FLASHREPORT

LOS ANGELES HAS A LESSON FOR SACRAMENTO

Evelyn B. Stacey and Vicki E. Murray, Pacific Research Institute

[Publisher's Note:  As part of an ongoing effort to bring original, thoughtful commentary to you here at the FlashReport, I am pleased to present this column from Evelyn Stacey with the Pacific Research Institute.]

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Last Tuesday the Los Angeles school board approved plans to allow outside groups, including charter school operators, to turn around more than 30 low-performing schools. Yet in a move that drew protests from hundreds of parents and reform advocates, the board handed over the vast majority of schools to Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) teacher groups whose pilot programs have not demonstrated improvements in student achievement.

The LAUSD board let Aspire, Camino Nuevo, Magnolia and Para Los Niño’s, all successful charter school operators, manage four elementary schools and one middle school. Charter operators competing for high schools included nationally renowned Green Dot, the Inner City Education Foundation (ICEF), and Alliance for College Ready Schools. Not one high school in the district was given to these charter operators.

“We think it’s a victory for students and the collaboration between teachers and parents and administrators,” said United Teachers Los Angeles (ULTA) President A.J. Duffy.   But what about students?

According to district data compiled by the state education department, less than one out of four LAUSD students is proficient in English language arts. Less than one out of four elementary students is proficient in math; and only around one out of 10 high schoolers is proficient in math.

In contrast, Green Dot gained national attention two years ago in its takeover of Locke High School. This year it has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for improving attendance and achievement, with nearly 80 percent of students graduating and 76 percent going on to four-year universities. Likewise, ICEF’s flagship View Park Preparatory Charter High School has graduated three classes with 100 percent of its graduates accepted to college. In comparison, LAUSD has a 47 percent graduation rate.

“UTLA made claims that ‘we won’t let our schools be given away’ yet, the schools that will be part of the school choice reform efforts will remain public schools.  Furthermore, this statement makes it sound as if UTLA thinks they ‘own’ the schools,” said Larry Sand, president of California Teacher’s Empowerment Network, a local nonpartisan, nonprofit organization for teachers.  Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa agreed.

In a prepared statement to the board he said, “School choice has always been about reform. It is about promoting engagement and innovation through competition. Other communities are begging these operators to open schools in their districts...” Letting so few charter operators manage LAUSD schools, he added, is “a terrible blow to reform and would give credence to those critics who say this is [a] system trying to protect the failed status quo.” But there’s a clear lesson for policy makers in Sacramento.

“Parents have gained enormous power,” said Gabe Rose, with Parent Revolution, a nonprofit representing 3,000 Los Angeles parents. Parents throughout California are running out of patience with business-as-usual schooling. To ensure better achievement, more accountability, and less politicization, Sacramento law makers should empower parents to choose the schools they think are best for their children.
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Evelyn B. Stacey is the Education Studies Policy Fellow at the Pacific Research Institute in Sacramento. Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D., is PRI Education Studies Associate Director and Women for School Choice Project Director at the Independent Women’s Forum in Washington, D.C.

You can reach Evelyn Stacey and Vicki Murray, via the FR, here.