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California Legislative Update: Anti-Charter School Bills Pass the Assembly Education Committee

Branché Jones

April 12, 2019

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California Charter School LegislationCalifornia Legislative Update: Anti-Charter School Bills Pass the Assembly Education Committee

Here is the latest California legislative update:
On April 10th the Assembly Education Committee held their regular bi-weekly hearing, but at 1:30p they had a special order to hear AB 1505, 1506 and 1507.
All of these bills are anti-charter bills and they all passed the committee with 4 votes from the Chair, Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, Assemblywoman Christy Smith, and Assemblyman Ash Kalra.
Assemblywoman Shirley Webber abstained and Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, the only Republican on the committee, voted no.

AB 1505

Taken together the bills would severely handicap all charter schools in California and could lead to their closure. AB 1505 by Assemblyman O’Donnell would take away the right to appeal a denial of a charter petition at any level and would not allow a county office of education to approve a county-wide charter. All charter petitions could only be approved by a local school board and they could be denied based on the financial impact to the district. This bill is headed to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 1506

AB 1506 by Assemblyman McCarty would put a cap on the number of charter schools in California. The cap would be the total number of charter schools in California as of January 1, 2020. After that date a new charter school could only open up after one closes in the state. This bill is also headed to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 1507

AB 1507 by Assemblywoman Smith would prevent a charter school from opening a facility in a neighboring district if it cannot find a facility in the district that it is authorized in. Additionally, the bill would only allow a charter school to have one resource center in the district that it is authorized in. This bill is headed to the Assembly Floor next.
To view, any of these bills go to https://www.legislature.ca.gov and hit the bill link at the top left of the page and put in the bill number.

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