Contacts: Claudia Briggs, CTA, at 916-325-1550, Gabriella Landeros, CTA, at 650-552-5324 or Anna Bakalis, UTLA, at 213-305-9654

BURLINGAME—A new, first-of-its-kind report released today proves the theory advocates for students with disabilities and public schools have been saying for years: charter schools are enrolling fewer students with disabilities. Those they do enroll generally have less severe – and therefore less costly – disabilities, and this is having a disparate fiscal impact on public school districts. The report and brief, State of Denial: California Charter Schools and Special Education Students, conducted by United Teachers Los Angeles and California Teachers Association researchers, calculated the cost disparity on San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), and found the gross fiscal impact for these three districts to be between $64.52 million and $97.19 million annually.

“For years, we have heard anecdotally from parents, public and charter educators that the charter industry under-enrolls students with disabilities. For the first time, we can now quantify those stories using data from three of the largest charter authorizers in the state. Beyond the civil rights concerns, there are also stark fiscal impacts on our public schools. This report shows a disturbing a pattern that, if left unchecked, means we are looking down the barrel of a public education system that will become increasingly segregated and destabilized,” said Elaine Grace Regullano, UTLA’s Strategic Research and Analytics Director and co-author of the report.

In the 2016-2017 academic year, SDUSD, LAUSD, and OUSD charter schools were serving significantly fewer students with disabilities than district schools – 11.01% vs. 14.27%. In Oakland, charter schools enrolled students at roughly half the rate of district-run schools (7.67% vs. 13.58%). Charter schools in SDUSD, LAUSD, and OUSD were serving a statistically smaller share of students with the most severe disabilities, who are also generally the most expensive to serve, including a persistent under-enrollment of students with autism, intellectual disabilities, multiple disabilities, and orthopedic impairment. In fact, many of California’s largest charter school chains are significantly under-enrolling students with disabilities less than 10% enrollment, including: ASPIRE (8.61%), Celerity (9.42%), KIPP (9.98%), Inspire Public Schools (7.05%), and Rocketship (7.34%).

“This report appears to have carefully analyzed the available data and suggests that in too many districts, charter schools enroll a much lower percentage of students with disabilities than the district’s demographics suggest they should,” said Daniel J. Losen, Director, Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the UCLA Civil Rights Project. “Especially striking were the reportedly larger differences for those students with moderate to severe disabilities. These large special education enrollment differences raise serious questions about whether some charters are unlawfully either steering such children away, failing to identify students in need of special education, or pushing enrolled students with disabilities out, perhaps through harsh discipline or other means. While there is not necessarily a problem behind every discrepancy, the deep divide between charters and public schools in districts such as Oakland was particularly alarming.”

“What made me realize that Learning Choice Academy wasn’t the right place for my daughter was when the special education staff told me, in contradiction of their initial promise, that her needs were greater than they could accommodate. I could tell they were trying to squeeze us out from the beginning, but that really clinched it,” said Vanessa Aguirre, mother whose daughter attended a San Diego charter school.

However, equity can be acquired if we go back to the original intent of charter schools in California, which was to improve student learning while encouraging the use of different and innovative teaching methods and creating new professional opportunities for educators.  Unfortunately, as charter schools have expanded in California, many departed from this vision and are operated by large charter management organizations (CMOs). This means important decisions are frequently made without enough oversight and far from the school communities they are meant to serve.

“My son and I came as the perfect student-parent contribution to his education,” said Tracy Camp, mother whose son attended an Oakland charter school. “He wanted to succeed. As an 11-year-old, he had put in two to five hours a day studying. I sat and helped him. I wasn’t not participating…if the school is also putting in their part, it seems like he should be able to succeed.”

Parents have been made promises that have led only to disappointments, oftentimes forcing students to take two steps back.

“A representative from the charter school told me, ‘You won’t need to worry about anything,’ and I believed them. In retrospect, I’m reminded of the old saying that if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is,” said Nereyda Bautista, mother whose daughter attended a Los Angeles charter school.

The report offers various considerations for policymakers that would begin to address the inequities detailed in the report. Two measures currently being considered by California lawmakers that would fix flawed charter laws are AB 1505 and AB 1507. AB 1505 would allow school districts to consider fiscal impact of a new charter school on local students, would ensure local communities control the authorization and renewal of charter schools and would repeal provisions allowing the State Board of Education to approve, renew, or hear appeals of charter school petitions.

“With this groundbreaking report, we call on state officials to read the findings in this report, which proves the lack of oversight and accountability of the charter industry has caused a seismic wave that is negatively impacting students across the state, but especially students who need the most services and are deserving of as much,” said Gloria Martinez, special education teacher and UTLA’s Elementary Vice President.

AB 1507 would close a loophole in current law, which allows a charter school to operate outside of its authorizing district. Both bills are currently in the Senate. Earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 126 into law which ensures that all charter schools follow state open meetings, open records and conflict of interest laws.

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United Teachers Los Angeles is the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union local, representing 34,000 educators, nurses, librarians and counselors in Los Angeles Unified School District, as well as more than 1,000 educators in independent charter schools. 

The 310,000-member California Teachers Association is affiliated with the 3 million-member National Education Association.