parents said they felt betrayed and worried about what the...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | January 31, 2019
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After thousands rally for charter schools, LAUSD board votes for a moratorium
*Updated Jan. 30 Hours after about 3,500 charter school supporters rallied at Los Angeles Unified’s headquarters, the school board approved a resolution Tuesday calling for a moratorium on new charters. Only the state can change charter law, so the 5-1 vote directs the district to ask state leaders to study potential changes to the law...
By Taylor Swaak and Esmeralda Fabián Romero | January 29, 2019
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‘A call to action’: School board vote on supporting a charter moratorium leaves a lot unanswered but presents an opportunity for inclusive talk and real change, advocates say
Today’s L.A. Unified school board vote on a resolution calling for a moratorium on new charter schools is the latest fallout in the battle against charters that engulfed the district during the six-day teacher strike. But despite scant detail on the resolution’s origin and impact, advocates believe it poses an opportunity for an inclusive community...
By Taylor Swaak | January 29, 2019
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Commentary: A blanket ban on new charters makes little sense. We need more, not less, of what works
There’s a simple and hard truth to public education in Los Angeles: education access in our city has never been equitable. Most of our well-off families live in neighborhoods with excellent neighborhood schools or can afford, and choose, private school. But for the vast majority of kids in our city — particularly low-income students, students...
By Emilio Pack and Cristina de Jesus | January 28, 2019