Fight brewing over new controls on charter schools
Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess
The chairwoman of the Assembly Education Committee is citing embezzlement charges against the operators of a Southern California charter school organization as evidence why her two charter school accountability bills should become law. The bills are sponsored by Democrat Julia Brownley of Santa Monica. They are now in the Senate, which must decide whether new laws could prevent the type of alleged fraud by the husband-wife creators of Ivy Academia charters, and if not, whether additional financial oversight and restrictions on charters are needed anyway. AB 572, which was waylaid by the Senate last year and remains stuck in committee, would prohibit anyone with a financial interest in a charter from serving on its board of trustees. (more...)