Unchecked expansion of the charter industry drains millions of dollars away from neighborhood schools and creates equity and transparency problems. LAUSD must protect neighborhood schools by regulating charter industry growth and charter school co-locations onto neighborhood schools.

The original intent of charter schools was to incubate innovative strategies to improve student learning. We support charter schools that are committed to that work. But in Los Angeles, the corporate-dominated charter industry has been more focused on starving our public schools and advanc- ing a privatization and union-busting agenda.

Los Angeles is home to the largest concentration of corporate charter schools in the country. Since 2008, the charter industry has grown a whopping 287% and now totals 224 independent charter schools in LAUSD.¹ The charter industry costs the district nearly $600 million every year.² Unlike our neighborhood schools, charters don’t serve all students. The industry has been scrutinized for discriminatory access affecting students of color, low-income students, English language learners, and special education students. Some charters “counsel out” students whom they don’t want to accommodate, such as students with poor academic records or special needs.³ Corporate-run charter schools operate with privately appointed boards that often do not represent the public, yet make decisions about how public funds are spent. They often do not report on finances transparently and have been hit by constant conflict-of-interest controversies.⁴ The charter industry also continues to expand through “co-locations,” where a charter school and a neighborhood school are run separately but coexist on the same public school campus. Co-located charter schools take over public school computer labs, parent centers, nurse and counselor offices. Co-locations create tension and competition among school administrators, teachers, and parents.

LAUSD must protect neighborhood schools by regulating the growing charter industry and charter school co-locations on neighborhood campuses. The district must require community impact studies of charter schools, as well as requiring charters to provide annual data on student demographics, enrollment, dismissals, and expulsions. Safeguards need to be established to ensure that co-locations do not diminish the learning and working conditions at our neighborhood schools. At all co-located sites, parents and educators must have seats at the table to ensure that the co-location does not adversely impact the district neighborhood school, its programs, or its ability to expand those programs.