Washington DC – Today the L.A. Unified school board will vote on a resolution to pursue a moratorium on public charter schools in Los Angeles, despite the almost 120,000 students whose families elect to enroll their children in high-quality Los Angeles charter schools every day and the 19,000 students on Los Angeles charter school waitlists.
The vote for the moratorium fails to acknowledge that charter schools provide high-quality public-school options to the most vulnerable students in Los Angeles. More than 80 percent of students enrolled in Los Angeles charter schools are low income and students of color, and 12 percent are students with disabilities. Furthermore, a 2014 Stanford CREDO report shows that in their first year, Los Angeles charter school students gain 50 additional days of learning in reading; in math, the gain is 101 more days of learning.
A moratorium on charter schools limits the number of students that can attend high-quality public schools. A vote that places a moratorium on charter schools sets an awful precedent for other school districts to place the education bureaucracy before the needs of students.
In response to the pending vote today, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools president and CEO Nina Rees released the following statement:
“It is not a progressive value to cut off high-quality public-school options to students, especially the large number of low-income students of color that charter schools serve in Los Angeles. We strongly oppose placing a moratorium on charter schools because it does not put students first. A vote for a moratorium on charter schools is a vote against students and a vote against families.”
