Charter school accountability and fraud
Today, California is home to the largest number of charter schools in the country, with 1100+ schools providing instruction to more than half a million students across the state. Despite the tremendous investment of public dollars and rapid expansion of charter schools in the state, California lacks an effective system of oversight to ensure that charter schools are educating all students equitably and effectively. Absent the adoption of appropriate accountability measures, charter schools — which are exempt from many oversight requirements in traditional public schools—are susceptible to abuse that stands to harm our state’s most vulnerable children and families.
Public Advocates, in partnership with other advocates of education equity, and community groups is engaged in monitoring how these schools serve California’s low-income families.
Know Your Rights Materials
- Charter school admissions (English version, Spanish version)
- Due process procedures (English version, Spanish version)
- AB 1360 Fact Sheet (English version, Spanish version)
Updates:
- August 1, 2018 – A new report uncovers a massive failure on the part of California charter schools to be transparent about how they spend millions of taxpayer dollars to benefit high need students, as required by state law.
- April 25, 2017 – Nine months after our scathing “Unequal Access” report on charter schools, we find that some schools have taken corrective action but exclusionary policies remain.
- August 1, 2016 – Public Advocates and ACLU of Southern California release “Unequal Access,” a report showing that more than 20 percent of all charter schools in California have enrollment policies in place that violate state and federal law. Among the myriad violations cited in “Unequal Access” are policies that establish admission requirements in violation of the California Charter Schools Act, which plainly requires charter schools to “admit all pupils who wish to attend,” regardless of academic performance, English proficiency, immigration status or other factors. Read the report and the press release.