Candidate Comments On District's Forgiveness Of Charter School Debt

“This is an educational injustice that furthers the privatizing agenda to take over public education.” - Dr. Rocio Rivas

For years, the LAUSD Charter School Division has maintained that the millions of dollars in overallocation fees that are billed to charter schools for taking more space than they were entitled to under PROP-39 were correct. They also insisted that the “rates [were] set by the State Board of Education.” It, therefore, came as a surprise when, without warning, $7,678,022 was removed from the amounts that these charter schools were charged.

The lack of transparency in this process was noted by Board District 2 candidate Rocio Rivas, who provided the following response when she was asked to comment on the latest developments:

“The Los Angeles taxpayers need to know exactly what happened to the millions of dollars owed to LAs neighborhood public schools and children. The alternative agreements are not transparent avenues to take when dealing with money owed to thousands of students throughout the district. Was this discussed with board members? Was this a unilateral decision, which excluded the voice of the communities largely impacted by charter school co-locations? We need a transparent and clear explanation of the decision-making process that allowed this to take place. California education law does indicate that charter schools are to pay for overallocation fees and does not indicate that the debt can be reduced or forgiven. This is an educational injustice that furthers the privatizing agenda to take over public education.”

All of Rivas’ opponents in the June 7, 2022, primary election were given the opportunity to comment for this article, but none provided a response. As the status-quo candidate with deep ties to Monica Garcia, it can be safely assumed that Maria Brenes would not object to the reduction in charter school debt or the lack of transparency in the process. The same can be said for Miguel Angel Segura who is a former staff member of convicted felon Ref Rodriguez and has already expressed the opinion that unpaid charter school debt is no big deal.

With approximately 90% of these funds slated to directly benefit the students affected by this inappropriate seizure of space by charter schools, it is disappointing that only Rivas bothered to express an opinion about this subject. The voters responsible for choosing Monica Garcia’s replacement deserve better access to information from the candidates.

Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for students with special education needs and public education. He is an elected member of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and serves as the Education Chair. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.