Landmark Victory Powered by the Dedication and Advocacy of CTA Members

SACRAMENTO – All California students won today when Governor Gavin Newsom historically signed AB 1505 (O’Donnell) into law, bringing much-needed accountability and transparency to privately managed charter schools. Along with AB 1507 (Smith), the two new laws are the first changes to charter school regulations in 27 years.

The stroke of the governor’s pen caps a herculean effort that saw CTA members across California stand united with their partners in labor, parents and community groups to fix the outdated and broken charter laws that have impacted local districts, neighborhood schools and their students and families for decades. For seven months, CTA members visited elected legislators at the State Capitol and in their district offices—more than 225 visits with Assembly Members and 175 visits with state Senators—to share their charter school experiences and urge lawmakers to support the CTA-sponsored legislation, which included three other charter school bills: AB 1506, AB 1507 and SB 756.

“Today is a good day for the 6.4 million students of California! Working together, we’ve made monumental changes to improve outdated and broken charter school laws. For far too long, students have paid the price when corporate-run charter school operators have abused the system, wasted taxpayer dollars and put profits before kids. We profoundly appreciate Assembly Member O’Donnell’s hard work on AB 1505 and Governor Gavin Newsom’s leadership and commitment to begin fixing laws governing charter schools. This legislation protects students by strengthening local school communities’ decision-making power regarding all matters related to charter schools’ authorization and renewal. It also builds on efforts earlier this year to hold charter schools to the same standards of accountability and transparency as other public schools. This was no easy feat, and it could not have been possible without our co-sponsors, labor partners and community groups. Together, we fought day in and day out, to ensure we took this significant step for kids, not profits,” said Toby E. Boyd, President of the California Teachers Association.

“This would not have happened without the pressure from the Los Angeles and Oakland strikes, and the unrelenting advocacy of CTA members across the state,” Boyd said. “This is the first time in 27 years we’ve had any significant regulation on the charter school industry in California. This will go a long way in changing the landscape of public education in our state and putting control back into the hands of those closest to students. Today, we put kids before profits.”

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