Charter school advocates are developing an ambitious plan that would put half of Los Angeles public school students into charter schools within eight years of implementation, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The plan would involve 260 new charter schools enrolling more than 130,000 students.
Los Angeles already has the largest charter sector in the nation by number of students. Proportionally, about one in six Los Angeles public school students attend a charter school, 21st in the nation as of the 2013-14 school year. Bringing that portion to one-in-two would give Los Angeles the third-largest portion of charter students in the nation, behind New Orleans and Detroit, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
“There’s a huge number of high-performing charter schools in L.A. already,” Lisa Snell, director of education for the libertarian Reason Foundation, told the Washington Examiner. “The charter schools in LA that serve similar populations, while they may not be doing as well as we would like in a perfect world, they’re doing way better with the same kids. … Student achievement is just better in these [charter] schools.”
While the Los Angeles public school disctrict isn’t one of the worst districts in the nation, there’s plenty of room for improvement. “They’re in line with what happens in a lot of places, whether it’s Chicago or Detroit or LA,” Snell said. “Schools that serve predominantly high minority disadvantaged low-income kids are way behind. … Low-income kids are still doing mediocre to poor.” In 2013, fourth and eighth graders in the district scored well below national and state averages for math and reading, according to data from the Nation’s Report Card.
The price tag for the charter school plan is hefty: Almost $500 million. Organizers hope to raise most of that money from foundations and individuals, including the Broad Foundation, the Gates Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Hewlett Foundation.
The costs are driven by the need for facilities and real estate to house the new charter schools, Snell says. “The start-up costs are enormous to start new schools, so that’s what the $500 million is.”
Unsurprisingly, teachers unions and the school district oppose the plan. Without their approval, full implementation of the charter school expansion plan will be difficult. A scaled-back version is more likely. “Some of it will happen, but the scale of it and the timeline are probably pretty optimistic,” Snell said. “It’s an achievable goal to really reduce the 40,000 kids that are on [charter school] waiting lists, for sure.”
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
