Charter schools battle over AB 84
Critics say the bill would force school closures and strip students of personalized learning, while supporters call it necessary reform after past fraud
NORTH COUNTY — A battle is raging over charter schools, their funding, audits and more as lines have been drawn over the controversial Assembly Bill 84.
The bill was authored by Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance), who said the bill is needed to increase accountability and transparency for nonclassroom-based (NCB) charter schools using public funds. One of the driving factors for increased audits and other regulations, supporters say, is the San Diego A3 charter school scandal in San Diego six years ago, where $50 million was stolen through fake student records and improper vendor payments.
On the table is at least a 30% funding cut to NCB schools and up to 100% cuts in some cases if a school fails an audit or other requirement. The bill does not target all charter schools, just those NCBs with online, independent study and homeschool programs.
However, critics of the bills, such as Krystin Demofonte, executive director of Poway-based Pacific Coast Academy, which has about 7,000 students in San Diego, Riverside and Orange counties, said all the money was recovered and proved the safeguards in place worked. She also said if AB 84 is passed, it will mean PCA will have to shut down. Demofonte said more than 6,000 students reside in San Diego County.
AB 84 passed the Assembly on June 5 and heads to the Senate Education Committee for a hearing on July 16. North County legislators Tasha Boerner (D-Encinitas) and Darshana Patel (D-San Diego) voted in favor, while Laurie Davies (R-Laguna Niguel) and Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) vote in opposition.
“I will say there is a misunderstanding of the fraud that happens in charter schools,” Demofonte explained. “Yeah, there has been fraud in charter schools like there has been in traditional schools. There’s fraud that can happen anywhere. They will point to A3 that happened several years ago and with the old auditing and oversight requirements we had that was still caught. They had to pay back all the money and the state was made whole.”
Other elements of the bill include:
Creating a statewide education inspector general
Reduce per-student funding for NCBs
Eliminate enrichment funds to homeschooling students
Increase charter authorizers’ fees from 1% to 3% for oversight
Competitively bid contracts
Limit enrollment based on the number of students in a charter’s authorizing district
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