Los Angeles school district sued over anti-charter policy

A charter school group is suing the Los Angeles school district for its alleged anti-charter animus, accusing the board of passing illegal policies that defy voters’ wishes.

The California Charter School Association (CCSA) filed the lawsuit in April against the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and its board. 

“LAUSD disregarded the voices and needs of charter school families and adopted a new policy to harm their schools,” CCSA said in a press release. “Families choose to send their children to LAUSD’s charter public schools because they have found programs uniquely tailored to their needs among the rich diversity of education programs offered to Angeleno families. This policy limits options for those parents.”  

In 2000, California voters passed a proposition which allowed charters to share underused district school buildings and classrooms. 

However, LAUSD and the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union have fought against the proposition. 

“Despite the success of the charter school model, some members of LAUSD’s Board – no doubt influenced by LAUSD’s labor partners and acting in an adversarial political nature – have developed a misguided animus towards charter public schools,” CCSA’s lawsuit claims.  

“Anti-charter rhetoric continues to flourish within LAUSD, led in no small part by labor groups including UTLA, using smear tactics based on falsehoods and political hyperbole.”  

One school board member even compared charter schools sharing district campuses to “a cancer that comes in and then metastasizes.” 

Nevertheless, charter schools remain a popular option in Los Angeles.  

Roughly one-quarter of LAUSD students attend one of the city’s 272 charters. Many charter students are low-income (80%), black or Hispanic (85%), English language learners (21%), or have special needs (12%).  

And even though LAUSD’s charters receive substantially less funding than their government-run counterparts, the school board and teachers’ union allegedly still view them as unwelcome competition.  

In January, LAUSD proposed a policy which defied Proposition 39 and “prioritized district students attending district-run schools over similarly situated district students attending charter schools.”  

The lawsuit alleges the policy, which was adopted in February, harms marginalized students by displacing local charters in violation of state law. 

California Education Code Section 47614 mandates that “public school facilities should be shared fairly among all public school pupils, including those in charter schools.” 

CCSA is asking the Los Angeles Superior Court to overturn LAUSD’s illegal policy – and any other district regulations or guidelines that seek to undermine Proposition 39.