It's rare that a bill about the often-contentious issue of education unites factions so often at odds, but legislation Gov. Jerry Brown signed Friday that banned for-profit charter schools was just such a bill. Supporters included the California Federation of Teachers, the Association of California School Administrators, the California School Boards Association, and the California Charter Schools Association, which represents the schools with the vast majority of the state's 630,000 charter students.
The groups had various motives for backing Assembly Bill 406. The charter association was tired of responding to myths that charter schools are all about making money when nearly all are nonprofits, and the other groups were worried about the relative few for-profit charters' inadequate record on transparency and record-keeping. The biggest offender appears to be K12, a for-profit national charter school operator that has paid the state $10.5 million in fines and settlements since 2015 because of dubious financial practices, overpayment of supervisors and inflated claims of attendance, which led to higher payments from California's treasury.
Brown vetoed a similar bill in 2015, partly because of concerns about ambiguous language that might create headaches for nonprofit charters that use for-profit vendors. His signature Friday was a sign this bill was better crafted. For-profit charters that cut corners and give the charter school movement a bad name were a real distraction. Good riddance.
