Charter School Expansion Backers Say Poll Shows 74 Percent Of Voters Support Plan
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Supporters of a plan to expand the number of charter schools in Los Angeles released poll results Monday they say shows overwhelming public support for such an expansion.
The poll of 1,150 Los Angeles voters – commissioned by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and California Charter School Association – found that 74 percent of voters within the Los Angeles Unified School District support the expansion of charter schools in neighborhoods where existing schools are struggling.
The poll also found that 69 percent of pool respondents want more charter schools in their own neighborhoods, while 88 percent support giving students in an area with an under-performing school the choice of attending a "higher-performing" school.
"These results make it clear that residents throughout Los Angeles are eager to expand opportunity for students, regardless of whether it comes from charter, magnet or traditional public schools," Gregory McGinty, co-executive director of The Broad Foundation, said. "The Broad Foundation is committed to working with Los Angeles families to improve public educational opportunities for all students."
The Broad Foundation has been making a major push for charter school expansion in the LAUSD. It is backing a tentative proposal that calls for the establishment of 260 new charter schools over the next eight years, a proposal that is under fire since many charter schools are not unionized.
United Teachers Los Angeles, the union that represents LAUSD teachers, will be rally outside the district's Board of Education meeting Tuesday, protesting the proposed charter expansion, calling it an attempt to "dismantle public education in Los Angeles."
According to UTLA, The Broad Foundation "is working with the Waltons of Walmart and other billionaires on a plan to take 50 percent of our students out of LAUSD schools and put them in unregulated, non-union charters that don't play by the same rules as other schools.
"Losing 50 percent of LAUSD enrollment would trigger a severe loss in funding for crucial resources and programs for our students and create a race to the bottom that will hurt all schools and all students."
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