Charter legislation a distraction, not a solution

For the past several years, California lawmakers have sought to prohibit for-profit companies from operating or managing charter schools. The latest effort comes in the form of Assembly Bill 406, introduced by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, which was approved by the Assembly on May 31 on a 50-24 vote.

“The privatization of public education must end,” McCarty said afterward. “Passage of AB406 puts student success ahead of corporate profits and affirms California’s belief that public tax dollars should be spent in the classroom, not in the corporate boardroom.”

Fundamentally, AB406 really doesn’t accomplish very much beyond demonizing corporations, profiting and charter schools. More than highlighting any widespread problem with for-profit charters, bills like AB406 reveal far more about failures in our education system as a whole.

Speaking in opposition to the bill, Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach, made the important point that what matters most is the quality of education being provided, “not the nature of the entity that is providing that service.”

Singling out for-profit charters might be easy, but it punishes responsible operators as much as it does irresponsible ones.

Even Gov. Jerry Brown has recognized this, vetoing similar legislation in 2015 on the grounds that he didn’t believe “the case has been made to eliminate for-profit charter schools in California.”

And as Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, pointed out, while the notion of profiting and the diversion of money away from classrooms for the enrichment of a few is the purported focus of bills like AB406, little is done about problems like California’s public employee pension systems.

School districts across the state are struggling with the burden of funding pensions through the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and California State Teachers’ Retirement System. From 2013-2014 through 2020-2021, districts will see pension costs more than triple, from less than $3.1 billion to more than $9.5 billion.

But rather than evaluate our public education system as a whole, McCarty and teachers unions like CTA insist instead on focusing on a handful of schools. According to the California Charter Schools Association, there are only six for-profit charters in the state.

Underperforming schools should be shut down. Fortunately, underperforming charter schools can already have their charters revoked, if that is the concern. And if we are concerned about the diversion of resources away from classrooms, we need to talk about pensions and pension reform.

The disproportionate focus on charters does nothing to resolve issues of quality or funding in education. AB406 is a distraction, not a solution.