Dive Brief:
- The Los Angeles Unified School District will create a working group to make recommendations about increasing transparency in the process that decides whether charter schools can occupy space in traditional public schools.
- The Los Angeles Times reports the current system often leaves parents and school communities to find out about co-location plans after they have already been approved, and the new plan is aimed at pulling them into the conversation sooner.
- While critics argue changes will make it easier for charter schools to take up space in traditional schools, supporters say it will reduce the frequency with which charters get approval for empty spaces that school principals already had plans for.
Dive Insight:
The question of co-location is a problem in nearly every city that has a large charter school population. While charter schools are also public schools in the district, they often have antagonistic relationships with people aligned with traditional schools. They are seen as siphoning money from the public school system, and few of their opponents want to make it any easier for them to operate.
In Chicago, leading up to the closing of 50 neighborhood schools in 2013, then-CEO of the Chicago Public Schools Barbara Byrd-Bennett promised none of the buildings would be used for charter schools. Critics had argued the city was replacing traditional schools with charters and Byrd-Bennett wanted to be clear that was not the case. But that promise has ensured many of the old schools will continue to sit empty and collect dust.