California charter schools cater to the needs of our most disadvantaged students

California parents have spent the last year trying not to let public school failures get in the way of their children’s education. Disappointed at less-than-forthright political leadership and locked out of district headquarters, parents continue to rally with their children outside local school board meetings, pleading for schools to be open five days a week through the end of the 2020-21 school year. Stories of disengagement and various levels of depression in children saturate every media platform.

Each week, school board members ignore frustrated parents, instead teasing them with negligible openings. Without a comprehensive plan to permanently get kids in classrooms, state and local elected officials are failing millions of children across the state.

Now for the double whammy: The union-backed state legislature proposed the destruction of any competition to the traditional public school in Assembly Bill 1316. Emboldened by their public sector union benefactors, Assemblymembers Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach), Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) and Cristina Garcia (D-Downey) authored legislation that will decimate free public charter schools by moving dollars focused on education activities to unnecessary bureaucratic regulation. The current legislature believes charter schools should only exist if they looked more like the public schools they were designed to overcome.

Indeed, hemorrhaging of government schools’ attendance is concerning. Last month, the state Department of Education informed us that 160,478 students had left our public schools in the 2020-21 school year. That’s according to a headcount done last October, meaning that number is likely to go up significantly next year.

For those that didn’t leave the state and/or send their kids to private schools, like Gov. Newsom did with his kids, most free public charter schools have proven to be a viable option allowing lower and middle-class families access to a rigorous education with fewer tax dollars.

Even so, a few bad charter schools are a convenient excuse for reforms while district schools haven’t performed well at all during the pandemic. AB 1316 would bury charter schools in so much paperwork that there is no way they could functionally exist should it become law.

During a recent Assembly Education Committee, the two main witnesses for the bill served more as technical advisors than proponents. Neither could, nor would, fully support the bill. That left only the California Teachers Association, SEIU and AFSCME speaking on the bill’s behalf. They can’t face the loss of more students to well-functioning charter schools.

Despite the challenges, the additional layers of unnecessary regulation and constrained budgets, charter schools continue to cater to the needs of our most disadvantaged students, especially those who have serious learning needs. Such a situation is untenable for our monopolistic government educational complex.

Is the education of our children really the legislature’s priority, or are they bullies willing to steal vulnerable charter schools’ lunch money to restrict options for families and students at a time when they need them most?

Albert Einstein’s observed that it’s “nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of education have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom.”

Government education is not free or freeing. Parents rightly understand that AB 1316 is untenable and will accelerate the wrack and ruin of California’s K-12 education.

Ultimately, the authors’ straw man reasons for AB 1316 led to it being shelved for the year. While the authors decide if it’s worth reviving in January, their colleagues should seriously consider the implications of effectively eliminating charter schools that offer tailored education plans and one-on-one specialized instruction for a wide spectrum of needs. Many students who attend non-classroom-based charters – including my children – thrive in this environment.