A Legislative Power Grab
Just when I thought I’d seen it all, I found this San Jose Mercury News editorial.
The state’s charter schools and the governor who supports them may soon face a Sophie’s Choice. Shame on Democratic leaders in the Legislature for putting them in that position.
Here’s the dilemma:
In the budget now pending in the Legislature, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would double the money now available to pay for facilities for charter schools serving the state’s poorest kids. The amount would go to $18 million. But committees in both the Senate and House placed a condition on that money. It would be available only if the State Board of Education in effect lost its ability to grant charters to high-quality charter organizations.
If that condition stays in the law, Schwarzenegger will have an ugly choice. He can finally provide substantial rent assistance to as many as 150 charter schools that urgently need it. Or he can veto the provision in order to preserve the state board’s approval power, which will lead to the growth in California of some of the best charter organizations serving poor children.
The legislature is trying to greatly limit the State Board of Education’s ability to authorize or reauthorize charter schools. When a charter is formed in California, they apply to their local school district. If the school district refuses to charter it, they can appeal to the County School Board for a charter. If both of those options fail, they can apply to the State Board of Education.
School districts and County School Boards (part of the County Office of Education (COE)) already see charter schools as “competition” that are taking away “their students” and “their money”, so the districts have a natural inclination to make it hard on the charter operators. Most school districts have close relationships with their COE and the COE’s depend on the districts as “customers” for their services. The COEs have incentives to keep their districts happy. By crippling the State Board of Education option, school districts would be even less inclined to approve charters because they know that the charter operator won’t have any options.
So, how did this language get in the bill? According to this Capitol Weekly story, it came from the democratic leadership.
Just how the language curbing the board’s power got placed in a budget bill is a matter of dispute. But two Capitol sources familiar with the negotiations said it was inserted by ranking Democratic staffers at the behest of Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez. Backers of the revised language included the school boards and their administrators.
It would seem like the democratic leadership is trying to score points with the “Education Coalition” and their California Teachers Association (CTA) masters by making it harder for charter schools. Either that, or they’re trying to cause problems for the Governor as payback for some imagined sin. Either way, they’re showing their utter contempt for California’s public school students by making again public education a political issue for negotiations, rather than a core responsibility of the state.
Steve Barr in the NY Times My Favorite Principal is Retiring
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